Electric Christmas 2.0 scheduled to showcase new alternative bands

Used with permission under fair use.

Used with permission under fair use.

Electric Christmas 2.0 will take place at Sleep Train Arena on Dec. 10 at 6:30 p.m. The concert is scheduled to include Joywave, Big Data, Vance Joy, Fitz and the Tantrums, Young the Giant and Bush, the headliner.

Radio 94.7’s motto is “music discovery” and this bleeds into the acts they hire for their concert. Some of last year’s performers weren’t very well known when the concert took place. However, just a year later are now some of the biggest names in alternative music like MS MR, The Features and Grouplove.

This year’s performers fall under the same alternative/indie rock genre.

Joywave is a indie rock band from Rochester, New York and released their first EP in 2011. However, they didn’t make it onto Radio 94.7’s airwaves until this past summer with their single, “Dangerous feat. Joywave” by Big Data. It peaked at number two on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart in August 2014. Big Data, also deriving from New York, is an electronic music band who released their first EP last year.

Vance Joy first came onto the indie scene with his song “Riptide” which was released last year. It hit the number one spot on BillBoard’s Alternative Songs and Rock Airplay. This singer/songwriter was born in Australia, where “Riptide” went five times Platinum. He’ll be touring with Taylor Swift this summer.

Fitz and the Tantrums  are an indie pop band from Los Angeles, formed in 2008.  Their first tour was as an opener for Maroon 5 in 2009. Since then, their debut studio album, “Pickin Up The Pieces,” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and they were names as a “band to watch” in April 2011 by Rolling Stone.

Headlining their first tour in 2015, Young the Giant is a local indie-rock band from Irvine. Their first three songs, “My Body,” “Cough Syrup” and “Apartment” all reached Billboard’s Top 5 Alternative Songs.

The headliner, Bush, has been a grunge/rock band since 1992, when they formed in London, England. They went on to become one of the most commercially successful rock bands of the 1990’s, selling over 10 million records in the United States.

Last year’s Electric Christmas was the first concert Radio 94.7 hosted. It too had six performers, seven if you count surprise guest Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. It started right on time, but ran two hours over, primarily because of the 20 minutes in between each performer.

Electric Christmas 2.0 tickets will sell until sold out. Tickets start at $54.95 and run to $122.18 for VIP.

 

by OLIVIA GRAHL