The first ever FLAMINGOFEST IRL is coming later this year, on November 4th at the famous Catch One, Los Angeles.
If you take more than a passing interest in Vaporwave then you’ve probably already heard the news, but FutureSounds has the gritty details: including the full line-up, where and when to get tickets, plus plans for a launch party on the 3rd – also in Los Angeles.
We’ve also got a little bit of the history around the event; including its first iteration as a ‘live stream’, and (finally) confirmation that URL will indeed become IRL.
FLAMINGOFEST is promoted by My Pet Flamingo and Utopia District and celebrates the best in Vaporwave and Future Funk with an all-star line-up of incredible artists, and official events spanning two days.
FLAMINGOFEST LINE-UP
The line-up for the Saturday (at Catch One) has already been announced, including Luxury Elite, 猫 シ Corp., Hotel Pools, and Runners Club 95.
There’s something for fans of just about every Vapor sub-genre and the show will feature a stacked line-up of 18 artists representing the diverse nature of this underground scene – with a couple of surprise announcements yet to be revealed.
And that’s before we get to the Launch Party, but more on that later.
Catch One will be hosting FLAMINGOFEST on the 4th of November, with two stages in operation throughout the day, as well as an opportunity to pick up Vapor merch from your favourite artists and labels in the scene.
Here’s that line-up in full!
FLAMINGOFEST will feature performances from an array of international artists – with the likes of 猫 シ Corp., Donor Lens and Runners Club 95 flying in to be a part of the event, alongside Mélonade, Pizza Hotline and Bl00dwave; all of whom make their US debuts.
TICKET DETAILS
Tickets for FLAMINGOFEST will go on sale on Friday 4th August at 5pm UK, with an ‘Early Bird’ discount for the first 150 available. We’ll have the link to purchase tickets here, but you will also be able to find it via the My Pet Flamingo or Utopia District Twitter feed.
These Early Bird tickets will include entry to the Festival and the Launch Party, the day before.
Once those are sold out, General Sale will begin.
At this point, tickets for the festival will be available. However, there will also be an option to buy one of a limited number of tickets for both days [Festival & Launch Party]
This is due to the smaller capacity of the venue hosting the Launch Party – so hurry if you want to be at both!
The line-up and location of the Launch Party will be unveiled during the coming week, but we can confirm that it also features a stacked line-up of around 20 Vaporwave, Future Funk and Chillwave artists.
THE BACKGROUND TO FLAMINGOFEST: ‘URL BECOMES IRL’
In September 2020 – at the peak of the Pandemic – MPF teamed up with Indy Advant to put on a two-day online festival for Vaporwave and future Funk fans.
Such events were springing up out of necessity, as the scene organised itself to provide communal experiences for a fanbase in lockdown.
The first iteration of FLAMINGOFEST was one of them, with 40 artists performing online across the weekend, supported by a wide cast of talented visual artists.
[You can watch full archive footage from the online event HERE or listen to the first episode of Utopia District’s podcast for a retrospective HERE.]
Just 12 months earlier there had been a genuine sense across the Vaporwave community that the live scene was ready to explode.
Vaporwave had ventured offline before that point, but nothing on the scale of the first Electronicon at Elsewhere in Brooklyn, where more than 1,300 fans gathered for the “Vaporwave Woodstock”.
We’d flown across the Atlantic for that show and were convinced – like many others – that the transition from a URL community to an IRL scene was complete.
And then Covid happened.
It was a strange time for the scene, the air of optimism created by that show, and the community events that popped up around it, punctured by the onset of a Pandemic that just wouldn’t f*** off.
But the Vaporwave scene did what it always does – it came together online, filling the void and providing communal experiences for a restless and lonely fanbase.
And yet even as FLAMINGOFEST was unfolding, with hundreds of fans mingling with performers in the chatroom, we were starting to prepare for a world in which we could hold the event IRL.
It’s taken three long years, but here we are…
A WEEKEND OF EVENTS
Event organisers, My Pet Flamingo and Utopia District are pulling together two days of official events with a Launch Party slated for the Friday (3rd November) and FLAMINGOFEST itself on the 4th November.
The aim is to provide an opportunity for the community to get together and celebrate the strength and diversity of the scene.
Indeed, the ‘Launch Party’ will be a more intimate affair set up along the lines of previous tape swap events around Electronicon, providing an opportunity for labels and artists to share their merch and mingle with fans.
Plans are underway for an after-party on the Saturday night, with other local promoters looking at ways to keep the party rolling into Sunday. So, if you are planning on heading to LA that weekend, keep your eyes peeled for further developments – and maybe think about booking your return travel for the Monday…
We’ll see you there!
This article will be updated as events unfold and further details are unveiled, so feel free to bookmark this page as a handy-guide to the weekend.
Written by Enzo Van Baelen
