Stereogum, DERTF, And SOLARPUNKS Present Brooklyn’s First Solar-Powered Concert With Grace Ives And A Surprise Headliner

Lately there’s been plenty of news that, as usual, could make one feel like we’re living through some kind of climate apocalypse in real time. And while these are real and present dangers, there’s also a sector of the clean energy industry that believes we don’t need to look at everything happening around us as signals of imminent doom, but rather opportunities to evolve.

DER Task Force (DERTF) is a community of clean energy evangelists advocating for DERs — distributed energy resources, think rooftop solar and home batteries and electric vehicles — as a major untapped solution to the challenges that face us. Similar to DERTF, SOLARPUNKS is a non-profit focused on eliminating fossil fuels in (and with) creative industries with DERs. Stereogum can get with that sort of optimism, and we’re happy to announce we’ve partnered with DERTF and SOLARPUNKS to bring you Brooklyn’s first concert fully powered by solar and batteries.

The inaugural event is homegrown in NYC, conceived and booked by New Yorkers, featuring an array of artists who have defined the sound of New York in recent years. Ascendant dance-punks Psymon Spine will open, and Best New Bands 2019 alum Grace Ives will bring her ebullient dance-pop to the stage around sunset. We can’t tell you who the Surprise Guest or Surprise Headliner are quite yet, but rest assured they’re bands you know and love from reading this site. The whole thing goes down Saturday, 10/26, at NewLab in Brooklyn’s Navy Yard.

Last year, DERTF and SOLARPUNKS began this experiment as a “vehicle-2-rave” using Ford F-150 Lightnings to power a dance party with DJ sets from members of Sunflower Bean and fcukers. This year, the vision expanded. While other festivals and concerts have used batteries to decrease diesel consumption, this event attempts to get closer to a totally emissions-free experience by using batteries to deliver 100% solar-based energy, in place of diesel generators.

Here’s what James McGinniss, one of the masterminds behind DERTF and the event, had to say:

While there are many technical challenges to get to 100% solar-powered parties at scale, it’s doable. We’re stoked to continue partnering with SOLARPUNKS to figure out how. Then, maybe all the other festivals can do it too and stop burning hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel.

And beyond that, we want the event to make people realize it’s not all doom and gloom. Decarbonization is happening faster than people think. We don’t think the world is gonna end or that we need to sacrifice everything to achieve a better, clean energy future.

SOLARPUNKS has been prototyping and creating clean energy solutions for (and with) creative industries, including helping film sets completely ditch diesel generators and running festival camps entirely on solar.

“While this is a small production in the larger scheme of things, this clean mobile battery innovation has the potential to expand and catalyze more solar generation benefiting communities,” said SOLARPUNKS co-founder Christina (Xtina) Chu.

We’ll have more news for you soon, but for now grab your ticket here, and we’ll see you at the Navy Yard next week!