What’s new at the Millvale Music Festival
By Scott Mervis / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Weighing in for the first time with five stages, Mr. Smalls is practically a music festival unto itself.
The latest addition to the Smalls empire, slated to open the first night of the mega-popular Millvale Music Festival on Friday, is Sanctuary, a combination studio and performance space across the street from the main campus on Lincoln Avenue.
Sanctuary will launch with WYEP (91.3-FM) live-recording power-pop band Meeting of Important People for a vinyl release from Hellbender Vinyl.
The band will be among more than 300 acts, spanning from hardcore to hip-hop and classical, playing 28 stages at the free Millvale fest from Friday evening to late Saturday night.
Sanctuary opening
Sanctuary, located in the former Millvale United Methodist Church, will house the Mr. Smalls Studio (formerly at Audiomation) and a venue with a capacity of 355. The project has been another labor of love, eight years in the making, for husband-and-wife owners Mike Speranzo and Liz Berlin, the latter of Rusted Root.
“There were a lot of really complicated stages along the way that were hard and taxing,” Speranzo says. “We had to rehab the building, the roof was in bad shape and there was plaster fallout because of that. We just kept on putting money toward it from what we made at the theater, so that's why it took so long.
“The room is PA hung,” he says, “but we’re not sure yet how often we'll do shows there.”
Sanctuary — which joins Mr. Smalls Theatre, The Funhouse at Mr. Smalls, Mr. Smalls Cafe and the Butler Street Stage — is not the only addition to the Millvale festival. Also new is Burghers Brewing Co., which opened its fourth area location on Grant Street in February.
“It’s a brand-new, top-of-the-line brewing facility, so that's a really cool debut,” says festival chair Paul Bossung. “We're gonna actually have two sort-of stages there: Upstairs where the pinball machines [are], we're gonna put some solo and duo artists. We're gonna have hip-hop there a lot over Friday and Saturday, mixing in with a little bit of singer-songwriter stuff. And then also the Redfishbowl Art Bus that we've had at the bottom of Butler Street with all the artists in the past, we're going to pull that up into their parking lot.”
Punk/metal upgrade
Programming-wise, there were some changes in personnel this year. Bossung thinks the festival will be a good representation of the Pittsburgh scene.
“We always try to hit every genre, but I would say with punk and metal, there's definitely more of it this year — as I think we just kind of adjusted to what the actual local music scene is.”
He points to metal band Greywalker closing out the Gap Park stage on Friday night. Saturday at Gap will be the traditional closing set with hard rockers Gene the Werewolf.
"It’s always an honor to close out the Gap Park Stage at MMF,” Gene the Werewolf’s Jon Belan told the PG. “This festival means a lot to the local music community, and we’re proud to be part of it each year playing alongside other talented Pittsburgh artists. After a long winter break, we can’t think of a better place to start off our schedule for the year.”
It’s a sign of how lit the festival is that Bastard Bearded Irishmen, another of the city’s most popular bands, will be raging inside Mr. Smalls at the same time. Note that getting in the door of the 800-capacity theater during peak hours is a challenge.
Getting there
Getting to MMF at all can be a challenge given the festival’s explosion in popularity and the limited parking in the community. Last year they had shuttles running up the hill to the ball fields, somewhat unsuccessfully.
“Those parking lots were full,” Bossung says, “and the buses couldn't maneuver fast enough, and they were full the whole time and people gave up and walked down the hill for a mile and a half or something. The festival just got too big for that kind of thing.”
This year they will have one shuttle running Friday night from Acrisure Stadium and two shuttles running Saturday from PPG Paints Arena. There will be a parking charge at those lots of $8 or $9, but you don’t have to park there to take the shuttle. The swap is due to the Pearl Jam show at PPG on Friday and the Monster Jam at Acrisure on Saturday.
“The way we designed the route,” Bossung says, “they literally come off at [Route] 28, drop people off, and then go right back. They don't even have to deal with the chaos going on in Millvale [like the previous shuttles].”
Weather
It’s spring, so, naturally, there’s a threat of rain — hopefully, not like 2018, when a Saturday afternoon storm blew over tents and knocked out power.
In case of rain, there are hundreds of ponchos available at the merch stands. And, should there be a delay, here’s a heads up that Millvale does not work backwards.
“One rule that we have made over the last few years, having to deal with weather on and off, is that if it's too bad to perform during someone's set, we just cancel that set,” Bossung says. “We try to keep it so that if there are any interruptions, whenever things come back online, people's schedule is still accurate to what they planned. Trying to squeeze sets together turns into too much of a nightmare.”
Those spiffy new schedules, with band descriptions and other details, can be found at millvalemusic.org.
Here is a sampling of what’s happening on some of the bigger stages.
Millvale Music Festival (partial) schedule
FRIDAY
Gap Park (All Ages)
7 p.m.: Jack Swing
8 p.m.: Black Ridge
9 p.m.: The Filthy Lowdown
10 p.m.: Greywalker
Mr. Smalls Butler St. (All Ages)
6 p.m. Fusion Illusion
7 p.m.: Miss Freddye's Blues Band
8 p.m.: Stereo Scandal
9 p.m.: M.E.L.T.
The Funhouse at Mr. Smalls
6:30 p.m.: Modern Fossils
7:15 p.m.: Orange Mammoth
8 p.m.: The Conspiracy Theory
8:45 p.m.: The Dead End Streets
9:30 p.m.: Creedmoors
10:15 p.m.: The Forbidden 5
11 p.m.: Royal Honey
11:45 p.m.: The Cheats
12:30 a.m.: Legendary Hucklebucks
Mr. Smalls Theatre
6:30 p.m.: Z-Nemo and the Big Slime
7:20 p.m.: Sad Bulldog
8:10 p.m.: Sunny Daze & the Weathermen
9 p.m.: Adam's Purse
9:50 p.m.: Boy Wonders
10:40 p.m.: James Castle
11:30 p.m.: Different Places in Space
Sanctuary at Mr. Smalls
9:30 p.m.: Waking Matthew
10:15 p.m.: Meeting of Important People (live recording)
Millvale Community Center
6 p.m.: Passing Bell
7 p.m.: Gloom Doom
8 p.m.: Vulgar Royalty
9 p.m.: Windchimes
10 p.m.: Forced Regression
11 p.m.: Moisty
Grist House Craft Brewery (all ages)
6:30 p.m.: Tory Silver
7:30 p.m.: FOAMER
8:30 p.m.: Colatura
9:30 p.m.: ORANGE MUSIC
Strange Roots
6:20 p.m.: StreetSide Saints
8:20 p.m.: MSJR
9:20 p.m.: Massive Hawk
Poetry Lounge
6:30 p.m.: Wild Orchids
7:30 p.m.: all my friends are cats
8:30 p.m.: Beach Boise, ID
9:30 p.m.: Working Breed
10:30 p.m.: The Redlines
SATURDAY
Gap Park (all ages)
2 p.m.: The Shiners
3 p.m.:The Polkamaniacs
4 p.m.: Dizzier
5 p.m.: Dream the Heavy
6 p.m.: Eagleburger Band
7 p.m.: Abstract Theory
8 p.m.: Brahctopus
9 p.m.: BBGuns
10 p.m.: Gene the Wrewolf
Mr. Smalls Butler St. (all ages)
1 p.m.: Chip & The Charge Ups
2 p.m.: Moonshine Jasmine
3 p.m.: Pitter Patter
4 p.m.: Tokyo Sayonara
5 p.m.: Liz Berlin
6 p.m.: Rattle Bones
7 p.m.: The Regal Sweet
8 p.m.: Paging Doctor Moon
9 p.m.: NASH.V.ILL
The Sanctuary at Mr. Smalls
1:30 p.m.: The Fine Lines
2:10 p.m.: Keroscenery
3 p.m.: Posterchild
4 p.m.: Comedy
The Funhouse at Mr. Smalls
2 p.m.: Shel the Philosopher
3 p.m.: Kenta and Hellcat Sneer
4 p.m.: Queenie and Moet
5 p.m.: Leaky Faucet Ensemble
6 p.m.: Cathleen Ireland
Mr. Smalls Theatre
2 p.m.: The Antipsychotics
2:50 p.m.: Dunce
3:40 p.m.: Find Ethel
4:30 p.m.: Bloomfield Pest Control
5:30 p.m.: Millvin and the Etnoids
6:10 p.m.: Dumplings
7 p.m.: Latecomer
7:50 p.m.: Law Jaw
8:40 p.m.: f--- yeah, dinosaurs!
9:30 p.m.: The Undercover Saints
10:20 p.m.: Bastard Bearded Irishmen
11:10 p.m.: World's Scariest Police Chases
The Funhouse at Mr. Smalls
7:40 p.m.: Black Hole Zion
8:40 p.m.: Petrone
9:40 p.m.: Dematus
10:40 p.m.: Normal Creatures
11:40 p.m.: God Hates Unicorns
The Sanctuary at Mr. Smalls
7 p.m.: Studio Open House Tour
8 p.m.: Zinnia's Garden
9 p.m.: New Invisible Joy
Millvale Community Center
3 p.m.: Galactic Jihad
4 p.m.: Sundras
5 p.m.: Mother Elizabeth Thorne
6 p.m.: Victims Of Contagion
7 p.m.: XMUTINY
8 p.m.: Unfurl
9 p.m.: Tiwanaku
10 p.m.: Desolence
11 p.m.: Iron Brigade
11:59 p.m.: Dethlehem
Grist House Craft Brewery (all ages)
1:20 p.m.: Howling Mob
2:20 p.m.: Favorite Band
3:20 p.m.: Bloomfield
4:20 p.m.: The Alfomega
5:20 p.m.: Essential Machine
6:20 p.m.: SupaSata
7:20 p.m.: The Dwellingtons
8:20 p.m.: Madame Marlowe
9:20 p.m.: Giant’s Causeway
Strange Roots
2:20 p.m.: Tony Pickles
3:20 p.m.: DikBlüd
4:20 p.m.: The Burnrides
5:20 p.m.: The Biscuits
6:20 p.m.: The Slobberknockers
7:20 p.m.: The Book Club
8:20 p.m.: The Sneaky Heat Missiles
Poetry Lounge
5 p.m.: Black Wolf & the Thief
6 p.m.: King Catfish
7 p.m.: Mr. Fancy Pants
8 p.m.: Strange Monsters
9 p.m.: Amoeba Knievel
10 p.m.: Løve Dümpster
11 p.m.: Post Traumatik