Ah Davis, the memories of my undergraduate days come flooding back: wild toga parties, drunken singalongs to “Louie Louie,” crashing the homecoming parade with John Belushi…wait a minute, that was just Animal House. My time at UC Davis was much more square, most of it spent hunched over books and mistakenly believing that an English degree would provide numerous lucrative future career opportunities. (Ha!) So I sadly didn’t partake in the eclectic music scene that the bicycle-obsessed, farmer’s-market-loving town had to offer at DIY house shows and KDVS-sponsored events. Even worse, the Davis Music Fest, now in its fifth year, didn’t start until after I graduated.

But it’s a good thing the nonprofit Music Only Makes Sense was able to organize the scene in order to showcase some really great music from the Davis/Sacramento area and beyond. Spanning twelve stages over three days, the festival will exhibit around 65 bands at some beloved local venues (Sophia’s! Armadillo Music! The Wunderbar!).

Bay Area music aficionados will certainly recognize a few names on the lineup this year (my homies in Owl Paws and Scary Little Friends; Be Calm Honcho and the French Cassettes) and will discover groups more familiar to Sac dwellers (Drive-Thru Mystics, Tarzan Dragon, Sunmonks, etc.). It’ll be like Picnic Day only with better music and less obnoxiously drunken bros. Click on the link below for the full lineup and detailed event info.

Davis Music Fest
Downtown Davis
June 19-21, 2015
Friday at 5pm to Sunday at 5pm, $25 (all ages)