Day two of Carolina Indie Fest comin’ at ya, here’s what we got: Bands 2:30pm - The Pinkerton Raid - folk 3:45pm - Modern Moxie | NC Indie Rock - pop rock 5:00pm - Oort Patrol - sci fi punk rock 6:15pm - JULIA. - funk 7:30pm - Twurt Chamberlain - blues, rock, punk, hip hip+ 8:45pm - DÅZR - high energy, big sound, big hair, rock-and-roll ​ Food Trucks (2:30-9pm) Tacos El Primo, Inc - tacos, burritos, mmmmm tacos Lotus Poke Co Company - tuna poke and more Pizza Islife - Neopoli

At 5pm tonight we kick off our 9th Carolina Indie Fest and, thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, it's entirely free to attend. Here's the haps for tonight - Friday, Sept 25th. Bands 5pm - David Michael Miller - acoustic blues 6:15pm - Ghosts of Liberty - country 7:30pm - Trash Van Fever - punkgrass 8:45pm - Charlsee & Cam - rock/retro folk Visit our bands page for links to their music or listen to our playlist with all Fall 2026 artists. Food Trucks Tacos El Primo - Ind

The day before Indie is all about preparation so I want to give some thoughts on how to best enjoy the fest on Friday and Saturday. First, these temps look amazing but prepare for it to be 60-65F when the sun goes down around 7:30pm. In my best grandma voice I urge you to "bring a sweatshirt with you!" Also, while the sun is up grab a hat or bring some sunscreen (look for sunscreens that include Bemotrizinol for the best coverage) - Friday night isn't an issue but the UV in

There are drink options galore at Carolina Indie Fest ranging from beer/wine/THC drinks to coffee, lemonade, mocktails and more. Let's dive in! With the stage sited on the grounds of Hugger Mugger Brewing guests will have access to 18 beers, two rotating ciders from James Creek and Botanist & Barrel, a selection of wine, craft soda and our made-in-house lemon lime THC drink Spryke. There are two beers of note that were brewed in collaboration with our festival sponsors: Com

You're only rocking out as far as your last meal takes you, better fuel up for fun at Indie! Before I get to the food trucks just know there are a number of non-food truck items at Indie every year. Mom Lisa and C&G Sweet Spot are cookies and sweets purveyors that brewery veterans will readily recognize (and flock to). Carolina Donut Diva will be serving up gourmet mini donuts, they have buckets - I don't know if they're bringing the buckets but you might could bring your o

With four days to go it's down to the final preparations for Carolina Indie Fest, and that (plus two radio appearances) put me in a contemplative mood to reflect on the festival. In no particular order ... this is truly an independent festival, just think of other live music you've attended. Who's organizing it? Who's performing at it? I am likely a bit naive but I'd never thought of that before. I started thinking about it after a friend shared some info with me about a

Trash Van Fever is the kind of hot mess you like. The band, who perform a style they call "punkgrass", call their method of performing "controlled chaos". Great description because as you listen to Trash Van Fever it seems at any point their music might veer into something completely different, or just dissolve into cacophony as each instrument leaves the melody and takes on its own direction. Like any good independent band, Trash Van Fever is an experience. These are all

One of the most popular Indie items at Indie Fest in May were upcycled clothes retrofitted with Indie branding. This innovative idea is the brainchild of Marilyn at Get Under My Skin - she sold out on the first night last time around but she’s better prepared for the demand this time on Sept 25th and 26th and is bringing some cool new gear (pictured). If you aren’t familiar with Marilyn she is a seamstress extraordinaire. In this instance she's taking leftover Indie merch an

Indie Man is the official mascot of Carolina Indie Fest and will be overseeing tonight’s trivia (7pm start) at Hugger Mugger Brewing as Monster of Ceremonies. There will be three competitive rounds of trivia for which standard prizes are awarded and one lightning round of only questions about Carolina Indie Fest. The winner of the latter round will win Indie Fest shirts for their trivia team. Tonight’s competition categories are Carolina, Indie & Fest. To be clear - none of t

VIP badges arrived today - these are two sided badges which, in addition to looking handsome, contain your beer tickets - good at any pouring station. The badges themselves grant the wearer access to the brewery (aka VIP area) which has the best seats in the house overlooking the stage. They also get you a buffet dinner from Tacos El Primo, the official caterer of Carolina Indie Fest. Of course, Carolina Indie Fest is entirely free thanks to the generosity of our local spon

If you love rock and roll then DAZR has to be in your playlist somewhere. High energy, big sound, a guy with the last name Hendrix on guitar, lots of hair ... did I travel back in time? DAZR almost made me forget it was the year 2026! Hailing from South Carolina, DAZR has been on the scene for four years performing live and releasing high quality videos like this one. They embody the spirit of independence and hard work that is part of the rock and roll tradition, "no back

The official Fall 2026 playlist has dropped! First up, the YouTube version. Everyone has their own preferred platform, YouTube allows me to see how musicians perform on stage. If you submitted to Carolina Indie Fest as a musician you'd be asked to submit links to music on YouTube for just that reason. This is just one song by each artist, the intent is to give you an overview of the festival bands, you can always visit our bands page to to find links of where to listen to

Hailing from Lexington, Mississippi, Twurt Chamberlain is joining Carolina Indie Fest this Fall. Twurt is an exciting musician - his songs have a lot of energy and there's an urgency behind them. It's not just the lyrics, those alone would mark him as a soulful rebel, it's also his melodies and vocals that are attention grabbing. He's a musician who won't let you be distracted by his music. He's also the only musician to perform at Carolina Indie Fest who has a film titled

Re-Introducing … Oort Patrol - the sexiest temporally ambivalent punk rock band in most dimensions. Natives of Sanford and Cary, they are no strangers to Carolina Indie Fest having performed here a couple times including our second ever Indie Fest. When not overseeing the galactic and benevolent Oort Patrol Foundation (OPF) they are found pushing their band concept to the limits in new spaces including an animated music video and their video for The Search for SETI (which has

Get food, beverage, the official Indie Fest cup and the best seats in the house for the 9th Carolina Indie Fest on Friday, September 25 (5-10pm) & Saturday, September 26 (2:30-10pm). Seating is limited and buying online is recommended - click here to buy your tickets. VIP tickets are a badge you wear on the date(s) of the event and includes tickets for 3 beverages/day and a buffet spread from Tacos El Primo served at 6pm each evening. Covered VIP seating is located in the br

Indie Man will be hosting celebrity trivia at Hugger Mugger Brewing on Tuesday, September 15 at 7pm. This is a free event with teams of up to 6 people playing for the brewery to buy a portion of their beer tab. Indie Man will throw in some extra Carolina Indie Fest prizes as well. Expect three rounds of trivia with ten questions per round and a variety of challenge from very easy to head scratchingly tough. It's all in good fun. Celebrity trivia runs from September 8th to N

Every year we get asked the question - do you allow dogs at Carolina Indie Fest? The answer is, in the best tradition of improv, "yes, and ...". We have three businesses catering to dogs at Indie Fest this year. Hemp Nation is operating the Elevation Station at Indie Fest on both Friday and Saturday. They wanted everyone to know to bring your puppers by to get some CBD oil rubbed on those tired paws. We also have Bark Rebel joining us on Saturday, they are a vintage inspi

Ghosts of Liberty is a foothills, North Carolina based band consisting of husband & wife duo Emma Millard (Lead Vocals) Tyler Millard (Vocals, Guitar) and Tyler’s father Rich Millard (Keys). While described to me as Americana folk-rock I would locate the music of the Millards three squarely in a modern country music dynamic. I may find out differently when seeing them on stage, that does happen, but their music available online has the consistent themes family, naturalism an

Laser tag is back, baby! Let your inner '80s child run free (until they lose all their lives) at laser tag during Carolina Indie Fest. We've built a lit course under the parking deck attached to Hugger Mugger Brewing for play during afternoon and evening hours. There is a small fee ($5 for a half hour of play/player) and we will have half hour segments structured for all ages battle royale and slightly structured adult team play. Join us for an awesome time running around

Charlsee & Cam Gandee are an indie rock duo from the Kentuckiana region, giving them runnerup for the furthest distance traveled to Carolina Indie Fest this year. Their music is fun, vibrant and really breathtaking when Charlsee's strong, clean vocals take center stage. At first listen you'll be drawn into the vocals and may hazard a comparison to Grace Slick's iconic voice but Charlsee & Cam are clearly their own style. Their lyrics and storytelling are top notch & they se