You know how it gets. The whole morning and early afternoon, the voice in my head telling me not to do the thing, to stay home, the weather sucks, driving in NY is expensive, depressing and tedious, the couch and the dog and Twilight Princess are here, so who ever wanted to do a weekend of commuter-fest? There was no logical case to be made against this. I just had to tell that frankly much more reasonable portion of my brain to can it and get myself out of the house. I wouldn’t say it was easy. Shut up, it’s fine, shut up. It’ll be fine.

This was the schedule of the night:

COSMIC STAGE – The Meadows
11:15 Dead Meadow 60min
10:05 Al-Qasar 45min
8:40 The Atomic Bitchwax 60min
7:30 Electric Citizen 50min
6:30 Mirror Queen 45min
5:30 Worshipper 45min
4:30 Alreckque 45min

SONIC STAGE – The Woodshop
45min sets except where noted, 15-20min changeovers
11:30 Sphaèros Possession
10:30 Satan’s Satyrs
9:20 Sun Voyager
8:10 Casket Rats
7:05 The Golden Grass
6:15 Dead Hits (30min set)
5:10 River Cult

No way I was going to see all of it, right? Unreasonable expectations. But with some back and forth, it would be mostly doable. The drive was every bit as pleasant as pre-departure anxiety made it out to be, but I still had some time to sit in the car with the window open (raining) and vape like a douchebag to try and calm my nerves. I was about two blocks from the venues and walked over in the rain, good and stoned and wet walking into The Meadows for Alreckque.

Familiar faces, the three of them being veterans of the Boston underground, Jim Healey on vocals and guitar, Aaron Gray on bass and backing and some lead vocals, and Rob Davol on drums. Melody and crunch were kind of what you’d expect from them, but the configuration was new to me live and it was cool to see those guys doing the thing. Obviously they’ve written more songs since they did that demo in 2024 (review here).

I popped down to the Wood Shop for River Cult, who for sure are a band I need to see again, and I say that having seen not all that much since they hit it a couple minutes late and Worshipper were about to go on at The Meadows. This was kind of going to be the story of the night, and fair enough. The back and forth probably wouldn’t kill me, but I wanted to see a lot of the bands playing the show, so that’s what I did. River Cult were still on when I got back to The Wood Shop, so I got to see at least the start and finish. Take what I can get.

It was back to Wood Shop ahead of Dead Hits, with exes from Naam and La Otracina, among others. My first time seeing them too, and though there was some nasty feedback of the unintentional kind at the start, once the set actually began, it was all kind of a haze, and that very much was intentional. Boogie, howl and scorch, none of which was a surprise given their makeup, but the psychblast element was most certainly appreciated. I couldn’t stay, since Mirror Queen were about to hit it next door, but I’d never seen them before, so I decided I’d be back. Again, that’s the night. I’m not saying stop reading now, but please know you’re never obligated at any point to continue.

The bummer of it, honestly, is that I’m not a very good photographer. I’ve been doing it for 15 years, and I’ve had some good ones along the way, but I’ve frankly never had the commitment to it as a creative endeavor to make it anything more than something I do to go along with the writing. I wish I had a great passion for it but I don’t. I just didn’t have a better solution than doing it myself.

But even going back and forth to shoot this or band, the proximity shouldn’t be left out of the conversation. It’s The Meadows, and then the next door down is The Wood Shop. So easy enough, for which I was grateful. Night two at The Meadows and The Monarch would be the same. I think The Monarch is the door after that. Maybe that’s where the hardcore fest was.

No, not even close to my first time seeing Mirror Queen, but their mellowrockpsychprog always goes down smooth and they did a new song called “City Skies” that Kenny — whose shindig this whole thing is — said had never before been played by humans. Duh, it was mellowrockpsychproggy. Then they hit into the thrashy “Rider on the Rain” and I knew Dead Hits were done anyway so I had a couple minutes before I needed to be over there for The Golden Grass.

It had been a while. New bassist. Don Berger. You’ll never guess where I looked that up. By a while I meant years and years, and I already knew it would be a sampling, but again, you go with it. It was a fomo kind of night, and of course as it went on it would be harder to get up front. I needed to rethink the strategy.

Hard choices. The Golden Grass are always great, but they had technical trouble before getting started, so it was a delay. I decided I’d settle in at The Meadows for Electric Citizen and most of The Atomic Bitchwax until Sun Voyager went on. I knew Al-Qasar and Satan’s Satyrs would be more back and forth later, but some things can’t be helped.

Electric Citizen played my town last summer, so aside from the forever-points thereby earned as regards general appreciation, they were relatively fresh in mind, but even so, they had a different keyboardist out with them, so that was a change. Also there was a disco ball and a dude dancing in the back. They killed, in other words. And golly, that last record smoked. They were the only full set I saw all night, and no, not just because they came to Parsippany frickin’ New Jersey. But like I said, forever-points anyhow.

Those points could be yours. Come to Jersey. (Please note points hold no cash or other value.)

In all seriousness, I was glad to see them pull the crowd they did, and extra glad I was part of it. They make a mean five-piece. Laura Dolan made an impassioned testimony between songs about having played an early gig with Dead Meadow and how it opened doors for them and it meant something to be playing with them again, kind of celebrating the scene as it were, where the bands know each other and the fans know the bands and a lot of the time the bands know the fans too. It’s a weird era in heavy rock as it is in everything else, but you can’t really look around underground heavy music at this point and say it’s lacking either quality or quantity. 10 years ago this show might’ve happened — Tee Pee did a Cosmic Sonic Rendezvous in 2015; I lived in Massachusetts at that point or I might’ve gone — but not 20. It was SHoD and Emissions and a few in Europe. That growth is a thing worth honoring, all the more because I think the genre has grown and changed as well, even in its most willfully traditional niches.

Electric Citizen occupy one of those, as there’s always been plenty of ’70s in their sound, but they’re a perfect example of a band who’ve progressed over their decade-plus, who have pushed themselves to try new things. And you could certainly say The Atomic Bitchwax have changed over their 27 years, though they’re arguably faster and fiercer in recent years than they’ve ever been, so I guess that tells you something. Plus every now and then they break out something midtempo that seems slow by comparison. It’d be the regular set and I would see most not all of it, but that is the order of things, as the Jem’Hadar are wont to say.

Forever on a tear, The Bitchwax smoked the room nicely as they will, and a slew of classics and recent burners were aired, same set they’ve been doing the last few years, but shit, it ain’t broke. Homeboy in the back was dancing again, which is the kind of thing you can see when you stay in a room for more than 10 minutes of a set. Tomorrow I’ll do differently. But the TAB, with Bob Pantella bashing away in back like he’s actually annoyed at the drums, Chris Kosnik and Garrett Sweeny all smiles up front, it’s a good show to see and a tough one to walk out of to catch the start of Sun Voyager, over at The Wood Shop. They premiered their latest single “Running Hot” here and I wanted to catch it in-person. They line checked with it, so I didn’t wait long.

Bassist Stefan Mersch caught some flack for the poncho, good-natured, of course, and not from me. I’m bad enough at regular human conversation that I feel like throwing around playful gibes isn’t what I need to be spending my time doing. I’d just end up talking shit and not meaning to. But they are not a band I take for granted seeing, and they’ve come through a lot the last few years to sound so righteous as they did. I had time before Al-Qasar went on to check out a goodly portion of the set. More because Sun Voyager basically went on on time.

The guitar of Christian Lopez (also Heavy Temple) was loud enough that up front your earplugs were little more than a cute accessory. When I lay down to go to bed tonight and I’m still hearing those solo notes from “Running in Circles” repeating themselves via tinnitus, I won’t be surprised. “God is Dead” had that same dude dancing. David and Danielle there, their buddy Craig who’s super-nice, Bill Kerls, a bunch of other people you meet and know in this thing. Sacri Monti rolled in amd were hanging out; I got to say hi to Anthony Meier, which is always nice, and even slow-burning Sun Voyager is still on fire, so the room was in. I don’t think the lights changed at all from the start of the set. Doesn’t matter. The band were hypnotic in that cool light and they remain a blast to see. I’m glad they’ve stuck it out and come so far the last couple years. Lopez, Mersch, drummer Kyle Beach. I can’t think of another band on the Eastern Seaboard who revels in the psych-gnarly like they do or with nearly as much joy.

Al-Qasar were soon on at The Meadow, so it was back out into the (now lighter) rain for all of 10 seconds to go from one venue to the other. I think they were kind of a mystery for most people but the Middle Eastern-vibing psych outfit feature Thomas Bellier, formerly of Blaak Heat Shujaa, so there’s the Tee Pee connection. I remember that band fondly and got to see them live despite their being from France, and thought they were way more interesting than they got ever credit for. That same drive toward the individual is in Al-Qasar, even if most of the rest has changed.

They would probably be the only band of the weekend to lead the crowd in a chant of “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free,” admirable as that is. And that’s hardly all stood out about them, what with Bellier on the oud and their vocalist running two mics through a processor, slap bass and Arab-influenced rhythms. You could dance to it, say, if you’d been dancing all night, but for sure too, Satan’s Satyrs were about to rip shit at The Wood Shop, so I did my last bit of back and forth ahead of closing the night with Dead Meadow, and I’ll just say that Clayton Burgess’ band certainly wasn’t any less charged for having Erik Larson (so many bands) on drums. I hope to see Thunderchief, in which he also plays, later this summer, as I did last summer on CT, whereas the last time I saw Satan’s Satyrs was next door at a Desertfest NY pre-show and they had Sean Saley of Pentagram, etc. drumming. Funny how these things go sometimes.

I decided while they were playing that the next morning, in addition to sorting photos and all the rest, I’d pick up some Doan’s for my back — which come to think of it, I started taking after a recommendation from Larson however many years ago — and maybe one of those gross sticky things that are always so cold but also work. My back hurt, is the underlying message. Satan’s Satyrs’ power boogie would surely have had me up for a two-step otherwise; they are an absolute shove, and even when they’re not going full-speed, you know it’s only a matter of time before the next round starts. They had glee at the racket they made in common with Sun Voyager.

My night capped back at The Meadows for Dead Meadow. By then, I guess the hardcore fest was done because people were lining up like for a dance club, which is to say better dressed than either the hardcore crowd or this one. Nobody’s wearing camo shorts on line for the cluuub.

I had told myself I wouldn’t sit on the stage, but I did anyhow. Come on, I made it to the last band, and I was dragging. But where Satan’s Satyrs were running laps around the universe, Dead Meadow’s signature roll is of a calmer spirit, and that warmth and nod felt like a good way to end it for me. A fuzz to give comfort. There was still the commute home and back for night two to consider, whether I wanted to be considering them or not. Hazards of commuter-fest. Glad I was there at all, even long past the point of being able to hang with it as I was.

Ride in was Genghis Tron, Nine Inch Noize, Elder and Floor. Ride home was the Genghis Tron again. I had that shirt on too.

More to come.

Tags: Al-Qasar, Alreckque, Brooklyn, Cosmic Sonic Rendezvous, Cosmic Sonic Rendezvous 2026, Dead Hits, Dead Meadow, Electric Citizen, New York City, River Cult, Sun Voyager, Tee Pee Records, The Atomic Bitchwax, The Golden Grass, Worshipper

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 24th, 2026 at 10:02 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.