Miss the days when Goldenvoice was a scrappy punk promoter booking shows with the funds from founder Gary Tovar’s weed dealing? No Values hits right in your safety-pinned sweet spot. This weekend’s classic punk fest at the Pomona Fairplex is the latest smaller, genre-themed outing from the Coachella promoter. It harkens back to its very early incarnation with acts like the Misfits and Social Distortion atop the bill, and the day is packed with ageless legends (Iggy Pop) and SoCal fixtures (Bad Religion, a Coachella-reunited Sublime, the Vandals), along with a swath of modern inheritors (Turnstile, Ceremony).
Here are five of the best acts worth seeing as you sweat through your long-retired battle jacket. Power Trip The metal world lost one of its most exciting frontmen when Power Trip’s Riley Gale died in 2020. Power Trip, beloved for its mix of Texas thrash and hardcore pummel, was well on its way to becoming a festival-caliber headliner.
After Gale’s death, the band earned a Grammy nomination for metal performance but was uncertain how they’d continue. Now fans have their answer, at least for now. This year, the surviving quartet will perform a run of shows with a longtime friend of the band, Seth Gilmore, on vocals.
No Values will be the first chance SoCal fans have to see them since Gale’s death, and given how their legend has only grown in the interim, it will hopefully be the start of a new era for one of heavy music’s best bands. Soul Glo The NPR Tiny Des.
