Chagall PACKED
Moon Over Salem 2024
Awnthay tchotchkes Chagall PAC at Moon Over Salem.
Pregame Rituals, Deadwait, Jeff Savlon, and Canadian Sailor pack them into the souvenir shoppe with two ‘p’s and one ‘e’.
Goodbye Hope Fest, hello Moon Over Salem.
Moon Over Salem is a partial benefit for two artist scholarships. So says MOON:
“We aim to support the community by raising funds for local scholarship programs.
“A portion from the proceeds from our annual festival will go towards awarding two scholarships to students pursuing music or the arts in college.
“Each school year, the scholarships will be awarded to one NAGLY youth, and a Student from the Greater Salem area, helping to nurture the next generation of artists and musicians.”
The one-day music festival Moon Over Salem, FKA Hope Fest, shined on a hustling & bustling Saturday in Salem.
Were we still in September? You don’t even want to know what kinds of crowds come out of the tourist woodwork closer to Halloween. As it was, a beautiful day and night of music, tightrope-walking the line between summer and fall, with more than thirty bands performing at seven stages.
And if you had one of those little green cloth wristbands (don’t overtighten them!), you had a front row seat for the entire moveable feast.
The courtyard outside Chagall PAC
Along with Gulu-Gule Cafe and Koto, Chagall PAC was an evening-only stage at Moon Over Salem. Presumably, transforming from a fine-art tchotchke shoppe by day into its alter ego as an underground music hot spot. Is “hotspot” one word? Beware the delicate and fragile objects along the walls – if you break it, you buy it!
Unlike the meaty between set times of Ames Hall and Cinema Salem earlier in the day, the intervals at Chagall PAC were brisk, allowing enough time for changing out equipment, a quick soundcheck, and not much more. The fifteen minutes between opener Canadian Sailor and Awnthay was the standard.
Awnthay at Chagall PAC
What kind of music does Awnthay play? It’s kind of a fantastic and unclassifiable mix. Rock, pop, shades of emo, a bit of roots. Good energy, great crowd rapport, and bonus points for not damaging any high-priced souvenirs during the performance.
Pregame Rituals closed out Chagall PAC, following scheduled sets by Jeff Savlon and Deadwait. Now Pregame Rituals is a band that could break a few baubles, if the crowd at their Deep Cuts show was any indication. But the vast majority of performers in 2024 are keenly aware of and respectful of their performance space, whether it’s a professional venue or a DIY gig in a souvenir shoppe.
What’s next for Moon Over Salem? You’ve got to ask the organizers, MOON. Seems like they’ve created a kind of template for a locally-supported fest. The inaugural edition of Moon Over Salem was a success, and if the local support is there, it’s a success that could be repeated for years.
But you don’t want to just repeat an event, however successful. You want to grow it, develop it, refine it, nurture it, cultivate it, tend to it lovingly like a prized Tamagotchi Pet. What are some areas in which Moon Over Salem could grow?
Photo Gallery
Awnthay tchotchkes Chagall PAC at Moon Over Salem.