The Big Fresno Fair 2025 concerts lineup: Light on K-pop?
Plus, TV's Margot Kim is All Fired Up and a Nekrogoblikon review.
This week, The Big Fresno Fair teased, then announced, another round of performers for this year’s concert lineup at the Paul Paul Theatre.
Added to the already announced list: Country singer Dustin Lynch (Oct. 3), reggae band Dirty Heads (Oct. 7) a rock band double bill with Skillet and Switchfoot (Oct. 9) and Brad Jaurique’s R&B Night Out (Oct. 11).
Presales happen June 16.
This leaves just three days (a Tuesday and two Sunday) to fill out the lineup. Traditionally, Sundays have been for big-draw regional Mexican acts (Christian Nodal in 2019, Intocable and Banda MS in 2016, Gloria Trevi in 2015).
If this holds, that means there’s really just one open slot (Oct. 2).
So, what we will see?
Using the comments section as indication, K-pop would likely do well and be a smart move for the fair, hitting into a known (and younger) audience. Back in 2019, I reported on Fresno being ranked the No. 1 mid-sized city for K-pop in terms of ticket sales, according to Vivid Seats.
More recently, Fresno (and the Tower Theater specifically) was one of the few stops for the K-pop group TAN (To All Nations) on both its first and second US tours. You can read a review of their second stop here.
My best guess is we will see either a contemporary Christian act or a comedian, but it would be nice to see the fair take a chance of something slightly out of the norm.
On that note: For those looking to jump down an historical rabbit hole, there’s the Paul Paul Theater page on Setlists.fm. Remember the run of Saturday afternoon concerts? Sabrina Carpenter, Zendaya, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato all played the fair early in their careers.
Margo Kim; All Fired Up (about Pat Benatar)
I will always advocate for people to start bands.
Like, if music is at all something you’re interested in, in any way, I’m gonna support you going for it (because I have and do and it’s as rewarding a thing, artistically, as there is. For me. And of course, I want that you. Everyone should have, and follow, a passion).
And as someone who isn’t mostly known for being a musician, I fully appreciate people who are second-life musicians. I’m thinking KSEE meteorologist AJ Fox, who also happens to play guitar in the ska band Los Hooligans. And … ABC 30 co-anchor Margot Kim, who fronts the Pat Benatar tribute All Fired Up.
It’s a solid gig. She’s performing with a lineup of players that includes lawyer/promoter/radio show host Marc Kapetan; John Sotelo, who cut his teeth playing drums in the ’90s LA club scene and Kevin James, who played guitar with Mr. Rude (and a slew of other cover bands).
All Fired Up had its first show back in April and will be opening up for the Tom Petty tribute Pettybreakers at the Tower Theater Aug. 9.
You can follow Kim’s band journey on Instagram.
Concert review: Nekrogoblikon, June 10, Strummer’s
It’s hard to know where to start with a review of Nekrogoblikon.
One could get off in the weeds rather quickly, nerding out over how representative the band is of its particular spot on the metal spectrum (wikipedia has them listed as melodic death metal, which only matters if you have a clear definition of the sub genre, which I don’t so…) or how proficient the band members are in their respective performances.
Nekrogoblikon is a gimmick band; the gimmick being that it is front by a goblin (who is also a podcaster because, of course). There is a second front-man (Dickie Allen) who’s not a goblin, but sings like one (or at least how one might imagine a goblin might sound).
This is a sort of double gimmick and maybe a statement on the world; that the goblin, playing against type and can actually sing quite nicely and the human being man makes death squeals like a waking nightmare.
And now I’ve gotten off in the weeds.
Because Nekrogoblikon isn’t really a band you need to think about too much. It’s more of a feeling type of band. Specifically, the feeling of being crammed up against hundreds of people inside a (relatively) tiny venue thrashing and jumping and fist pounding, crowd surfing and mosh pitting for an hour or so until the light come up and it’s over.
It’s fun.
A Nekrogoblikon show, whatever else you want to say about it, is big, dumb, loud, fun. I mean, look at this:
And that’s just the first minute or so.
Random observations:
The show sold out. It’s hard to tell if that’s a statement on the band and the tour (which included openers Revocation, Ov Sulfur, and Exmortus) or on the metal scene at large.
The build of the show through each of the openers was good. By the time Nekroboblikon played the audience was primed.
The evolution of metal in my lifetime is wild. Remember when Pantera was the heaviest thing ever? And Slayer was the fastest? Now those bands are headlining festivals, while bands playing club shows are out making them look tame.
That’s it for this week. Remember you can now hear me on the Homegrown Show Sundays at 8 p.m. on New Rock 104.1 FM. Tonight I’m in studio with Joshua and Patrick from Unlikely and Neon Bloom. Follow my other writing at The Fresno Bee. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com