Indie City Fridays is carrying on in place of the Beating Heart Festival, the youth concert series that was cancelled after a two-year run in the Central Library Square.
The new concert series takes to the stage next to the Civic Centre each Friday in August. The free concerts run from about 7-10 p.m.
To find out what youth want to listen to, organizers went straight to the high school crowd. City of Mississauga staff enlisted Alien Aided Records, a record label run by local high school students, to tell them what teenagers are interested in.
"I honestly don't know what the teens or the high school students are listening to," said manager of My Mississauga events, Melissa Di Carlo. "We engaged (the label) and they told us what they wanted to see and recommended a bunch of bands to us."
The concert series debuts tomorrow with Montreal band The Hunters, Thornhill's Omega 3, Stop Drop N’ Skank, Mississauga's Keepin' 6 and Toronto quartet The Flatliners.
Di Carlo said that although the Beating Heart Festival ran throughout the summer, it made financial sense to limit the new series to August.
"Rather than spread out the budget, we wanted to focus on presenting stronger concerts," she said. "Attendance is always the goal and we want to get at least 500 people per show."
City staff also said Alien Aided Records was the only group of promoters to officially approach the City about a partnership.
Noise complaints from residents in the surrounding condos are dropping from year to year, said Di Carlo.
"I think during its inception a lot of people weren't used to the noise and all the people walking around," she said. "Now, they're used to it and expect it. The feedback we've received has been very positive. People are pleasantly surprised to walk by and be able to enjoy a concert."
The Flatliners, who headline, are vocalist/guitarist Chris Cresswell, guitarist Scott Brigham, bassist Jon Darbey and drummer Paul Ramirez. The band released its latest album, The Great Awake, in 2007.
The album includes the popular single, The Respirator, which is generating a great deal of airplay on 102.1 The Edge.
The series continues with The Diary of Anne Frank, Texas Armed to the Teeth, Night of Snake and Threat Signal (Aug. 8); The Marbles, The Bangers Club, The Text Book Riot, Everlea and Sydney (Aug. 15); Hyper Ninja Clan, The Good Times, Walk Off the Earth and One Night Band (Aug. 22); Mayday, Mr. Pink, Dance Electric, Corporation and The Happy Accidents (Aug. 29).
cclay@mississauga.net
