Sound Mind Mental Health Music Festival
recap by Alex Kluft
All Time Low, Fitz & The Tantrums headlined a celebration of Mental Health Month with a socially-distanced, outdoor mini music festival to foster empathy and increased awareness around mental health with a LIVE drive-in Mental Health Music Festival May 20, 2021 at Ventura County Fairgrounds and also included Lovelytheband, Charlotte Lawrence, Matthew Logan Vasquez (Delta Spirit), and Ian Sweet.
Early 2020, the coronavirus began to spread overseas and by March it came to the U.S. and the entire world was in full lockdown as the Covid-19 pandemic began. Covid-19 forced closures of schools, businesses, restaurants, and all sporting/theater/concert events were initially postponed a few months and ultimately cancelled. This led to millions of Americans becoming unemployed anywhere from several months to over a year. Now, 14 months later, the world is starting to go back pre Covid-19 with schools reopening, businesses open, restaurants open for both indoor and outdoor dining, museums, movie theaters, and even theme parks now open again. During this past year there was a tremendous increase of alcohol and substance abuse, physical abuse, and a major decline in mental health with suicide hotlines receiving record number of calls.
Sound Mind started with three short video segments followed by the evenings host comedian Atsuko Okatsuka. The first performance was Ian Sweet, who battled mental illness herself and shared how outpatient therapy helped her get where she is today. Sweet said if it had not been for therapy she would not have been standing there performing. Matthew Logan Vasquez of Middle Brother and Delta Spirit was the second performer. Before the Lovelytheband the first speaker of the evening came out which was Tony Cornelius son of legendary Soul Train creator Don Cornelius. Tony shared losing his father 9 years ago by suicide and how he has helped spread the message of mental health awareness since. Cornelius and Okatsuka announced Lovelytheband together. Following their performance were several video segments and poet Yashi Brown. Brown, a major mental health advocate for the past decade has spoken on Fox News, CNN, Today Show, CBS, KTLA, and many more networks. As Brown took the stage she announced being in a car accident on the way there but still made it on time and that should try to remember her speech as best as she could. Brown did a fantastic job and recited perfectly.
The festival’s first headliner, Fitz and The Tantrums, took the stage for a special acoustic performance. Fitz and The Tantrums’ set of just 25 minutes included their smash hits “Out of My League,” “Handclap,” and “All the Feels.” Fitz and The Tantrums are known for high energy performances and even acoustically still gave a memorable performance.
All Time Low closed the show, and it was clear to see how excited their fans were to see them perform for the first time in over a year. It was also a unique situation for them because they had released an album in April last year and didn’t have a chance to perform any material from it until now. All Time Low also performed acoustically and their set included nine songs.
All Time Low Setlist
- Some Kind of Disaster
- Sleeping In
- Missing You
- Once in a Lifetime
- Glitter & Crimson
- Monsters
- Therapy
- Weightless
- Dear Maria, Count Me In
Show Order:
3 Video Segments
Host Atsuko Okatsuka
Performance: Ian Sweet – 15 mins
Virtual Panel
Host Atsuko Okatsuka
Performance: Matthew Logan Vasquez (Delta Spirit)- 20 mins
Video: Taylor Goldsmith
Video: Neal Casal
Virtual Panel
Host Atsuko Okatsuka
Video: Charlotte Lawrence
Host Atsuko Okatsuka
Live Speaker: Tony Cornelius
Performance: Lovelytheband 25 mins
Video: Anthony Green
Video
Virtual Panel
Host Atsuko Okatsuka
Spoken Word: Yashi Brown
Performance: Fitz and the Tantrums- 25 mins
Two Videos
Virtual Panel
Host Atsuko Okatsuka
Performance: All Time Low- 35 minutes
Goodbye:Host Atsuko Okatsuka
At the Ventura County Fair, Concerts in Your Car, featuring both drive-in concerts and movies, has been taking place since last year.
May 20th | Ventura County Fairgrounds
The 2021 Sound Mind Mental Health Music Festival brought together musicians, music lovers and forward-thinking organizations to build a supportive community around mental health. Celebrated Mental Health Awareness month with a drive-in, outdoor mini music festival to foster empathy and increased awareness around mental health.
Event proceeds support the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Ventura. NAMI-Ventura provides mental health programs free of charge to anyone who needs them – an affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the largest grassroots organization for mental health in the country. Audiences also have the ability to donate to their local NAMI affiliate
Proceeds from the in-person concert and global livestream support free mental health resources and programs in the wake of the pandemic.
http://www.concertsinyourcar.com
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