Local music organization Midnight Reality will present the second annual summer festival RealFest from 1 to 10 p.m. on June 25 in Dunn Meadow. The festival will be free and livestreamed.
Joey Miller, the creator of Midnight Reality, said the organization began in 2012, and he uses it as a production, distribution and event planning organization.
Miller graduated from IU in 2021. He has released music for multiple bands, including his own, under Midnight Reality.
“I love Indiana. I was born in Chicago, we were raised in Indiana basically my whole life, and so Bloomington is my home,” Miller said. “I went to school there and spent some extended time there, so I really do love Bloomington, and I come back every chance I get.”
Miller works in the music industry in Los Angeles, but said he still envies the Bloomington music community.
“It has things that LA doesn't have and it has things that I wish were as easily accessible out here,” Miller said. “I can't walk to shows. I miss Bloomington a lot just strictly for its music scene because there was so much going on.”
Miller said that he is at the helm of RealFest, but that credit is due to many people. Spencer Bowman and Andrew Torbenson from video crew B6 Films will return for the second RealFest. WIUX and sound and stage managers also helped put the event together.
Miller said he wanted RealFest to be a summer music festival for the people who stay in Bloomington. He worked with WIUX during his time at IU and said he wanted to model RealFest after WIUX Culture Shock, a Bloomington tradition since 1986.
On the day of the event, Pili’s Party Taco food truck will be parked on a nearby street selling food and drinks. RealFest and WIUX merchandise will be sold at the festival.
A variety of musical genres will be celebrated. Each artist will play original work, which is what Miller said he wants to highlight.
Last year’s RealFest featured 16 acts. This year, the set list will be smaller to give the musicians longer playing time, Miller said.
Fleeter will perform with her latest release, single “She Was an Hour.”
Grace Leckey will celebrate the release of her newest album “Best Supporting Actress” the same day as her performance at RealFest. Abdul Fall, a Senegal-born rapper, will perform his latest release, “EVOLVE 2.”
Producer and engineer Damion Schiralli will perform with a live band. His solo project released a single, “Company Man,” last month and plans to have a full LP released this summer.
Fort Wayne band Loveseat!, local band Saffron, Indianapolis rapper Pat App, Bloomington hyper pop band Turquoise Mansion and Fern Murphy, an Indianapolis shoegaze band, will play their original music.
The full list of performers will be available on the RealFest website.
Class Action, a Bloomington rock band made up of IU juniors, will also perform.
“You always got to have at least one of those on the lineup, because it wouldn't be a musical event in Bloomington without your standard four piece rock band,” Miller said. “They are everywhere, and I want to include them because it's such an integral part of the music scene.”
