The Solar Flare music festival has been steadily growing for the last three years, finding new ways to showcase Houston independent artists. This year, the two-day event will return to Axelrad from Friday, August 28 to Saturday, August 29 featuring over 40 artists, vendors, interactive art and three stages at the large venue.
This year there will be performances by Swimwear Department, Sorry Sarah, Hasaan Olu, The Orange Weekend, The Secret Plan and many more.
The festival, organized by Madison Sutton and Shelby Mathews and their team of ten volunteers, was born from Sutton’s project, Houston Music Classifieds, which she started in 2022.
After growing tired of seeing posters for shows around town and simply not being able to retain all of the information or find it in one place, Sutton started her own spreadsheet to track concerts she was interested in.
She began to wonder if it would be helpful for other people to see this information in one place and started posting daily on Instagram. “It was crazy how fast it grew,” says Sutton who describes initially running Houston Music Classifieds as an anonymous account.
As the demand grew higher, Houstonians began to request more from organizers including more information about shows around town, articles and events. Sutton’s team — and her vision for the project — grew along with it. When they celebrated their first anniversary with a party at Dan Electro’s in 2023, they quickly were at capacity.
Sutton thought maybe they needed to host their own music festival. The first year they held Solar Flare at the Continental Club in a one-day, two-stage festival.
“Everyone loved it,” she says. “It got a really warm reception and then everybody wanted us to do it again and we also enjoyed doing it. The big thing about Houston Music Classifieds is it’s for the community. We want to make sure we are doing what our community not just wants, but needs and it seemed like there was a need for something that genuinely celebrated the community of Houston music festival-wise.”
Last year, they held the event at Axelrad over a weekend featuring two stages and watched their event grow even more. “The first year, total participants were 500 and this last year there were a little over 1,500 participants including artists, vendors, volunteers and audience members. It’s such a big jump,” says Sutton.
Being a volunteer-based organization that relies wholly on ticket sales, it was no small feat when Sutton and Mathews were able to break even and pay their artists properly. She remembers being overwhelmed with emotion and crying with joy.
“We made sure we had at least one person who it was their first paid gig ever and I think there’s something really special, almost storybook about that and I think that’s a really important part of making sure it’s the entire community,” says Sutton who strives to add a wide range of experienced performers to the lineup.
This year, Sutton and her team strove to be even bigger and better adding a stage and eight additional bands to the lineup. “We’ve been building a bunch of new sculptures and pieces of artwork to help transform Axelrad into Solar Flare,” she says.
“Axelrad already looks so cool so we’re kinda just adding extra to really make it transformative for the people who go there all the time and for us. I think it’s really important to facilitate this space so it’s not just a big show, it’s a festival of art and artists.
“When I’m talking to the artists, I want to make sure they really understand this is a celebration of Houston’s music but it’s also celebrating you and specifically you and your music. This experience that we are having together, it’s supposed to be a special time for you. You’re not just a product of it, you are the reason.”
This year instead of asking artists to perform, organizers had them submit applications and then selected the lineup based on their intention to create a diverse listing of artists.
“It’s so icky to rank music, so that’s not what we were after,” she explains. “What we were after was a diverse group of genres because Houston isn’t just country or rap or that weird thing you heard in your uncle’s garage that one time, it’s a bunch of different types of music so we are trying to hit a bunch of different points into the weekend and make sure there’s a flow.”
After Solar Flare, Sutton and everyone involved hope to continue growing as an organization serving the city of Houston. For now, though, this weekend is going to be huge for them and everyone involved.
“I just think it’s a truly magical event that has grown because of the people that come to it and the people that play in it,” says Sutton. “I think every year has just gotten better and better and I hope this year is not the exception to the rule. It’s shaping up already to be so cool. I just want people to come and have fun and get to hear a bunch of music that they’ve never heard before and find their new favorite artist in Houston.”
Solar Flare will take place from Friday, August 28 to Saturday, August 29 at Axelrad, 1517 Alabama. For more information visit houstonmusicclassifieds.com. $20 one-day pass, Two-day early bird $30, Two-day, day-of $35.
