Blaring guitar riffs and heavy drum beats filled the San Jose Rockshop amongst the energy of hundreds of people rushing up to the front of the stage to get up close to their favorite bands at SADFEST in downtown San Jose.

SADFEST, a three-day long music festival and art show took place on the weekend of Friday, May 22-24.

The event offered a place for close friends and fans of the bands to enjoy live, local music, with over 30 bands from San Jose and the surrounding Bay Area, as well as touring bands from as far as San Diego to Atlanta, GA.

Sam Kless, 22, commuications major at San Francisco State University, and frontman of Dublin/ Pleastanton based punk band Just Friends, helped lead and organize the event.

“[I wanted] to give back to the community that treated me so well and shaped who I am today… specifically Dublin and Pleasanton,” said Kless. “I grew up in a scene that was huge and now I’m the only one left.”

Kless said he “threw away [his] little league career for jazz studies,” and has been involved with music since he was 11
years old.

Venues like the Rockshop in downtown San Jose, and music events like SADFEST provide an outlet for local musicians and bands to showcase their performances, especially since many of them are primarily made up of busy college students.

There was no lack of energy, as hundereds of people took to dancing and singing along to their favorite songs word-by-word while bands played back-to-back well into one in the morning the next day.