Merced promoter putting together big concert in downtown

A show in the works for May plans to shut down Canal Street between Main and 18th streets for an all-day outdoor concert – replete with beer, food and other vendors.

The Gateway Music Festival has a lineup featuring 18 bands, DJs and a hip-hop emcee, and is headlined by the Stone Foxes, a Bay Area band known for its bluesy rock riffs. The festival is planned 3 p.m. to midnight on May 9 in downtown Merced.

Promoter Joshua Rivera has been planning the show for some time, a show he’s wanted to do for years. “I think it’s good for downtown,” the 33-year-old said. “I was born and raised here, so I’ve always wanted to do a cool, positive event.”

Rivera also made a video to promote the show and Merced’s downtown using a drone fixed with a camera. It’s available on his website, http://unit23a.wix.com/gatewaymusic.

Another band at the show, California’s Skanks Roots Project, is set to perform with rapper Casual from the Hieroglyphics, a Oakland hip-hop crew that features Del tha Funkee Homosapien and may be best known for 1999’s “You Never Knew.”

The lineup boasts a number of Merced-based bands, like rock groups Bus Stop Boxer, Other Mothers and The Notalauts. Merced also offers reggae band Homebrew.

A number of other bands are coming from out of the area. There are the psychedelic sounds of Plant Tribe, Down Dirty Shake and The Love Dimension, among other bands and genres.

Beyond the bands are DJs from Merced, Modesto and the UC Merced campus, but also DJ Bumper from San Francisco.

If everything goes well, Rivera said, he’d want to make the festival a regular event in Merced. He said he is still working on approval from fire officials, but said the concert would feature a full stage with professional lighting.

With beer trucks, a bar and local food vendors on Canal Street, the Gateway Festival is not unlike popular festivals in the Valley – Xclamation! Festival in Modesto or Catacomb Party in Fresno are just two examples.

Bobcat Brewing Co., a Merced-based brewery, is expected to be on site as well.

The concert is a 21 and older event. Tickets are $20 ahead of time, and $30 at the gate.

The show is a joint effort involving JR Imagery, O’Ryleigh’s Bar and Grill, 92.5 The Bear radio station, Tiburon Designs and Brightdart Print and Design.

Tickets are available at http://gatewaymerced.brownpapertickets.com/.

This story was originally published April 30, 2015 at 9:35 AM with the headline "Merced promoter putting together big concert in downtown."