EASTHAMPTON — After a great response for its inaugural year, QueerCore Fest 2025 is returning bigger and better this time around with an expanded two-day lineup featuring 13 bands.
QueerCore Fest is a vibrant celebration of queer, trans, gender-diverse and femme voices, along with voices from various races and ethnic backgrounds, uniting music, art and activism for a day of collective empowerment, joy and rallying of spirit under the credo, “Loud music for Collective Liberation.”
QueerCore Fest 2025 is Friday and Saturday, Sept. 12 and 13, at CitySpace in Easthampton. On Friday, doors will open at 6 p.m. with the show set for 7 p.m. On Saturday, doors will open at 3 p.m. for a 4 p.m. show. For tickets and a view at the full music lineup during the two days, visit events.humanitix.com/queercore-fest-2025.
With the community ethos of a DIY basement punk show, QueerCore Fest features a lineup of 13 punk and hardcore bands centering queer, trans, gender diverse and femme artists, as well as artists from various races and ethnic backgrounds, and includes tabling by local 2S LGBTQIA+ organizations, a maker’s market in partnership with Yet Another Queer Pop-up Market, and food by Rough Chop Truck food truck.
Co-created by the QueerCore Collaborative for 2SLGBTQIA+ community and allies, the fest’s second year sounds a brazen signal for all intersectional marginalized people and allies to gather, rally around each other, and to feel nourished, affirmed and connected.
“More than a festival, QueerCore Fest is an invocation — an invitation to feel our hearts and nervous systems collectively remember our belonging. And from that place, it is a promise — that we can and will continue to build worlds that affirm, resource and celebrate the brilliant humanity of all whose existence is pushed to the margins,” said Ben Delozier, one of the festivals organizers.
Delozier said he and other organizers felt the initial effort last year was timely in giving the queer community a setting to rally amidst “everything that’s going on in our world right now.” The vision succeeded as last year’s one-day event was a sold out show.
“The response was just incredible,” said Delozier. “But on top of that we had a number of people explicitly seeking us out as we were leaving the event just being like, ‘hey this was incredible. I’ve never experienced anything in my life like this before. I’ve never walked into a room and just everywhere I looked I felt like I was surrounded by my people, surrounded by people that are like me.’ Some version of that came from a number of different people and so that was like the confirmation that wow, this is really needed and something that is nourishing people’s hearts. This is a counterpoint to so much in the world that is communicating to queer and especially trans folks that many spaces out there are not for them, whether explicit or implicit. This is a space where you can walk in and just know pretty much immediately that there’s a baseline of who I am is not only understood and welcomed but it’s celebrated here.”
In solidarity with marginalized communities worldwide, QueerCore Fest is also a benefit show raising funds for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a non-political humanitarian organization providing essential care to children and families in Gaza and beyond. Last year’s fest raised just over $2,000 for the same cause.
“I think something that we feel really clear about — the tagline that we’re using for this year’s event is loud music for collective liberation. I think a lot of what we’re doing is centering obviously queer artistry, queer voices, queer makers. This again is really looking to create a doorway and a portal into a world. We’re world building at this event is how I kind of see it,” Delozier said.
He continued, “We really believe that liberation is a collective effort. Nobody is free until everybody is free, that any time violence is brought to anybody in any community, it is violence towards all of humanity. So, I think for us when we look at what’s happening in Palestine, it just feels like a very clear choice for us, especially with the very direct involvement of our government and country in what’s happening over there. As we stand with each other here as a queer community, we are also standing with all marginalized folks across the world whose humanity is being targeted. It’s really that simple. Being human, being alive in the world is a magical thing and I think hopefully most human beings can agree with that and so if we feel that in ourselves why would we not stand with each other in that.”
Local community partners for this event include CitySpace, Translate Gender, Yet Another Queer Pop-up Market, Bombyx Center for the Arts, UMass SALT, Rough Chop Truck and Silver Screen Designs.
The venue is wheelchair accessible, and the accessible entrance is on the left-hand side of the building. Those with any accessibility needs are asked to notify QueerFest organizers so they can support. N-95 masks are required as a means of radical community care and only a limited quantity will be available at the door.
For more details about the event visit events.humanitix.com/queercore-fest-2025 or follow the group on Instagram @queercorecollaborative for more announcements.
Delozier said he looks forward to seeing the turnout over the two days this year and that there is something special that will forever resonate with strangers when in a room together for live music.
“This is a group of strangers but the magic of music is as soon as the music invites you into the room, it’s inviting you into this shared moment and suddenly people that are strangers aren’t strangers at all, you’re having this collective experience and that collective experience is also one that is deliberately and intentionally affirming people’s humanity and joy and love and togetherness,” Delozier said.
“This is a human experience. When we look at what’s happening socially and politically in our world and especially in our country now it feels like there’s so much that is purposefully working to separate us and any time we separate each other we become isolated. That is the whole purpose really behind marginalization is isolating people so they under resourced or they don’t feel connected, or a part of. I think what we’re trying to do is create a counterpointed antidote to that, even if it’s for a moment. We just want as many people that would feel nourished by this space to know about it and be able to come.”
