Written by Shea Roney | Featured Photo by Braeden Long

Across the country, on a mission from the highest order, young pop song swooners and DIY consumers embarked on a journey down to Durham and Carrboro North Carolina to be a part of history. Returning for its second year in a row, The Big Pop Show, held March 20th-23rd, was a four-day fest put on by friends Nathan McMurray, Lilian Fan, Eli Schmitt, Annie Vedder and Charlotte Kane.

Fully volunteer-run and sponsored by local college radio stations WXDU, WXYC, WKNC and Duke Coffeehouse, the festival took over the local spaces of Pinhook, Cat’s Cradle, Arts Center, and the Chelsea Theater. Artists from all over came be a part of an astronomical 32-band bill, fortifying the new age leaders of pop and alternative music. The entire bill consisted of April Magazine, Artificial Go, Canaries, Computer Date, Donkey Basketball, Fish Gills, Guyscrapers, Good Flying Birds, Gumhead, Instrument, K9, Kitchen, Kitship, Lifeguard, Little Chair, Laurie, Mail, The Matildas, Memory Card, Paper Jam, PARKiNG, Pipe, Sacred Heart Academy, Sects, Shep Treasure, Siversides, The Sourdrops, Sleep Tight Tiger, Superfan, TV Buddha, Touch Girl Apple Blossom, Van Goth, Warm Frames and $500.

Beyond the live music, BPS also hosted a discussion panel that interrogated ethical ways of engaging with art and sustaining the local communities involved in its creation. The Panels were “Beyond Aesthetics: Art, ethics and individual responsibility in times of political unrest” and “Airwaves to Algorithms: Technology, artistic consumption, and the economy of attention”.

With the help of Averi Love Little, we collected photos from Braeden Long, Kian Kermani, Shannon McMahon, Chance Venable, Audra Barbieri, Finch McGowan, and Emily Burrows, as well as quotes from the artists and organizers involved, to capture the joy, friendship and the resounding community that prospered at The Big Pop Show 2026.

Listen to what Good Flying Birds curated for our weekly playlist series.

“the big pop show meant everything to me. i was there for all 30+ sets and film screenings and i still feel like i missed out. there was an incalculable amount of magic and energy in the air. i could see the connections and friendships forming before my eyes, and there is nothing that makes me happier than to see people in joy, in love, in hope and empowerment together in space. every single set was some of the best music i’ve seen from these artists, and never was there a moment of envy or competition, only pure inspiration.” – Eli Schmitt (Organizer/TV Buddha)

“Disregarding the boatloads of brilliant sets, the late-late Saturday Night / Sunday Morning Cookout parking lot tailgate was a sight that will never escape my memory. Practically hundreds of freakazoid losers like ourselves lost en masse into the quesadilla-quesadilla-quesadilla tray madness alongside a particularly great hang.” – Isaac Lowenstein (Donkey Basket/Lifeguard)

“It felt like summer camp! I guess playing in a wooden room cemented that feeling, but so did all the amazing people from all over the country meeting in one place” – Sydney Salk (Van Goth)

“We have a lot of electronics and had to play a stripped back set with the minimal sound system – but somehow this got a rowdy bunch of young people to watch silently. Within 30 minutes sweaty mosh pits had broken out in the same room. These people were here for the music.” – Simon Schadler (Van Goth)

Read our interview with Natalie Hanne Winkler of Nat Tracks and Paper Jam about unmatched access, trying everything, new obsessions and throwing a midnight release show.

“The Big Pop Fest has always been almost like the central point to a much larger community. It feels almost like one of those detective boards, where we could take string and connect all these bands across the country to each other and the commonality would be Pop Fest. On the surface level I would say it’s been a joy to watch so many talented artists perform and has been truly transformative for me as a musician; but on a much deeper level, it has given me some of my best friends in the world. To feel understood completely by your peers is a truly special thing and I think if nothing else, that’s one thing I gained from my years there. There is absolutely nothing like it, and honestly I don’t know if there ever will be. I’m just glad I’ve been lucky enough to witness it for myself.” – Lizzie Cooper (PARKiNG)

Read our review of PORTRAiTS, the debut album by PARKiNG.

“It was a grand get-together of pop heads, new and old. Many fun times were had. The second nights after party had the floor of the Duke Coffeehouse bouncing to the beat of Donkey Basketball. It is really awesome that we all got to share that weekend with everyone that was there.” – The Sourdrops

Listen to what The Sourdrops curated for our weekly playlist series.

Read our interview with Badger Hunt about their new album, music videos and the practice of archiving.

“My favorite memory was probably watching PIPE play, they are great friends of ours but also local legends of the triangle that I look up to. It was wholesome to dance with everyone at like a truly all ages show. Also the panel on Sunday at coffeehouse was great! Highlights were discussions around what it meant for art to be political beyond just making overt political statements, and when John Davis from folk implosion was talking about the importance of engaging with artists in real life through the merch table etc. it was awesome.” – Lilian Fan (Organizer/Duped/Little Chair)

Listen to what Little Chair curated for our weekly playlist series.

“The whole thing was like a controlled explosion – I think Nathan and Eli have this magnificent ability to grasp the whole network of spectacular projects working right now. Streamlining it all… And our set was absolutely visceral. We played on the ground and I’d look up sometimes, see people on their hands and knees in front of me. I felt like everyone in the room could read my thoughts and their movements were responses. It was really so special.” – AJ Bond (Instrument)

“For me, it was really the moment right after I got back from the Pop Fest, I was listening to the Red Xerox Tape Expo on YouTube and going through the comments. You should read the top one if you haven’t, it summed up my feelings pretty well. Some guy from Montreal.” – Lu Bond (Instrument)

Read our interview with Sleep Tight Tiger about playing into the jokes, their style of collaboration and keeping the tiger in mind.

“Grass lawns with fashionable people sprawled out, welcomed us to The Pop Show. Friends from different states reunited and many new friendships blossomed around each corner. 

Cole opened our set with handstands as I beat his drum. It was sanctuary to smile, a place to dance, a place to connect – what a lovely time it was!” – Angie Willcut (Artificial Go)

“There was something very serene and meditative about the entire event. I was expecting a lot of rambunctious and mania, but the heat combined with the length of the show, where all of the bands started to blend into another and conversate with each other’s performance, created this ease and content that cradled our performance really well. Everyone was sat down, and engaged, I could feel the impact and the fact that people were taking something from our show, there was a true exchange.” – Kali Flanagan (Superfan)

“Big Pop was fun as hell! Massive respect to the organizers. House party after show was like a movie, someone was walking around with a ‘Big Pop’ cake while we we’re hanging by the fire – that was a memorable moment.” – Jake (K9)

Read our interview with Jake about K9, keeping things open and starting a label.

“it was really hot out for me, and there was great music all the day” – Sabrina Nichols (Shep Treasure)

Read our latest feature on Shep Treasure about her unique musical vocabulary, extreme temperatures and the meditative process that brought out her new album ‘Blanket’.

The Big Pop Show playlist