Third Annual Solar Flare Music Festival Shines at Axelrad
Story by Megan Eppolito and Sarah Hobson
Houston Music Classifieds (HMC) hosted its third annual Solar Flare Music Festival at Axelrad Beer Garden on August 28 and 29, bringing two days of fun and live music to the city. With 50 bands and three stages, the festival featured genres like Jazz, R&B, Rock, Indie, Instrumental, and more. Music resonated across three stages: the Solar Stage, the Celestial Stage under the awning, and the Constellation Stage upstairs.
The event gave music lovers a space to cheer on their favorite artists and discover new music. It was an all-ages festival where attendees could soak in every moment, and it was beautiful to see how the community came together to support local music.
The Festival Recap: A Weekend of Music & Magic
"My favorite part about Solar Flare was seeing the community come together to make this huge magical event happen. There were so many people working behind the scenes to run and organize the event. It didn’t happen in one day, and I think that’s what’s so impressive to me. It was months and months of planning to bring it to life. I love our community and what we can do when we work together.” - Lia Graham
Everyone who participated played an integral role in both days of the festival running smoothly.
To start, the musicians brought amazing energy on stage, showcasing their talent and connecting with the crowd. They put in the hard work of practicing and creating an environment where everyone could have fun and support the local music scene.
When the live music ended both days, the fun continued on the Solar Stage. Day one concluded with an energetic closing set by DJ REIA. On day two, The Royal Mystic Order of Chaos capped off the weekend with a 30-minute performance of Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The festival-goers had a fun time, enjoying the performances, vendors, and drinks. Some attendees even came from out of town, like Austin Hoeft, who experienced the festival for the first time. “[My fiancée and I] drove in from San Marcos for the Saturday of Solar Flare, which was a mistake we will not make again; one must attend both days of Solar Flare or live with the fact that you missed out on the full experience, an experience that can scarcely be found in our current world,” Hoeft says. “Solar Flare feels how a music festival ought to; a shared experience uninhibited by the outside world, wherein it’s easy to lose yourself listening to bands for the first time.”
Low Desert by @meggoes2shows The Orange Weekend by @meggoes2shows
“Solar Flare is such an amazing event for many reasons. The incredible talent on display and the community of musicians... Everyone works so hard to play their hearts out, and you can feel it resonating with the audience. Everyone who is there wants to be there and celebrate Houston’s local music scene.” - Jared Newton, Low Desert
“It was just really awesome to feel like all the work we’ve been putting in has been worth it. Super duper grateful and still not over how much fun it was! Seriously! Can’t emphasize how easy and comfortable everyone made it for us behind the scenes.” - Emanuel Tucker, The Orange Weekend
A Celebration of Houston’s Music Community
Club Juliette, a new local microlabel by Madison Cooke, organized two promotional events in the community leading up to the festival.
Ice House Radio Pre-Party
On August 21, DJ REIA played hits from the Solar Flare artists at Ice House Radio. Many of the artists stopped by for the experience, enjoying the opportunity to hear their songs and get excited for the festival.
Cactus Music CD Release
Every year, Solar Flare releases a mixtape featuring a song from each participating musician, with proceeds going directly back to the artists. This year’s two-disc mixtape was created by Club Juliette. The CD release party took place on August 22 at Cactus Music. During the party, Marley Moon, Matt Peña, and Kimya—artists from each year of Solar Flare—performed their songs. The mixtape was sold at the party and at the HMC booth during the fest. Additionally, an extended version of the mixtape, which includes Solar Flare 2025 artists, was featured as the official playlist of the 2026 Houston Cinema Arts Festival.
The Volunteers That Made it Happen
Solar Flare Music Festival wouldn’t be what it is today without the efforts and amazing talent of the volunteers involved. The weekend of the festival, volunteers helped with tasks like loading in decorations, working the ticket booth, and providing support at the stages. Leading up to the festival, preparation consisted of months of hard work and long nights, from logistics to cutting out decorative cardboard stars.
The decoration volunteer team really outdid themselves, building decor and art pieces for the unique landscape of the festival. This team included Clay Cooke, Joey Rittenhouse, and Zak Aslmeyer. The crew also had support from Madison Cooke, Dallas Burkhalter, Austin Burkhalter, Jozef Winemiller, and Wolf Maclean. These volunteers helped make the event so special and give Solar Flare the hands-on DIY aesthetic it is known and loved for.
The decoration process started with a brainstorm between Cooke and HMC founder Madison Sutton. Sutton provided designs to the team, which were used as a blueprint for the pieces. Cooke began the build inside his home, creating the iconic Solar Flare arch in his driveway with Rittenhouse. Decor included light-up, hand-painted signs, a giant arch, interactive walls for fans to write on, enchanting flowers that towered over 5 feet, and so much more.
“I had to come up with ways to cover the seams on the arch because it needed to be built so that it could be broken into pieces for storage,” Cooke shared. “I had to devise a way to cover the middle at the top and also the buckets at the bottom.” He used styrofoam for the bottom caps and made a box with corresponding star points for the top. Cooke then brought in local business Copy.com to print out vinyl sheets with the Solar Flare graphic to hang on the arch, tying it all together and forming a magical entrance for fans accessing the Solar Stage.
Cooke took the lead on the design for the light-up signs, which illuminated the festival grounds. “Each letterbox had 120 lights, and the centerpiece with the sun face had 93,” he shared. “I designed those pieces in Illustrator and laid out all the light holes on a grid that was to scale with the pieces. I then used sketchAR and a VR headset to trace and mark everything out.”
After all of the decorations were built, everything was moved to Axelrad in a large, 26-foot truck.
Support and Appreciation
The HMC team is grateful to everyone who was involved in making Solar Flare 2026 what it was, from the performers and volunteers to the community who came out to support.
We also want to thank the HMC members that dedicated their time, hard work, and creativity to the preparation of the festival. Madison Sutton orchestrated the long list of logistics and important details that give Solar Flare its charm. We also want to extend our appreciation to Kathy Morisette, Camile McCloskey, Anne (Ponyo) Renee Corpus, Megan Eppolito, Shelby Mathews, and Regine Gwyneth Templonuevo.
Thank you to Axelrad for hosting us again this year and for being a beautiful venue where music is always happening! Every Tuesday at Axelrad, there is an Open Mic hosted by Marley Moon, and more often than not you’ll stumble into a free concert on their garden stage.
Thank you to Dang Decent Guitar Repair and Saint Arnold Brewing Company for sponsoring the festival! These local businesses not only elevated our music festival, but also believed in our mission as a non-profit. We're so grateful to have them be a part of our community!
Houston Music Classifieds looks forward to another Solar Flare Music Festival next year! Make sure to follow the HMC and Solar Flare socials to stay up to date on resources and events, @houstonmusicclassifieds and @solarflaremusicfest.
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