Sat 4/13 @ 7:30PM
It’s been five years, but Lottery League is the latest event to return following a long pandemic slumber.
Cleveland’s Lottery League began in 2008 when four area musicians decided that their fellow players needed to be shaken out of their ruts and struck on the idea of inviting their friends in various local bands to throw their names in a hopper and form new ad hoc bands with people they’d never played with. Each write a couple of tunes to put together a ten-minute set, come up with a (hopefully) clever name and perform a few months later at The Big Show.
The success of the first event led to a second 2010, then even bigger version in 2013 and 2016, moving from the Beachland to the Agora, and finally, in 2019, to Ingenuity Labs in the Hamilton Collaborative.
The “draft,” when the bands are put together, has become a big event itself. The organizers have invited more than 170 musicians — about half previous participants and half newcomers — to take part, representing a variety of genres from hardcore to folk to jazz to Americana and more. Now they — and you — can come down to the Ingenuity Labs for the draft to share in the excitement of finding out who they’ll be playing with.
Doors open at 6:30pm. In addition to the name-drawing, the evening will include performances by Mourning [A] BLKStar, Factual Brains, Cussed Out, School of Rock Cleveland West, and DJ John Neely. Come see your favorite musicians get tossed in with people you never heard of. It’s free and no ticket is needed. Doors are at 6:30pm. Drinks will be available for purchase and Akron-based Earthquaker Devices will have some of their products on display.
Check out this year’s roster here.
Cleveland, OH 44114