South Bay band P.O.D. announces free 2018 concert in I.B.

Get ready Imperial Beach for another free rock show at the city’s pier.

South Bay natives from the three-time Grammy Award-nominated rock band P.O.D. (Payable On Death), announced Thursday, with Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina, that it will play the concert next summer.

The concert will be part of a family-friendly event called Lower Left Fest, a one-day music festival set for July 15, 2018. The hope is to have it become an annual festival featuring local bands throughout the area.

It will include food, beverage and merchandise vendors, a beer garden, VIP area and performances by P.O.D. and other local groups that have yet to be named.

P.O.D. vocalist Sonny Sandoval along with other band members, grew up in Imperial Beach. The band, which formed in 1992, filmed its first video, “Southtown,” on the city’s pier.

The catalyst for Lower Left Fest was an impromptu chat last year between Dedina, drummer Wuv Bernardo of P.O.D. and local radio host Mike Halloran during a free Switchfoot concert at the I.B. pier last summer.

Halloran put Bernardo, who came to check out the show, on the spot about P.O.D. playing a free show in the city while the two were on stage.

The crowd went crazy and the mayor approved.

In a news release Thursday several members of the band stated that having the festival will allow them and others to showcase the sense of community, culture, music and history that make Imperial Beach a city worth celebrating.

“They wanted to create something they could bring their families to,” Dedina said of P.O.D. “This is about bringing people together with music and beach culture.”

The name for Lower Left Festival came from Bobby Ruiz, who started Tribal Streetwear in the city and has a company called Lower Left.

The name is also geographical - Imperial Beach appears on the lower left of maps..

Other bands playing at the event will be announced later this year.

For more information, go to Lower Left Fest on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. A website is coming, organizers said.