Injured Firefighter and Rocker To Open Adjacent Music Festival

04-24-2023

Photo courtesy Live Nation

(Live Nation) Firefighter Randy Ballinger, 38, fell 25-feet off a two-story row home on South Paxton Street, after putting out a fire on February 25, 2023. Luckily, he was properly wearing his issued helmet which helped to save his life that day. He then spent the next 11 days at the trauma center until he was finally released.

The father of two from the Roxborough section of Philadelphia, PA, suffered a punctured lung, broken pelvis, and fractures in his legs. He also underwent heart surgery.

When he is not putting out fires, Ballinger is shredding his bass guitar in the punk band, Jersey Calling, comprised of his four friends whom he grew up with in and around South Jersey.

Ballinger has been recovering in a wheel chair and still practicing - when he can - with the band. A GoFundMe page has raised more than $90,000 for his family.

When word reached Geoff Gordon, President, Live Nation Northeast, of Ballinger, and his current condition, Gordon spoke with his team and said "we need to find a slot at the Adjacent Music Festival for Randy and his band."

The two-day Adjacent Music Festival will be headlined by blink-182, Paramore and a number of popular emo, punk and pop-punk bands from Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York and across the U.S., that will kick off the Memorial Day Weekend on the beach in Atlantic City, NJ, (May 27-28).

Gordon - on a Zoom call with Ballinger who was in a hospital bed getting treatment - invited his band to open the Festival. "This is a dream come true," said Ballinger.

Ballinger and Jersey Calling will now officially open the Adjacent Music Festival on Saturday, May 27 at 12 pm on what may just be the biggest stage they'll ever play. For Ballinger it is a moment he is looking forward to as he recovers.

"This unreal opportunity to open the Adjacent Music Festival is giving me plenty of motivation to accelerate my recovery," Ballinger said. "This is the inspiration I need to keep going. I am going to deliver my best performance. I'm grateful to Geoff and Live Nation for this opportunity. It will be the ultimate show for me and the band."

"Randy is a real hero who is inspiring with his courage," said Gordon. "We are grateful for the work that he and first responders do every day. Music has a unique power to bring us together and it also has an ability to heal. We are psyched to give Randy and his band some hope and an opportunity to perform in front of a large audience on the beach in Atlantic City, and in front of some of their favorite bands they adore. I'm really excited for Randy and to see Jersey Calling open the show for us, on what I'm sure will be an emotional day for all of us."

Inspired by 90s pop-punk bands like Green Day, Blink 182, and Alkaline Trio, Jersey Calling formed in 2002, disbanded in 2005, and regrouped in 2020 to write and produce another album. The band is preparing to record its fourth album, and preparing to promote that record online and through live shows throughout the summer.

Jersey Calling features the hallmarks of pop-punk: power chords and catchy riffs backed by a driving bass and drumbeat, and a singer whose voice has been lovingly described as a 'melodic gurgle.' But, as the band says, "we're older, a bit wiser (despite our best efforts), and our songs directly take on heavy topics of addiction, loss, income inequality, and - of course - the pandemic."

Jersey Calling music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, and all other streaming services, including their hits "Anthem of the Alchemist" and "The Broken People."

In recognition of Randy Ballinger and Jersey Calling joining the Adjacent Music Festival, a first responder ticket offer is now available. Visit LiveNation.com and enter "JERSEY" for all first responders for a $99/day ticket.

Single-day passes to see the newly reunited blink-182 and Paramore headline the Adjacent Music Festival, a new two-day live music festival with over 40 bands on three stages with craft food and beverage experiences and vendors on the Atlantic City Beach in Atlantic City, NJ, and over Memorial Day Weekend on Saturday, May 27 and Sunday, May 28, 2023, are on sale now.

The Adjacent Music Festival will be held ocean-side on the Atlantic City Beach adjacent to the world-famous Atlantic City Boardwalk with a lineup featuring many artists who started their careers and cultivated their loyal fan bases in the Northeast region, including Philadelphia's Japanese Breakfast, The Starting Line and Mannequin Pussy; New Jersey's Bleachers, led by six-time Grammy award winner and Bergenfield, NJ, native Jack Antonoff, Thursday, and Midtown,both of New Brunswick, NJ; Folly, of Sussex, NJ; The Front Bottoms, of Woodcliff Lake, NJ, L.S. Dunes, featuring Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance, of Belleville, NJ; Jersey Calling, and The Happy Fits, of Pittstown, NJ; and New York's Jeff Rosenstock, Wheatus, and The Movie Life, all three from Long Island, NY. Also scheduled to appear are Coheed & Cambria, Turnstile, Jimmy Eat World, Knocked Loose, Andrew McMahon, Pup, Beach Bunny, and more.