The Specials, Metz, De La Soul, The Melvins, Living Colour, Squeeze, Iron & Wine and RX Bandits are among the approximately 50 bands on the roster for an inaugural three-day music and food festival set for the streets of downtown Long Beach.

The lineup for the Music Tastes Good Festival, set for Sept. 23-25 on Pine Avenue, was set to be announced at a free concert at the Packard Building in Long Beach.

The festival is presented by KCRW and founder and curator Josh Fischel, a Long Beach musician and event promoter.

“We like to say our fest is soulful, it’s warm, everyone is going to feel welcomed. You can bring your kids and you can also party all night too,” Fischel said from his Pine Avenue office.

“We wanted to make sure we have something for everybody.”

The food portion of the festival will include local pop-up restaurants, BBQ and a farm-to-table dinner.

Up to 18,000 people are expected to attend, Fischel said. And organizers hope to not just fill the festival, which will take place on Pine Avenue from Broadway to about Sixth Street, with locals but also music fans from throughout the Southern California area.

“We’re going to promote all the way out to Santa Barbara, all through the Inland Empire down to San Diego,” Fischel said.

“We want to bring something special to Long Beach, we also want to bring people to Long Beach, especially to boost up the music scene.”

Three-day passes are expected to cost a little more than $100. Tickets go on sale sometime this month.

On Friday Sept. 23, the event will have more of a “block party” feel with one stage and BBQ and craft beer offered.

Saturday will be the main event with four stages and a food court manned by about a dozen yet-to-be-named local restaurants serving on the street. There will also be a VIP rooftop farm-to-table dinner.

“Saturday is going to be like a downtown artistic fest. We’re going to have art activation all around,” Fischel said.

Sunday it’s back to the block party vibe with one stage and a Bloody Mary brunch.

Set times and some of the food details are still being ironed out.

If the attendance projection holds up it would make Music Tastes Good the biggest current outdoor concert in a city that has been steadily striving to become known for its live music scene.

Other outdoor music events in the city include the downtown Long Beach New Year’s Eve concert and celebration that draws approximately 12,000 people.

The Folk Revival Festival, which is set for Sept. 17 at Rainbow Lagoon Park, is expected to attract about 8,000 people while the Summer and Music series, which includes a handful of concerts during the summer months, draws a few thousand per event.

And the now defunct three-day Ink-N-Iron music, car and tattoo festival attracted about 20,000 to the Queen Mary’s Waterfront Events Park.

The Music Tastes Good lineup meanwhile will include other acts like Dr. Dog, Warpaint, the alternative hip hop group Deltron 3030, which will perform with an orchestra, Vintage Trouble and the East L.A. Chicano band Las Cafeteras.

“A good percentage of the bands are bands we play here at KCRW and support,” said Mary Chellamy, music promotions manager for the radio station.

“I think it’s a really good way to get Long Beach involved in the market of festivals and just a destination for people to go and see live music.”

The festival will have a large focus on local acts as well with Long Beach bands like Spare Parts for Broken Hearts, Rudy De Anda, frontman for the popular Wild Pack of Canaries and the genre-mixing Pregnant.

The latter two are on the Long Beach based label Porch Party Records.

“I think it’s a perfect natural progression for where (the local music scene) has been moving for the last few years. I think it’s long overdo but it’s also just the right time,” said Casey Terrazas, founder of Porch Party Records, commenting on the new festival.

If Fischel has his way, Music Tastes Good will continue to accelerate that natural progression since he hopes the festival will grow annually with new downtown venues added every year.

For a full lineup and ticket info go to www.mtglb.co.