The FYF fest was a lot of fun this year, and it was a hard day too, as trying to see as many bands as possible in a day requires endurance, yeah a lot of it, 10 hours of standing and walking, without even a minute of sitting!
I managed to see about 11 bands and the end of the sets of 3 other ones, I regret not being able to catch Girls, but I had such a good spot for Broken Social Scene and Guided by Voices, that I did not want to give up for a worst spot at the other stage. Yes, it was crowded, 20,000 people showed up apparently.
What was better than last year: the lines!! They completely fixed the problem as there were almost no lines to get in, no lines to buy a drink, and I saw they had really multiplied the places to buy food and water!
Other good point, the two stages side by side, the Michelangelo’s and the Donatello’s, worked pretty well as while they were doing the set up for a band on one stage, a band was performing on the other one, and there was a minimum of waiting if you would stay there. The problem was with the other big stage, the Leonardo’s whose time sets were overlapping the other ones, but I understand in a festival where almost 40 bands play in an afternoon and evening, there is no other possibility.
They had large screens with direct filming of the bands on stage, and between the sets they were projecting slogans such as ‘FYF fest, the best day of the summer’, and ‘FYF fest changed my life’,… ok may be they were being a bit ironical?
The security was efficient although they were a little over zealous at the entrance when searching the bags. I understand they want to avoid people coming with cool boxes and having a picnic in the middle of the grass, but the absolutely-no-food policy is stupid. Last year, they confiscated my apple (come on!) and this year the woman at the entrance was asking me to throw away my small package of hard candies! What? This is not food!
The prices are still quite expensive (although a little lower than last year by the way), with $3 for a bottle of water, $4 for a soda, $5 for a red bull or a churros! Isn’t it supposed to be a ‘punk’ festival?
The dust was still there, this nasty powder-like grey dirt that was entering the nostrils when people were moshing and jumping, there were huge clouds of dust above our heads, jeeezz I still have the taste on my tongue,… see why I took these hard candies? But I don’t think they can do anything about it, even though they had watered the place earlier on.
During OFF! set, Keith Morris thanked twice Goldenvoice and in particular Gary Tovar, the man behind Goldenvoice; once you know Goldenvoice organizes Coachella (among many things), you can understand why FYF organizer Sean Carlson had asked for their help this year.
The crowd was young and hip as expected, with a few of eccentric clothes, lots of girls wearing very short shorts, lots of Descendents, Black Flag and Joy Division t-shirts!
Overall people seemed happy, the hype was fulfilled, and I just received an email from the FYF fest which ended with the sentence:
‘Once again, THANK YOU for yesterday. It was truly amazing. Can't wait till next year. Two days?’
So is the FYF Fest really turning into a second Coachella?