The Fest happened, quick summary:
We ended up with a free day in Tampa which happened to coincide with the Battles show. A friend of mine (an ex-Edmontonian and the best soundman I know), has been working as their sound engineer on tour for years. He got us on the list and we ended up on the tour bus afterwards. Turned out they had to leave early so they gave us the key to their room at the Hilton a block away. In the morning, we took a cab back to the hostel we were staying to pick up our luggage.
Rented a car and headed to Gainesville, home of such notables as Hot Water Music, Against Me and Tom Petty! We ended up tenting in a friends backyard, which was only about a 20 minute walk from the venues. Lots of great food down there. Vegan steak burritos, lots of creative tempeh dishes, good coffee and the Fest had mandated PBR be kept at $2 in all the shows.
Talked to a bunch of friends from the road behind various stages. Had a good chat with old Teddy about their benefits for Philly’s LGBTQ youth center, amongst other things that may or may not rhyme with Curl Spam. Thanks for the Jamies Ted!
Of course the bands all ruled. Hot Water threw down the best set I’d ever seen them play. Hometown show, I expected nothing less. Ted Leo killed it with his Misfits cover band, TV Casualty, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone other than Danzig sing Some Kinda Hate better. There’s a limited 7″, I think they’d only pressed 200 for the show. You can still get it from Matador. It’s good and the proceeds go towards a rad cause. Chris Wollard’s new band threw a fantastic set down on a Sunday afternoon, perking up everyone who’d been raging all weekend. Samiam even convinced a couple aging punks from northern Canada to take a leap off the stage and Small Brown Bike… so good!
But I’m not a concert reviewer, and I doubt most people even know who I’m talking about, so I’ll just say the Fest was one of the greatest musical experiences I’ve had. The collage town was transformed and taken over by punks from all over the world and it seemed like everyone was your pal for those four days. It’s nice to know there are so many things that unify us. Music has always done that, how rad is it that the movement’s global?
Anyways, thanks to a belt loader nudging our connecting flight, we were able to make one of our connecting flights on time. Things keep working out and it’s good to be home. I’ll try to write something a little more thought-provoking soon. Lots of things to catch up on at the moment. Thanks for reading.