Fun Fun Fun Fest (FFFun Fest) is a festival in Austin, Texas that is a blend between both Austin City Limits (ACL) and South By Southwest (SXSW). FFFun Fest is a quad-fecta of punk rock music, dance music, indie music, and standup comedy on four different stages located at Waterloo park in downtown Austin.
This year, FFFun Fest brought in a few bigger named bands that might appear at ACL, as well as some other smaller ones that you might find in the lineup of a venue during SXSW. However, since it is an Austin festival, and we do like to keep things on the weird side, this festival had it all. Everything that the concert goer might want at a music festival, they could find at FFFun Fest. The festival was equipped with the good eats of Austin, a few local shops, the 101x radio crew booth, as well as a half-pipe for whom ever wanted to skate it between bands.
The first day was filled with music pleasurable to your ears with such bands as The National (8:40 pm – 9:40 pm), Atmosphere (7:35 pm – 8:35 pm), Deerhoof (6:30 pm – 7:30 pm),…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead (4:50 pm – 5:35 pm), all of which played their hearts out. Whether it be lions and tigers masquerading on the stage during Deerhoof or the drunkenness of The National, everything went pretty smoothly, other than the technical delays that occurred after every single band that went on. However, it did not make that big of a difference in the waiting time between each band. Unlike most music festivals, there was no hour long wait between each band. Each one went on right after the other with only a five to ten minute wait between them.
Later in the day, after everyone was done wandering from stage to stage checking out the different kinds of music that Fun Fest had to offer, when …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead came on, it was then that everyone started to stake out their own spot for the headliners that were to come on shortly thereafter. I must say Trail Of Dead put on quite the performance for their fellow Austinites. It was not until Atmosphere came on that first night that anyone could really tell how many people where there at the festival (or how dusty it had gotten from the loose dirt on the ground that everyone seemed to be kicking up). Everyone in the audience was ready and Atmosphere knew it. And like all great musical front men (or women), he knew exactly how to work the crowd and get them involved to feel like a part of the music.
Once the crowd used up the last of their energy that they had for the day, it was time for the National to come on to play their mellow indie rock, which would end the night on a perfect note. Having never seen them live, I was unaware of how much alcohol the band could consume in one night, which only added to their performance: Matt Berninger fell over after trying to sit down on one of the monitors, randomly threw his mic stand into the audience in the middle of one of his songs, and ended the night by throwing his mic into the audience to fight over as he walked off the stage. No matter how drunk he might have been, the music was perfect. And that was only the end of the first night.
The second day was not as dramatic as The National’s performance, but was nonetheless entertaining. The headlining bands of the second night included Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (8:40 pm – 9:40 pm), Minus the Bear (7:35 pm – 8:35 pm), St. Vincent (6:30 pm – 7:30 pm), and Bad Brains (8:45 pm – 9:45 pm). Starting with St. Vincent (whom I had the pleasure of meeting after her set, lovely lady!), goes above and beyond when playing everywhere that she goes. She played her music from her soul and everyone listening knew it. Unlike the day before, the technical delays of day two were minimal, so Minus The Bear went on right after St. Vincent with perfect ease. Having played several songs off their new EP, the feeling that people got from their music was contagious and spread like a wild fire in California. The night ended with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Perfect is about all I can say: it was beautiful.
Make the journey to Austin next fall to see what all Fun Fun Fun Fest is about!
Fun Fun Fun Fest: website | myspace
