I’ll go straight into it, here are some notes and images from The FEST 13, Day 2, a.k.a. “The Day that One Million Black Hoodies were sold”. Actually, I just made that up, but as the temperature dropped like a rock, black hoodies, which already covered a majority of Fest goers, flew out of the merch tents. Anyway, here we go.
We missed a good many bands I wanted to see Saturday afternoon, but a nap seemed very, very important at the time. We finally made it to Bo Diddley Plaza in time to catch an energetic and well received set from The Flatliners.
Then a quick walk to Rocky’s to see Devon Kay and The Solutions kill a packed house. The vibe in the room was joyous and communal, actually, come to think of it, that’s the vibe of the whole festival. I saw more high-fiving, bro hugs, reunions and just general respect for each other than at any other festival I have ever attended. Of course, I don’t tend to frequent jam band/hippy festivals, but seriously, it was really cool. (By the way, I screwed up in the Day 1 post and reported that this set was the first day. Whatever, it’s a good reason to post more photos from it.)
Have I mentioned the lines yet?
Actually, we never did stand in a line to enter Bo Diddley Plaza, the festival’s largest capacity and only outdoor venue. We worked our way forward during the Less than Jake set in order to be near the front for the headlining Descendents set. I’m still not sure if this was a brilliant move or a really stupid decision, crowd surfers rolled over our heads, we struggled to pull someone off of the ground before they were crushed by the crowd, and once I got my arm above my head to take a few pictures, I literally (literally “literally”, by the way, not literally used figuratively. What the hell is up with that?) had a tough time getting my arm back down to my side. It was uncomfortably magical.
After the Descendents we headed to The Wooly to see Ben Nichols, Tim Barry, and Chuck Ragan, three friends, each with an impressive catalog of songs, that have toured together multiple times. They took turns joining in each other’s sets and just being awesome. Each set turned into a great crowd singalong.
We bailed out of Chuck Ragan’s set to see if we could maybe get into The Atlantic to see part of recent Savannah transplants Creepoid set. Surprisingly, we got in and it was totally worth the walk. I’ve said it before, and stand by it, Creepoid is fantastic. If you haven’t caught them yet, you definitely should. So good.
I can’t think of a better way to have ended the night. Oh wait, yes I can, late night Steak’N’Shake. That’s right, two nights in a row. So sue me.
Check out:
The FEST 13, Day 1: The Menzingers, Screaming Females, Chixdiggit, Direct Hit!, more – photos