I saw Lampers post about Best Friends Day, a weekend of music and such in Richmond, and thought about the FEST. The FEST is in its sixth year.

I've never gone-- I always intend to, but I don't get paid time off and taking 3-4 days off is something I normally cannot afford to do. However, I am going to try my damnedest to make it this year. My friend blipidy has gone to the last 2, maybe more, I'm not sure, but it seems to be the event of the year.

Basically, a group of the venues in Gainesville (I think 8 of them) such as Common Grounds host different bands on a set playlist. You pay for the weekend, and you can walk in and out of any venue to see any band, as you get a list of which bands are at which venues at which times, so you can plot your journey.

I mean, look at this lineup, and they still have bands to add! Fucking amazing! It's like a three day long Warped Tour, but with REAL punk bands and without the tour!


Confirmed so far (in no particular order) are Naked Raygun, matt and kim, Seaweed, Dillinger Four, Torche, Avail, Municipal Waste, 108, The Marked Men, Lawrence Arms, Paint It Black, American Steel, Smoke or Fire, ASG, Blood Bath and Beyond, J Church, Fay Wray, The Ergs, The Bomb, Erin Tobey, The Flatliners, Four Star Alarm, Dead to Me, Idel Kids, Planes Mistaken For Stars, In The Red, Lemuria, O Pioneers, Off With Their Heads, The Draft, Circle Takes The Square, Assholeparade, Billy Reese Peters, Grabass Charlestons, New Bruises, New Mexican Disaster Squad, Young Livers, Pegasus XL, Ram & Ox, Defiance Ohio, Saw Wheel, Summer Birds in the Cellar, The Sundowner, The Swellars, The Arrivals, Toys That Kill, The Underground Road to Candyland, Transistor Transistor, Haram, Fin Fang Foom, Pink Razors, North Lincoln, Bitchin', Religious as Fuck, Radon, This Bike Is A Pipebomb, Nakatomi Plaza, Bomb The Music Industry, Chinese Telephones, Four Letter Word, Modern Machines, Thunderlip, Tiltwheel, We Versus The Shark, Cloak/Dagger, Against All Authority, One Reason, Clorox Girls, Shitstorm, Mehkago NT, Ape Shit (from da earff), The Sass Dragons, ADD/C, Cross Examination, Comadre, The Humanoids, Delay, The Dauntless Elite, Andrew Jackson Jihad, Ghost Mice, The Copyrights, The Gaslight Anthem, Bridge and Tunnel, Madeiline, You Me and the Atom Bomb, Sinaloa, The Future Virgins, Skeleton Witch, Baroness, Coliseum, Triclops!, A Death in the Family, Matt Kurz One, No Trigger, Fake Problems, The Valley Arena, Canadian Riffle, Fleshies, Nothington, Monotonix, Old Growth, Science of Yabra, Off Minor,Delay,The Arrivals, The Methadones, Shot Baker, Dan Padilla, Fleshies, The Bomb, Glass & Ashes, Static Radio, Ringers, Whiskey Sunday, Drunken Boat, Fake Problems, Amature Party,Ninja Gun,Daniel Stripped Tiger, Monikers, Witched With Dicks, Austin Lucas, Young Widows, Max Levine Ensemble, APESHIT!, Brain Worms, The Wading Girl, High Tension Wires, The Potential Johns, Gash, Ampere, Rager, The Brokedowns, Josh Small, Paul Baribeau, One Reason, Das Kapital, Party Garbage, Chinese Telephones, The Brokedowns, Git Some, Gunrack, Kiingdom of Magic, New Bruises, Witches With Dicks, matty pop chart, No Truth Lies, Ruiner.

Seriously, a bunch of people in other countries fly in for this shit. I am going to do everything in my power to go this year. Oh, did I mention that it is really cheap? Not sure exactly how much for the weekend, but its less than $100.

I would absolutely love to go to the Fest, its one of my dreams, but sadly I can't afford it at the moment

I know what you mean. Its bad enough for me, but at least I am only 4 hours away and have some friends I hopefully can crash with. Flying in, paying for hotels...

The Fest's website has information on their message board about places to stay that are not going to kick you out because you stumble in at 2 am with a mohawk, and such.

Quote:I know what you mean. Its bad enough for me, but at least I am only 4 hours away and have some friends I hopefully can crash with. Flying in, paying for hotels...

The Fest's website has information on their message board about places to stay that are not going to kick you out because you stumble in at 2 am with a mohawk, and such.

that's pretty awesome that they help out like that, but unless they can tell me when and where the secret free 747 takes off from, I can't attend

sounds kewl!!!!...if i wasnt married with children..

Quote:sounds kewl!!!!...if i wasnt married with children..

yeah, i got the wife and kids too, but i still am going to try to go. they can stay home for a weekend.

man that looks absolutely amazing, if i had the cash i'd be straight over , sometimes i wish i had a decent job.

every year the lineup gets better and better. I've seen most of the big names on there multiple times (including Naked Raygun twice this year) but to have about 5 of my all time favorite bands playing on the same weekend is too much to resist. I think i'll finally make it up there this year.

A couple of those bands actually wouldn't be that bad to see.. not far away, either, but I'm not a concert-goer, let alone a "fest"er.