FEST: Friday

FEST
Gainesville, FL 10/30-11/1

FEST, which takes place in Gainesville, FL, is an amazing three days full of music, friends, and absurdly delicious food. People travel from all over the United States (and from out of the country, too!), to come spend a three day weekend in Northern Florida with old and new friends. With a stacked lineup and countless venues, there’s no way that you wouldn’t have the time of your life at FEST. To add to the FEST-ivities, the second day of FEST fell on Halloween—I spotted Bert Macklin, F.B.I, more Bob’s Burgers characters than I could keep track of, and people walking around in pizza costumes. Read on after the jump to see just how wonderful FEST 14 really was.

Written by Kayla Lee

Photos by Nick Zimmer

Pianos Become The Teeth

Lot 10, the biggest stage at FEST, was opened by Pianos Become The Teeth on Friday evening. Starting their set off with “Hiding”, followed by “Enamor Me”, it was obvious that the entire band has a stage presence that was perfect for the Lot 10. Although their set included more new material with less screaming and cleaner vocals, they still put on a solid show. I’ve never seen a boring performance from Pianos, and I honestly expected there to be more people watching them. The emotional vibrato in Kyle’s voice makes it easy for Pianos to strike an emotional chord, especially when watching them live.

Crucial Dudes

Crucial Dudes played their second show since their initial reunion show at The Wooly. The long line outside proved just how many people were excited to see them, and the crowd was immediately singing along and crowd surfing once they started playing. During their set, the band reminded the audience to be respectful of everyone around them and to make sure that no one is getting hurt which was incredibly nice to see. All of their fans looked so happy, and the smiles on the bands faces showed just how much they enjoy what they do.

Title Fight

Taking the stage after Pianos Become The Teeth at Lot 10, Title Fight played FEST on an off day from their current tour. While flying through songs, one after another, Ned took a quick break from playing to say how happy he was to be there and to thank all of the bands that have helped him out and played a part in their lives. They ended their set with Secret Society, and I was reminded why they’re so enjoyable to see live—they never disappoint.

The Menzingers

The Menzingers, who have been performing at FEST for the past nine years, closed Lot 10 on Friday night. Drawing a large and incredibly rowdy crowd, they played for an extra twenty minutes of music after their set was supposed to end. Their set included “Rodent”, which was dedicated to Title Fight, and “I Know Where Your Heartache Exists”, which had couples slow dancing in what was originally the middle of a crazy crowd. Throwing a cover of The Bouncing Souls “K8 Is Great” and ending the night with “The Obituaries”, there were so many people crowd surfing, dancing, and screaming along to the songs with their friends— it’s safe to say that The Menzingers know how to put on an amazing live performance.

Northbound

Northbound played at Boca Fiesta, a restaurant that doubled as a venue with a small stage. Their small crowd proved to be passionate, and showed this FL based band some love.  It was cool to see the band play for the fans, but also a lot of their friends who made it out to FEST. They played songs in support of their new album Death Of A Slug which you can check out here!

Koji

Koji is one of the most important figures in our music scene. If you’re not familiar with him, please take a look at his activism and the organizations he works with. While Koji played songs from his debut full length Crooked In My Mind (Chasing A Ghost) and his split with Into It Over It, he also debuted a new song that was written after watching the first Republican debate.  While there was a small interruption during the set with some fans who were talking, Koji put on a beautiful set that was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend.

Into It. Over It.

Evan Weiss wins FEST for being the busiest musician of the weekend.  After playing bass for Annabel, he ran over to the Civic Media Center to play his second Into It Over It set of the weekend.  The CMC was definitely his most intimate set it involved a ton of interaction with the crowd, including some great jokes about the “Dinosaur guy” from Pre Fest (YouTube it). (NZ)

Such Gold

The last band that we saw on Friday night was Such Gold at Boca Fiesta. The band played to a good sized crowd who went nuts the moment they started.  While the crowd was rowdy from the get go, everyone totally lost it when they launched into “Sycamore”.  Its always fun to see a band reach into their older material for the fans.  Such Gold were a perfect way to end our first night of FEST. (NZ)