Fun fun fun promises three times the you know what, and it delivered
Fun Fun Fun Festival is the smaller, more laid back, independent sibling of Austin City Limits, however differs with its dexterities. FFF Fest manages to provide overstuffed helpings of indie artists, stand up comedians, action sports and a handful of big name artists all within the same grounds.
Even though there were a few calamities; big name artists Death Grips, Death Cab For Cutie and Guided by Voices all cancelled, the three hour wait for wristbands was a clusterfuck that spanned blocks and the sound-techs sometimes seemed a little deaf, Fun Fun Fun Festival still prevailed.
If Californian festivals bring out the flower-crowns and New York the black, then Austin brings out the denim.
(King Tuff in action)
The Nite-time Is The Best Time
What’s with festivals ending at 10pm? Nobody wants to go home at 10pm, right? The geniuses at FFF Fest started ‘Nites’, taking over bunch of venues in downtown Austin with performances from festival acts and also exclusive performances. Not only do you get to continue being a drunk gizzard, you get to see some of your favourite artists TWICE! Double win.
Nothing Beats A Taco Cannon
The more tacos the merrier, right? Unless you get pelted with a taco…
Stand Up Comedy Is The New Most Popular Festival Attraction
Festival Comedy is the new thing. From the genius of John Waters to Kamail Nanjiani of Silicone Valley, the comedy tent was packed the whole time with laughs, match making, conversation and denim. Even the hipster hero himself, Fred Armisen (Portlandia, SNL) took to the stage.
Mark Kozelek Is Still Inciting Drama Everywhere He Goes
As the sun was setting on Friday Mark Kozelek (aka Sun Kil Moon) was lulling his crowd into an early night. On the next stage over though, hip-hop duo Run The Jewels were riling up their crowd, with El-P taking a moment to incite the crowd into a “Suck My Dick Sun Kil Moon” chant. Watch the saga unfold below:
The Smaller Independent Artists Brought It
There’s nothing better than catching a smaller independent artist that absolutely kills it, like promising slackers Twin Peaks who are hot on the tail of Mac DeMarco, or New Orleans’ swampy garage rockers Babes and proto-punk, psych tinged Ex-Cult.
But then there’s the mid weight highlights of Aussie, Courtney Barnett, who had all the Americans melting over her offbeat Australian twang, Magic Jake of King Tuff even noted how excited he was to see Barnett play.
Missouri born, Angel Olsen had the crowd drooling over her ghostly lyricisms, backed by a full band Olsen performed much of her highly acclaimed ‘Burn Your Fire For No Witness’ album to the adoring crowd.
Saturday saw Metz, Iceage, and Black Lips rip through back-to-back sets on the Black Stage as the mosh pit got way out of control; bodies tumbled, toilet rolls and twinkies streaked back and forth across the sky and a cloud of ground coffee came down on us all. (note: being soaked in beer is surprisingly better than ground coffee!)
NAS’ Illmatic Still Sounds Awesome 20 Years Later
Watching Nas perform Illmatic to the super psyched all-ages crowd, many of whom weren’t even born when the record dropped in ‘94, was pretty special.
All in all it was a weekend marked by so much overstuffing of Twinkies, Red Bull, entertainment and music. Fun Fun Is definitely a festival must do.
(Just one of the many off stage attractions at Fun Fun Fun Festival)
Fun Fun Fun Fest 2014 ran from November 7th – November 9th, for more info visit www.funfunfunfest.com
