As I packed up my stuff and got ready to drive to Chicago for Lollapalooza yesterday morning, I read the details of Los Angeles' F Yeah Fest 5 and promptly smacked myself. Why, you may ask? Well, I'm going to spend this weekend trying to sneak food into a park overrun with corporate interests and sweaty, mostly uninteresting people, and I might get to see a dozen or so great bands play short sets on huge, unwieldy stages to apathetic crowds. Oh yeah, and Radiohead will be there.
Yet if only I'd saved my money for a plane ticket to head to L.A. August 30-31 for the F Yeah Fest's modest price tags ($16 the first day, $15 and $7 depending on which show you attend the second night), I'd be chillin' with acts from No Age to Negative Approach (!) to Dan Deacon to Trans Am. I'd also probably be winning the taco-eating contest.
Yes, that's right. The lineup includes a full crop of awesome bands, including high-profile locals like No Age, Abe Vigoda, and Mika Miko as well as hardcore punk pioneers Negative Approach and the omnipotent Fucked Up. But there's also a taco-eating contest. And 15 comedians. But most importantly, a taco-eating contest.
But that's only the first day. The second day includes a massive scavenger hunt leaving from Echo Park Lake at 2 PM and regrouping at an undetermined location at 7 PM, where the winner will receive $500 in cash and "the largest bottle of whiskey known to man" (or a keg of crystal clear Pepsi, depending on the winner's legality). By comparison, the closest thing to a scavenger hunt at Lollapalooza will be trying to find a single food or drink item under $4. The prize will be still being hungry.
After the scavenger hunt, F Yeah attendees will be able to choose between Polvo and Trans Am at one show, and a special guest headliner plus Hit Me Back and Final Fight at another. Oh right, Dan Deacon is playing a secret show at an undisclosed location at the same time, too. Best music festival ever?
