I think the F-ck Yeah fest brought out every hipster under 18 in the greater Los Angeles area. That is the great thing about the F-ck Yeah fest though; it is a completely all ages event, a rarity these days. Although for me, at 28, I felt like a grandma, since I was about 10 years older than every other kid there. Sean Carlson, F-ck Yeah fest’s organizer, is young himself, so it is no wonder the younguns come out.
The fest was spread out between the Echo, the Echoplex, the Rec Center, Taix restaurant and 1710 Local, an indie hipster clothing store. The venues are all walking distance of one another and it made it easy to see all the bands.
F-ck Yeah Fest not only brought out the young kids, but it also brought out some great bands. The Mae Shi seemed to be a crowd favorite. Their mix of noise rock, avant-garde craziness got a pit going right in front of the stage. Most of the audience was familiar with their songs and happily sang, or rather yelled, along.
Wooden Shjips played spacey, stoner, feedback laden rock, with a lead singer that looked liked Rob Zombie’s younger brother. Entrance played similar music, just a little bit more psychedelic.
Lavender Diamond, who I was most excited to see, proved to be the most disappointing. With only 40 minutes to play, leader Becky Stark spent about 25 minutes talking about nonsense, like not using plastic bags, peace, war, etc. (not that those are nonsense topics, but I just wanted her to sing). It was obvious that the rest of her band was trying to move her along, but she was having none of it. Maybe she was drunk, maybe she just didn’t care, maybe that’s just the way she is.
Overall, F-ck Yeah Fest continues to evolve and get better and more respected bands. It’s nice to see something stick around.
