For the third year, Fun Fun Fun Fest returned to Austin, Texas. Its pretty amazing that a city in the middle of Texas can have three major music festivals (SXSW, ACL Fest, FFF) and have all three of them be unique and well attended. I guess they dont call Austin the Live Music Capital off the World for nothing.
What sets apart FFF from most any other festival in the country is their effective job of booking a lineup that has something for everyone. Maybe not everyone but with three stages broken down to have Punk, Hip Hop/Electornic, and Indie/Rock, you cover a lot of ground and allow for some of the best artists within those genres to shine. This year the big names on the bill were Dead Milkmen, Bad Brains, The National, Clipse, Atmosphere, Islands and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
Waterloo Park takes up most of a city block in downtown Austin and, for the most part, the layout works for a festival. There was only one major issue, dust. And lots of it. I was coming down with a cold having flown to Florida after CMJ to pick up Newt then drove to New Orleans for Halloween then Austin for FFF. My cough was getting worst and the dust was prolly the worst thing for it.
On Saturday we got there early to pull Newt into the park then to a nice parking spot in the main backstage hospitality area next to the Hip Hop/Electronic stage. Zach was helping out at the truck and once he got his bike locked up we prepped for what we thought would be a busy day. The weather was nice and the backstage area was rather large. Maybe its because we were a bit in the corner or maybe people never really caught on that the cream was free but the rush we expected never really occurred. There were still plenty of takers but we had over 2000 Blue Bunny treats on board and I wasnt sure what we were going to do with them if we didnt give them away in Austin.
The only music I saw for the most part was whomever was playing the stage next to the truck. Hawnay Troof was pretty funny for being a solo MC with a laptop and Terp 2 It was entertaining for a lil while. Octopus Project sounded awesome, as usual, and DJ Z-Trip closed the night out with a mash-up set that drew dozens of people on stage to shake their asses. We closed up during his set and headed out to see some rock. Dead Milkmen were headlining the punk stage and I knew this might be my only chance to ever see them so I stuck around there for most of the time. The pit was a bit nuts and people kept stage diving which was fitting for the music and that stage. The National were playing the middle stage and they had a couple songs left so I decided to wrap things up there. It was the last night of a long tour for them so the whole band seemed to have been partying a bit and letting loose. They apologized a few times for their performance but it was nice to see a set from them that was a bit more relaxed.
By the time I got home Saturday night my cough had gotten worse and by the time Sunday morn rolled around I knew there was no way I could spend a day in the dust bowl and make it out without serious damage to my throat and lungs. Luckily Zach said hed watch the truck and Aaron was able to pitch in some too. I wish I coulda seen Islands and Black Joe Lewis that day but I was happy to stay home and get some work done. The cough persisted for quite some time. In hindsight, I was glad I didnt push myself and get much sicker.
Thanks to Scott and Mary for shooting and to Zach, Aaron, and Doug for helping to sling.. Thanks to all the Transmission folks for taking care of us and to Blue Bunny and Yumi for the ice cream. Hopefully next year well be able to make it back and it wont be as dusty
