For five years now F-Yeah Fest has served as an end-of-summer showcase of Los Angeles’ best (and worst) talent. This year, organizers expanded their horizons not only by adjusting the name to FYF Fest, but also by adopting a cause and moving the festival outside of Echo Park. Proceeds from ticket sales served to benefit California state parks (many of which face trouble with the recent budget cuts). Economic turmoil aside, hipsters, punks and everyone in between flocked to Los Angeles State Historic Park (you know, the one outside of Chinatown that used to be a corn field) to catch the action.
The ticket this year was diverse and spread out across three separate stages, appropriately named after different types of trees. The Oak stage was the largest, with locals No Age, Adult Swim’s Tim & Eric, and F* Up. Other highlights included an afternoon set from Crystal Antlers, who are gearing up for a tour with The Big Pink in a couple of months, followed by Wavves. Dan Deacon was scheduled right after but cancelled last minute, leaving a forty minute gap between sets. By the end of the night people were going wild for headliners The Black Lips, who seemed reserved, antics-wise, but still kept the festival going until the end.
The Redwood stage was nearby, with sets from local act Mika Miko, Darker My Love, and The Thermals being the strongest. Headlining acts The Dillinger Escape Plan and Converge were out of place (to say the least), but attracted one of the strongest followings of the night, seriously packing in the field with metal heads.
The best sets by far came from the Sequoia stage near the festival entrance. An awkward but entertaining comedy show got the building crowd to chuckle, followed by a raunchy, and equally entertaining, performance by Har Mar Superstar. Japanther played with MC group NinjaSonik (think TRVSDJAM but with more grit) and got the crowd to topple the gates and chant “somebody’s gonna get pregnant” repetitively. Peanut Butter Wolf spun some solid nineties hip-hop, which the crowd didn’t seem to quite understand, setting the mood for short performances from new-comers Cold Cave and Telepathe.
Glass Candy closed the night, throwing out giant balloons and getting everyone to dance, joined by lead singer Ida No herself from the stage. All in all, this years event was tamer than past, but still enjoyable. As a newfound Los Angeles institution, it’s nice to see how FYF Fest
has grown the past few years, bringing attention to many acts that not only deserve it but wouldn’t find as wide an audience any other way.
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