Why Choosing FYF Fest Is A No-Brainer

July 10th, 2015

MJ Rawls

We are in the heart of festival season and if you think some of these lineups look exactly the same, do not adjust your TV sets or change your glasses prescription – they are. Chances are if you go to a number of major festivals a year, you are going to see certain acts multiple times, queuing up your own Bill Murray version of Groundhog Day. There is tons of overlap, but let’s cut them a little break perhaps. Most of these festival lineups are negotiated a year in advance, some artists command higher fees than festivals can afford, and logistics, logistics and more logistics. If a fan is going to shell out money for tickets, hotels and airfare, there has to be a good reason.

When FYF Fest–now in its 11th year–announced their 2015 lineup, it immediately caught my eye. Look at the headliners. Frank Ocean, who’s essentially been in hiding working on this new album. Ocean has not been on any other festival lineup this year. Will he perform mostly new material? Only one way to find out.

The other headliner is Morrissey, and other than Firefly Festival in Delaware, this might be one of the only festivals in the U.S. where you will get to see the renowned artist. On top of that, you know there will be some non-meat alternatives for eating.

The whole lineup is the epitome of eclectic. Run The Jewels, Purity Ring, Death Grips, Title Fight, Joyce Manor and Shlohmo to name a few. There is very little overlap here. For being a two-day festival, it looks like it’s spaced out enough to where you can catch a good chunk of most artists’ sets. Oh, those scheduling conflicts; they will have you running a 5K marathon trying to see everyone. The fact that there is only three stages will probably make your low top Chucks rejoice in unison.

Furthermore, it’s Los Angeles where there’s tons to do, beautiful people, and good weather to do it in. The festival is held at L.A. Memorial Sports Arena and in previous years, fans complained about the distance of traveling from stage to stage. Well, they’ve heard your call and added an extra walkway to cut travel time down by six minutes. It’s hard not to like a festival that listens to the plights of the people.

Lastly, look at the price point. $175 of your hard-earned dollars for a two-day pass. That means that you can get all of your festival pre-check ducks in a row and still hopefully have a little bit left over to indulge in some In-N-Out Burger. It’s pretty much a rite of passage once you go to the west, like the Wawa’s of the upper East Coast. After all, it’s L.A. Hell, Deandre Jordan couldn’t leave. That’s got to account for something, right?