Well, the consensus seems to be that Free Press Summer Fest III was a success. For those who didn't suffer from brainmelt or the like, a good time was had. Here's a rundown from some attendees:
- Craig Hlavaty of the Houston Press' Rocks Off blog on Weezer's ownage: "Couples were kissing under the smoke, friends hugged and cheered, guys were spilling the last of their beers, and a few people had misty eyes as the fiery display hit its grand finale. Somewhere in there, Weezer walked offstage and let Houston have its little moment of bliss after spending two days in the rain, heat, stink, dirt, and did we mention the heat? Yes, Weezer did us right."
- Zach Teibloom of Festival Crashers agrees, offering several videos to back up his rating of the band on several criteria, including a 19/20 for performance for which Teibloom had this to say: "Rivers [Cuomo] proved to be the front man of the festival and was impossible to keep your eyes off of. From the moment he came out with his hoodie pulled tight over his head for 'Undone (The Sweater Song)' until his flying leaps as fireworks erupted behind him for 'Buddy Holly,' he gave us the performance every Weezer fan thought was 'Only in Dreams' at this point in their career. He was a man of the people, demanding 'agua' for us as he hosed us down, climbing into the crowd for solos, taking the stage all by himself for the start of “Island in the Sun” and making up a song about how he wished it was raining before instructing us to just say 'hip, hip.' It sure was."
Festival Crashers' vid of Weezer doing "Island in the Sun"
- Sounds like most people had a good time despite the hot weekend. Caitlin Witliff of The Horn was one of them, and offers up a comprehensive rundown of the musical offerings she sampled, including Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, who [e]ven in the daytime heat ... offered all the energy they could muster, rolling around on the stage, beating on tent poles, headbanging hard enough to lose their sunglasses, and generally brightening the already sunshiney day." Her Saturday highlight, though, was fellow Austinite Zeale: "I had seen him perform before and knew how magnetic he was, but he brought it in a big way to Free Press. It has taken me a while to understand and appreciate rap and hip-hop, but Zeale makes it easy to love. He mashes up great songs with incredible lyrics, and despite spitting them out faster than a speeding bullet, he enunciates each word so you know exactly where he's coming from. I will also always (perhaps a bit narcissistically) be won over by artists who make it a point to call me out in a crowd, and when he performed his mashup of the Black & White Years' 'Up,' called 'Feed the Lion,' I sang along and he leaned into the crowd, pointing at me and saying, 'Yeah, you know this one!'" Sounds like a cool time, and trust me, you're not alone in being sold on those who shout you out.
- For Beth Rankin of Beaumont Enterprise's Cat 5 blog, the bands she didn't plan on seeing turned out to steal the weekend. Her rundown also includes a nod to Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears as well as Eastern Sea and Roky Moon & Bolt: "I’d heard more than once that Roky Moon & Bolt’s show was a must-see, but now that I’ve seen it, I’m a believer. Incredible energy, a cast of characters and a Queen/Rocky Horror-esque sound kept me entertained during lengthy songs with multiple time signature changes and epic build-ups. I genuinely hope this Houston band makes it out our way again soon because they put on a hell of a show."
- More the podcast type than a blog-reader? Try this: The Pod Crash offers up a podcast and this description: "We survived Free Press Summer Fest. Two grueling 10-hour days in the 100 degree Houston sun, but we made it through everything we wanted to see. Weezer surprised us as the best show of the festival, but we run through it all, who had the best dancers, what saved us from the heat, and what made it all feel so long. This was recorded at 3 a.m. Monday morning. Please keep that in mind. Click M4A for stream to begin. Thanks for listening."
- Here's a cool one: The Loop Scoop offers up two "photo essays" on the festival -- one for each day. Saturday features pix and commentary on Los Skarnales, Junior Brown, Wicked Poseur, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Cop Warmth, Beirut, and yes, Black Joe again. Sunday's post has Robert Ellis, Hayes Carll, The Handshake, Eastern Sea, Fresh Millions, Yeasayer, Chromeo, Neon Indian, Amplified Heat and Cut Copy in the cross hairs.
- Over at 29-95 they've done a thorough job running down each day as well, with recaps of day one and day two. Joe Mathlete offers his opinion on the first day's best: "In my view, Summerfest 2011 hit its zenith during F#@&%& Up's absolutely devastating late-afternoon set, somewhere between 300-plus pound frontman Damian Abraham's surprisingly successful crowd-surfing and brutal closer 'Son the Father.' Few working bands today can match the Toronto hardcore outfit in terms of sheer visceral power, and they whipped a sweaty pit of catharsis-hungry guys and girls (surprise, Dad! Girls listen to hardcore!) into a nuclear frenzy. 'Effed Up' definitely appeared quite Canadian (read: miserably hot and sticky) in the bajillion-degree Houston heat; luckily they had the foresight to write a song called 'I Hate Summer.' Abraham introduced the song by dedicating it to 'everyone who's ever been a little overweight.' Then he bellowed like a Catholic demon as three guitars that sounded like three thousand shamed the sun."
- Well, I guess not everyone beat the heat. Staying away from music reporting, KHOU news noted that 100+ people were treated for heat-related ailments, although they did add this about the extremes some folks went to avoid the warmth: "For those who weren’t watching the bands, one of the most popular spots was the misting tent. Other concertgoers took a skimpier approach to beat the heat. 'I’ve seen the most naked people of any festival here. This definitely tops it. I actually feel like I want to join them, it’s so hot,' Tayler Middleton said." Hope you all liberally applied the SPF60.
- Burn Down Blog's Evan goes over much more than just the music, devoting almost as much time to "people watching" as the bands: "Of course, the greatest sight from our wonderful spot was that of a woman in a bright pink dress with a Confederate Flag tattoo on her leg. I couldn’t get a picture, but you can use your imagination. I also did spy Aang, who was apparently either music bending, earth bending, or on drugs. It was hard to get a good shot of him, because he was moving so much. I should have let out a yip-yip." That's Evan's "Aang" link, by the way.
- Luke at What's That Dude Play? knows it's all about timing: " I rolled in just in time to catch a stretch of pop-punk fun from prop-rockers Peelander Z of Japan. Midway through their set on the Budweiser stage they were dressed in uni-colored spandex suits — yellow, pink, green. But there were more costumes to come. A squid and someone dressed like a tiger waltzed on stage during a rousing rendition of ‘Mad Tiger,’ an anthem primarily based around a repeated cartoonish 'Boooooiiinngggggg!' That one really got the crowd moshing, a commendable task in the unrelenting sunshine. With boundless energy and even an onstage round of the Limbo, what’s not to like?"
- Well, okay, KHOU didn't entirely skip the musical part of the festival. Here's some video from the weekend:
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