My day at HFStival:
On the whole, quite a pleasant one actually. I thought it was definitely undersold, up until about when Social D was playing and then the place started to seem full.
I'll start with the lowlights:
1) Watching Echo and the Bunnymen's absolutely pathetic display. Why didn't Ian just cancel and give more time to the other bands? The way that guy smokes cigarettes, it's no surprise he couldn't sing. I love them, but I'll be the first to admit that he was a twat.
2) Definitely interesting to watch the teenage zombies...the HFStival is where you go if you have low self esteem because just one look at the masses should make you feel like a million bucks.
3) David Johansen looked AWFUL...I love the NY Dolls, and though they sounded great, it's just not the NY Dolls without Johnny Thunders and David is on his way to join his brother in the very near future. That was just painful to see. His arms are totally just bone, vein and skin. His face was gaunt. He could have been one of the skeleton faces from the "Appetite for Destruction" album cover.
4) Before I even set foot in the stadium, some drunk girl passed out cold on the lawn while her boyfriend was trying to get her on her feet as he was clutching a huge beer bong. The cops were on their way to bust them and he was frantically trying to get her to stand up.
Highlights:
1) They Might Be Giants playing "Fingertips". My God, that was hilarious to see.
2) Getting me and my friends up to the club level even though we only had 1 club level ticket. It was far more civilized up there...air conditioning, nice bars, clean bathrooms, sofas, shorter lines, etc. We proceeded to have some overpriced (but much needed) cocktails. I ran into Don Vito from Viva La Bam.
3) Enjoying the sun and hearing Garbage play "Vow".
4) Well or badly, when the NY Dolls came out it was the best, most rockin' part of the day (until that point).
5) Social D came out to put on an absolutely killer performance. "Prison Bound" was flawless, "Ring of Fire" fucking kicked ass. They wiped the floor with every other band that played that day. Further proof that they're the real deal. Seeing them at the 9:30 for multiple nights...Thatguy, are you teasing?? Damn. I wouldn't miss that for ANYTHING.
So I left after that and missed the other stuff. Went to Blowoff and overindulged. I'm off to see Peter Murphy tonight..should be a good show.
Concluding thought: you better know what you're getting into when you go to something like the HFStival, but in the end, you make the best of the experience. You have to think positively or else like anything you're to have a sucky ass time. I'd rather just laugh it off and make the best of it.
