Avett Brothers, Snoop Dogg, Flaming Lips, Willie Nelson, Primus, Afrojack, Descendents, Major Lazer, Young the Giant, Z-Ro, Morris Day and the Time, Portugal. the Man, Diplo, Best Coast, Wavves, Two Door Cinema Club, and a bunch more. http://www.freepresssummerfest.com/lineup.php Pretty awesome for how cheap this festival is. If you live in or near Houston you should definitely go.
On first glimpse this lineup looks awful. A bunch of has-beens are set to perform this year. The festival is a good value price wise, but not much in terms of relevant bands.
I disagree, I really like it. I've heard multiple times the Avett Brothers are great live, Flaming Lips put on a crazy show, Descendents are awesome, and bunch of good new younger bands in there like Portugal. the Man, Young the Giant, Two Door Cinema Club, Starfckr, Jeff the Brotherhood (love these guys), Maps and Atlases, Ume, and Ponderosa. And they always add a few more bands later. For the price, I think its going to be a great time.
So they don't have The Men or Azealia Banks playing. The big names are there for entertainment and to get feet through the gates. Free Press does an excellent job of promoting local bands from Houston and the rest of Texas, something that other Texas festivals can't lay a claim to. Also, the price is great for this kind of lineup. Houston's a city that, up until the first Free Press Summer Fest a few years ago, had no tradition of worthwhile outdoor music festivals and now we've got national acts coming through.
funny because I bought 2 blind pre-sale tickets for $25 each. I should have bought 6 and at least doubled my money.
Agreed. This lineup pretty much sucks. I thought they hit a great balance of indie/up-and-coming artists and larger mainstreamish/big-draw acts last year and was hoping they would continue in that vein. The few bands I like on the list are ones I've seen years ago, which can be forgivable since I tend to be on top of music I like pretty quickly, but this lineup is a bit behind regardless. Also agreed, but that doesn't change the fact that this year's festival doesn't really offer much for the average indie listener. Those guys at Pegstar have done a great thing for live music in Houston and they deserve all the success they can get... but I'll probably be skipping the fest this year barring any surprises.
Flaming Lips playing Dark Side of the Moon.. I'll stop you there. If I wasn't working the fest I'd purchase several of their reasonably priced passes and hand them out to the kids that wont stop playing "Smoke on the Water" at Guitar Center. I have to put in a plug here for my good friends in Zlam Dunk!. I'm not huge into their recordings (even thought I collaborated with other engineers on the mastering) but they have a great live presence, are fatally dedicated to having and spreading all forms of positive energy, and there is a dearth of dance/punk/post artists this year. If you want to get your juices flowing, check out Austin based friends Zlam Dunk!. I believe they will be playing early on the first day.
The more hipsters I hear hating this lineup makes my purchase of a pass yesterday seem like an even better investment. :grin:
^^^ I'm also tempted to go for Primus, since they're one of my all-time favorites, but then I'm reminded of the first and only time I saw them a few years ago at Verizon... It was the original lineup and everything -- they played most of StSoC among other hits, but they just seemed so dead onstage. I don't regret going, but they clearly mailed in the performance -- it just seemed like a quick reunion cashgrab. They barely interacted with each other or the audience. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but it definitely fell short of my lofty expectations. Maybe my show was an exception, but just in case, you should go in a bit cynical and maybe you'll enjoy it more! Haha, the next time you have trouble justifying a purchase, let me know and I'll be happy to piss on it for you!
