Will You Be My Best Friend Forever (Fest)?!!!
Will you be my Best Friend Forever? photo courtesy of kim moenich
To those of us who grew up in the late 80’s and early 90’s hardcore and punk scenes, listening to “emo” was akin to saying you liked Britney Spears. You simply did not acknowledge the genre, and you most definitely did not identify with it. But during the mid 90’s, a new movement began to form, with bands like Cap’n Jazz, Braid, Sunny Day Real Estate, and Texas Is the Reason giving emo a new direction. Suddenly this heretofore verboten genre was cool, and we were all wearing our Krishna beads and screaming out the heartfelt lyrics.
Braid is for the kids! photo courtesy of kim moenich
A lot of that was lost shortly after the turn of the century, with Avril Lavigne and My Chemical Romance taking over the “emo” mantle. A lot of bands from the genre broke up soon thereafter. However, a few years back there was a resurgence, with bands like Rainer Maria reuniting and Cap’n Jazz showing up to play a gig here and there.
The sun always shines on Rainer Maria. photo by kim moenich
Enter Best Friends Forever Fest; the emo reunion to end all emo reunions. Over and over onstage this weekend, bands echoed the sentiment that it felt amazing to be back playing with friends they used to tour with three decades ago. Chris Broach, the guitarist and vocalist in Braid, made the comment, “This is a lineup you would’ve seen at a Michigan Fest in ’97”. I was at that Fest, and he was right.
Braid puts on one of the most fun live shows out there. photo by kim moenich
Many bands in the lineup, like Karate and Rainer Maria, had formed in the early to mid 90’s, but had broken up in the early aughts, only to reunite in recent years. So many of the Fest attendees had either never seen these bands, or hadn’t seen them for decades. I went primarily to see Cap’n Jazz and Jesus Lizard, both of whom I’d only seen once in the last 25 years. While you’d expect the crowd to be a bunch of mid-life crisis soccer moms and middle class dads (and they were definitely there in the VIP section), I found myself surrounded primarily by 20-somethings who, much to my surprise and delight, knew every single word to every single song from every band.
The kids are alright! photo courtesy of kim moenich
The stand-out sets from the weekend were most certainly Cap’n Jazz and Jesus Lizard (and not just because they were my favorites). Both Tim Kinsella, who proclaimed himself the “Godfather of Emo” from the stage, and David Yow spent a bit of time crowd surfing while belting out lyrics. Tim had a cold, so he kept finding audience members to sing for him- and rock on to those of you who completely nailed some complicated lyrics! Yow seemed more interested in having some quality time with the crowd, and he made the most of it (see our videos on Youtube…)
David Yow spent most of the set hanging with us. photo by kim moenich
Braid delivered perfection, as always, and Unwound and The Dismemberment Plan brought down the house. My husband commented, “That’s the first time I bet anyone has ever crowd surfed during an Unwound set”. Jawbox were absolutely incredible, with Kim Coletta bringing sheer joy to us all.
All hail, Kim Coletta, the hero we need right now! photo courtesy of kim moenich
Speaking of Kim, one of the best parts of this lineup was the female representation onstage. By my count, thirteen of the thirty-nine bands who played had women in them. While one third may not seem like much, it’s pretty massive in any subset of rock music. And at least three that I can think of right now were drummers!
The hat says it all… photo by kim moenich
Things this Fest got right:
The Lineup- not one bad band in this mix. The first few bands each day were up and comers, but they all killed it- especially Everyone Asked About You, who you should go run to check out right now. But every other band was a headlining band, and it was so much fun to see back to back to back sets of all of your favorites.
Everyone should be asking about Everyone Asked About You. photo by kim moenich
GA versus VIP- I don’t generally buy VIP anymore, because the only perk I tend to get out of it is early entry. But this Fest had their ‘ish together, and the crowd was split evenly in half, so VIP actually got a decent viewing area. They had nice stadium seating as well, for those upper middle class dads I mentioned earlier.
The slightly more sedate VIP section. photo by kim moenich
Organization- this was the most well organized Fest I’ve been to in ages. They weren’t worried about the small stuff and entry went super smoothly all 3 days. You could easily roam around the area (it was in the same space at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center that Punk Rock Bowling is held), and there were great meet and greets that people just queued themselves up nicely to enter.
It. Was. Chill. The Security staff were amazing, but they did not really have much of a job to do, as most of the bands were not ones to which you would really mosh to. Although a pit did start in the GA section behind me during The Dismemberment Plan, causing singer Travis Morrison, to comment that this was the first time he’d ever seen a pit at one of their shows! But after the brutality I endured at NOFX last weekend, this was a very happy respite.
Security had their hands full helping David Yow onto and off of the stage. photo by kim moenich
The not so great things:
$7 bottles of water that were so cheap that the bottle couldn’t stand up if you put it down. Las Vegas
was nearly 100 degrees every day and no free water refilling stations. Not a great idea.
Super expensive food. $18 beers and $20 slices of pizza. Not cool.
Running out of the Fest t-shirts before the end of the first day. Seriously.
Not handing out free water in the desert. Did I mention that?
$7 and it couldn’t even stand up straight! photo by kim moenich
Shoutout to GoodHood for throwin’ down with the authentic Pakistani food! photo by kim moenich
Overall, highly rad Fest. Everyone, bands included, had an incredible time. Just ask Bob Nanna who was onstage for nearly every band (which I joked with him about because he stayed at our hotel). Hey, even the Stern Brothers turned up because Best Friends Forever Fest was just that good!
And at the end, we really were all Best Friends Forever… photo by kim moenich