Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011

11/04/2011 - 11/06/2011

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011

Auditorium Shores- Austin, TX

All us weirdos at Fx3

Me & Erin trying to avoid the Dust Bowl 2011

As Erin & I walked into Auditorium Shores, we had no idea what to expect.  Friday around noon it was almost dead.  We headed to the black stage (AKA heavy metal, kill me now, I hate life & God stage) first just to see what it was all about.  It was everything I thought it would be: kind of funny and definitely frightening.  Great people watching.  

11/04/2011- Day 1:

--Defeater

--Fat Tony- Very cool rapper from Houston, TX

--Total Control

--Canon Blue- Nice sound, could totally get into

--Jim Ward- So I heard about Jim Ward because he had Tegan (of Tegan and Sara... surprise, surprise!) featured in one of his songs "Broken Songs."  His set was pretty chill and very enjoyable.  Him & his band even played Broken Songs (sans Tegan).  It was a little faster and more rock but still fabulous.  As a side note, we were front row.  This wasn't much of a feat considering his set was at 1:30 & no one was really there yet, but still!

Jim Ward

--Omar Souleyman

--Yacht- Totally quirky & awesome

--Big Freddia- Where Ryan Gosling was first spotted

--Okkervil River

--Passion Pit- We were totally front row for this show, and it was paaaaacked!  We worked hard for that spot!  They put on such a great show; I almost felt guilty for not knowing more of their songs.

Passion Pit

11/05/2011- Day 2:

--Future Islands- This was probably one of the weirdest things I have ever seen.  This man would sing normally for most of the song, then literally growl throughout parts of the song.  Not a bad beat, but still... growling?

--Joe Lally

--Tiwarewin

--tUnE-yArDs- TUNE-YARDS!  This is who I was most excited to see!!!  We spent some time scoping out the stage and successfully got front row for this show as well.  Merrill of tUnE-yArDs is so crazy and so talented.  They play catchy, weird music that is just amazing.  The best part is how they sounded just as good (if not better) live than they did on their recorded album.

tUnE-yArDs

--M83

--Girls

--Childish Gambino- Best rap act I saw all weekend.  I understood it was Donald Glover, but didn't realize that Donald Glover = this guy.

Donald Glover/Childish Gambino

--Neon Indian

11/06/2011- Day 3:

--Crooks

--Lemuria

--Le Butcherettes- I take what I said about Future Islands back.  THIS set was definitely the weirdest thing I witnessed all weekend.  Let me just tell ya what the handout/schedule says about them "look out for the melee of feather dusters, brooms, aprons, fake blood, flour, eggs, meat, bubbles, and maybe even a real pig's head."  Yep.  Weird, albeit entertaining.

--Asobi Seksu- Least favorite show of the weekend, sounded like background/victorious music for a Japanese video game.

--We Were Promised Jetpacks- I was very much so looking forward to this set, and I was not disappointed.  I was however, surprised by the appearance of their lead singer.  I pictured him older and rougher looking.  But that's besides the point, I was blown away by their set, especially their closer "It's Thunder and It's Lightning."  I went home and downloaded it immediately.  I also recommend "An Almighty Thud."

We Were Promised Jetpacks

--Mates of State

--Page & Steven's Wedding- Yep, we were witness to an actual wedding at Fx3.  On top of that, it was officiated by Henry Rollins!  (I know him from Sons of Anarchy).

--Austra

--Baths

--Del the Funky Homosapien- They totes lived up to their name, very funky!  AND Del is featured in that one Gorillaz song everyone knows.  You know... "I'm happy, feeling glad, I got sunshine in a bag..."

--Flying Lotus- By this point, everyone is drunk and we're watching girls with hoola-hoops.  And people somehow dance to dub-step.

--Diplo- Or maybe it was at this point we were all drunk?

--Odd Future- Me & Erin decided we would give them a fair shot, given all the controversy & hoopla surrounding their front man Tyler, the Creator and his beef with Tegan and Sara (MY GIRLS!).  Well, from what we would see there was about 10 people on stage and they were all angrily singing/screaming/rapping? at the same time.  Not impressed.

--Slayer- Okay so I didn't actually sit through the Slayer show.  BUT, I did walk by and they were awesomely loud.

Overall, Fx3 was crazy and something totally new.  I was very happy to see tUnE-yArDs and We Were Promised Jetpacks and I would probably go again next year.