Music festival rocks SoCal audience

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As the sun went down on the last night of the FYF and the Los Angeles skyline glistened on the backs of attendants from across the country, everyone put their drinks down and hands up for the final acts.

Festival season was drawing to a close on the West Coast after Outside Lands, Coachella and FYF were nearly over and academics were starting for the majority of attendants.

Most attendants walking around were ecstatic to be able to see a lineup as star-packed as FYF’s, and were a bit frustrated at how many great bands were playing at the same time. It led many festival goers to have to decide one band over another.

Amy Perez traveled from Arizona to the festival. She did not mind paying the price of admission and travel fare for the chance to see her favorite bands, MGMT and Devendra Banhart, all in one place for two days.

The current situation involving festival prices sharply rising due to increased attendance, she said, “It was necessary due to the increased security and medical personnel, which were seen frequently helping attendants with sprained ankles or suffering dehydration because of the heat of the Los Angeles sun or the humidity everyone in the front rows of any band’s set had to endure.”

Mark Felton, a Los Angeles local, noticed the huge rise in attendance numbers and found it great that the festival did everything possible to make it as safe and fun as it could be.

Although he did not like that he had to choose between the bands, Washed Out and Shlomo, he at least had the choice to see them both on the same night. He said it was great seeing West Coast talent playing in festivals more often.

Some of the bands are Joyce Manor from Torrance, The Oh Sees from San Francisco, and Ty Segall from Orange County played in front of packed crowds.

Many attendants were seeing these bands for the first time. After the sets ended, many in the crowd rushed to the merchandise tent to buy  shirts or albums.

Some of the attendees were even in their own bands and hoped to one day to be able to play in front of crowds as big as these. They gave out CD’s with their band’s material on them.

The West Coast’s music scene is getting stronger with the rise of the music festivals and ease of sharing their material through music hotspots, such as shows and the internet.

As My Bloody Valentine took the stage as the final act of the night, the crowd of 20,000 swarmed the stage and swayed like an ocean to the massive drone sound coming from guitars. Everyone got lost in the sea of crowd-surfers and iPhones rose from the massive crowd to remember the night.