Gainesville’s favorite punk-rock festival is back for it’s 11th year. The Fest will invade downtown Gainesville Friday through Sunday with more than 300 bands and over 3,200 attendees.
In the mayhem that is Fest Weekend, sifting through the lineup (not to mention the crust punks at the venues) can be daunting. Luckily for the Avenue, Paper + Plastick label manager Thomas Nassiff is here to help.
Here are his top five sets to catch this weekend at Fest 11:
Coffee Project
Sunday, 3:20 p.m., The Atlantic
Maybe Coffee Project seems like an odd band to see on top of a list of bands to see at Fest 11. The duo, consisting of vocalist/guitarist Jake Crown and trombonist/vocalist Buddy Schaub, is far from what the “stereotype” of a Fest band might be. Acoustic guitars, nice melodies and the addition of Schaub’s trombone make Coffee Project set a lot quieter than most bands you’ll see this weekend.
But this Fest set is the group’s last show ever, and they’ll have copies of their farewell album, “Leftovers,” available to buy on CD. The record just came out this Tuesday via Paper + Plastick Records, and it just seems right to go watch the Gainesville natives as they call it a career at Fest.
Titus Andronicus and Frank Turner
10 and 11 p.m., Sunday, 8 Seconds
Two for the price of one. Titus Andronicus and Frank Turner are the last two performances of the weekend at 8 Seconds, and this is as good a way as any to round out the best three days of the year.
Titus Andronicus is a New Jersey-based group that plays indie-punk-ish rock music. Their most recent album, “Local Business,” is must-hear music this year and they don’t tour the country too often, so take the chance to see them in Gainesville while you can.
Meanwhile, Frank Turner is everyone’s favorite punk rocker gone folk singer, and if he’s playing with his band, The Sleeping Souls, we’re all in for a phenomenal end to Fest 11. Turner closed out Fest 9 two years ago by himself at the same venue, and his took his acoustic guitar out into the parking lot afterwards to play rare songs and Blink-182 covers until police officers broke things up. You don’t want to be anywhere else when Fest ends.
Into It. Over It. and Stay Ahead of The Weather
12 a.m. and 12:40 a.m., Saturday night, High Dive
Congratulations to us! Another two bands for the price of one! Evan Thomas Weiss is one of the very best songwriters to ever come out of the Midwest, right up there with the Kinsella brothers and all of the Midwestern emo bands of the ‘90s and 2000s. His usually solo project, Into It. Over It., embarked on its first-ever full-band tour to make the trek down to Fest, and a full-band Into It. Over It set is something you simply cannot miss if you’re a fan of Weiss or Midwestern emo/punk in general.
The half-hour Stay Ahead Of The Weather set that directly precedes Into It. Over It.’s headlining performance only makes the whole night that much more anticipated. Stay Ahead Of The Weather is another Weiss project, and although they’ve only ever released six songs, they absolutely parallel his work with Into It. Over It. This is a must-witness pair of back-to-back sets. And it’s quite a lot to handle for the first night of the weekend!
The Menzingers
8 p.m., Sunday, Florida Theater
Simply put, The Menzingers’ “On The Impossible Past” is the best punk album released in 2012. Check these guys out if you haven’t heard of them and you like punk rock, Americana rock, good storytelling, and lyrics about doing kind of nothing. I guarantee you this band will blow you away if you’ve never heard of them.
Red City Radio or Braid
12:20 a.m., Saturday night, High Dive (for Red City Radio) or same time at 8 Seconds (for Braid)
I can’t very well tell you which of these bands to watch. It’s a crying shame that they’re playing at the same time, but it also makes perfect sense because both of these groups deserve to be headlining their respective venues.
If you’re a fine of no-frills punk music that still has enough accessibility for your girlfriend to not tell you to “turn it downnnn!!!” in the car, go watch Red City Radio. It’s going to be a drunken party, and I will be there because they are my favorite punk band right now. By the end of the set, most of the patrons at High Dive will probably be on the stage singing along to the closing track. Last year, someone got engaged at this show and it was a beautiful moment. That probably won’t happen at this set, but Red City Radio’s live show has only improved over the past 12 months.
Braid is already a must-see for many Fest attendees. This group has been around since 1993, but they broke up in 1999, came back briefly in the mid-2000s, and then became active again in 2011. They released a phenomenal new EP and there are still very few bands that do emo/post-hardcore/whatever better than Braid. If you even like this band a little bit, take the chance to see them now.
