We got a little lost on the way to the campground because of heavy traffic and detours. Luckily, we were staying at the nicest campground in the Woodlands and we had direct access to the festival while the other grounds weren't attached.
While my mom and Mrs. Kelly (Hope's mom, yes. Also known as Wolfmother...) set up the tent, Hope and I ran to see The Neighbourhood, knowing that we would've missed the show if the drive had taken any longer. We had pretty good spots and I was excited seeing as they were one of my current favorite bands. The show ended up being good, but not one of my favorites. It was expected and nothing was over the top. It was music.
Hope and I stayed in our spots after they finished because Django Django were coming up next and that was a show we'd both been waiting to see for a long time. While we were standing there, a man walked down the center aisle made by the barricades, stopped for a second, and asked, "Do you want this setlist?" as if he had to get it off his hands. Obviously I took it and my group started calling me 'Setlist Queen'.
Sooner or later as the sun began to inch its way higher and higher into the sky, Django Django came on and played a fantastic set. Before it started I said to Hope, "I bet they'll open with Hail Bop" which is exactly what they did. I'd have to say my favorite part was when the band said, "This next song's called Firewater... It's about getting drunk." They also played Skies Over Cairo and Default which is one of my favorite songs of all time.
After that, Hope and I met up with the moms and we went to see Twenty One Pilots which we all enjoyed a lot. I personally don't know them very well and I've never gotten into their music. But the show was amazing and Tyler Joseph climbed the scaffolding and stood on top of the stage.
They also handed the crowd two drums and two square platforms, had the people hold everything up, and then they stood on top of them and played the drums. It's hard to explain and you might not understand but I don't have a photo of it and you'll just have to take my word for it: it was very cool.
After that we hung around the tent and explored and ate. I decided that our campground was perfect and we hung up some butterfly lights and talked with the moms until it was time for us to part ways to attend our respected shows.
Then Hope and I went to Grizzly Bear which made me very emotional because they are absolutely amazing. And the show itself was absolutely beautiful. They played Speak In Rounds and Gun-Shy and it was perfect.
We then went to find the moms at Red Hot Chili Peppers but given the size of the crowd, it was stupid to think that we could and in the end, impossible. But Hope and I had an incredible time. We got fairly close to the stage but we still had room to move and dance and we ended up having a mosh pit with the people around us. Although, I was uncomfortable for about half the show because this extremely creepy guy was staring at me and giving me looks. Basically, he did the same to Hope and we were both being objectified. I was pretty angry because it's apparently become impossible to dress for yourself. I'm wearing shorts because it's extremely hot out, not because I want to be penetrated or gaped at by half of the male population.
Anyway, the set was incredible and it was one of my favorite shows at the festival. By The Way is, in my opinion, one of the best songs ever written and when they played it, the entire crowd went mental.
After that there were midnight EDM shows and forest raves, etc. It was all amazing at night. Except on this night, a less-than-stellar dance group were playing on the Backyard Stage. Note: this stage is literally in my backyard since we were camping in the Hideout. At one point a girl onstage said, "CLAP YOUR FUCKING HANDS!" and Mrs. Kelly said, "Go to sleep..." Comedic gold. We never went to any of those shows because of sheer exhaustion, even though I had planned to go to them all. We slept a little less than soundly and I woke up the next morning, far too early, before waking up Hope and going to take showers.
The first show on Day Two was Blondfire at 1:45pm so we ended up having way too much time to kill, seeing as I had woken Hope up at 8am. I don't remember what we did but I think it involved spending a lot of time in the car putting on makeup more carefully than usual and sitting in the air conditioned tent playing napping or playing phone games.
We got to Blondfire and scored barrier spots right in front of their lovely guitarist, Steve. I had seen them once, opening for Awolnation so I knew the general lay of the land. I also quite like their music. But their show was great and Hope really liked it which I appreciate a lot since she hadn't heard them before. She also took a lot of great photos of Steve and Erica for me. Sadly, they didn't play My Someday or Oxygen but they closed with Where the Kids Are which is good enough for me.
After that we explored a little more. We also went back to the air conditioned lounge tent and slept, I believe. The next show was Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes at 6pm so we had time to kill. We were going to that show for two reasons: Hope wanted to hear a few songs and MGMT were playing next on that stage.
Between shows, we went to the hammock area where Hope and I found a very sad excuse for a hammock. We couldn't both sit on it at once which ultimately resulted in sadness and strong feelings of betrayal.
We went and we got tons of great photos and while Hope wished we hadn't gone for the most part, I enjoyed the show so much. It was really personal somehow and while I'm not a fan of gigantic bands, they made it work. Alex was really great because he stood in the crowd and held a lot of hands. They also had a story time thing where he went into the crowd and people said things. Everyone had talked about the band and Alex said, "Okay, so is there anything not about the band?" and a guy behind me was saying, "YES, HERE! ALEX!" and he came over and handed the guy the microphone and he said, "I just asked my girlfriend to marry me!" and the crowd went absolutely wild.
I can't explain it because being there felt so special, even to someone who didn't know the band.
We waited for MGMT for a bit and my friend Addy joined us. It was awesome to see her again because I'd met her for the first time at MGMT's Musikfest show. She made for some excellent company and a wonderful person to talk to and hang out with. And I accidentally stole her flower crown...
MGMT played and it was absolutely beautiful. Apparently I'm on the the only people at the festival who thinks so but that's more than good enough for me. James made faces at me and they played Congratulations which is almost unarguably my favorite song of all time. I also got the setlist at this show which was very cool. I was at the barrier and there was a man breaking down Ben's equipment so I said, "Can I please have the setlist?" (The key is being polite okay?) and he nodded and made a give-me-a-second gesture. Then he go the setlist and gave it to the security guard who asked, "who do you want to give it to?" and the man said, "the girl in the MGMT shirt" and that's the story of how I managed to get my second MGMT setlist.
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Then we went to bed, only to be woken up by Big Gigantic playing on the Backyard Stage at 1 in the morning. Thankfully, they were pretty good. But the fact that you could feel the bass through the ground was not conducive to happy sleeping.
I ended up waking up a little later the next day and Hope and I showered without waiting in a line. We hung out in that air conditioned lounge again until the gates opened. The first show was Delta Rae, a band that Hope wanted to see that I had not heard of. Their set ended up being really awesome. As cliche as it sounds, they were really energetic and I enjoyed it a lot, despite the fact that it had started to drizzle.
After that we sprinted through much heavier rain to see Haim. I was really frustrated because after the rain stopped, it became so humid that all you could do was swim, sweat, and wish for death. Despite the unforgiving weather conditions, the show was amazing and I'm really happy I got to see them. At the end they played the shit out of their drums and everyone was flipping out. It was so cool. I aspire to be that rad.
Seeing as I wanted to die, I went back to the air conditioned tent with Hope and the moms and we hung out there for a while. It started to monsoon and there was a lot of thunder and lightning and I was worrying that they'd cancel Vampire Weekend or do something tragic like that. Despite the fact that I moped for a solid three hours, Mrs. Kelly had to check on our tent in the middle of the rainstorm so she made a show of putting on her rain poncho and running out of the lounge with her arms spread as if she was about to take off and fly. That not only made me laugh, but left the entire tent in a state of uproar consisting of laughter and confusion.
And despite the drizzles, we went to see the wonderful Robert Delong. I loved him before the festival and I love him even more now. It basically boils down to the fact that he is so talented and watching him perform is incredible. He's a one person, electronic music making machine and he uses game controllers (Like a Wii remote and a typical joystick) hooked up to MIDI controls to make some of the sounds in his music. Blown away. He also has a full drumkit set up and he'll have the track playing, and then he starts drumming in the middle of the fucking show. It's remarkable.
I also had the pleasure of meeting him because some artists have meet and greets. I bought his album (I had downloaded it and then decided that he deserved the money for being so fucking awesome...) and they gave me a wristband. Sadly, Hope didn't have money with her and I didn't have enough for her as well so I was a lone soldier.
But I got to meet him and he was extremely cool. We took a (sadly, very over exposed) polaroid and he signed my album. He asked me what my name is and I told him, "Paige, with an I" and he said, "I love it!" as he wrote. I told him he was incredible and he said thank you so much. He also spoke aloud as he wrote, "You are... (and he paused to think of a good word) ...radical, the L is also an exclamation point." Then we hugged and I went on my way after saying thank you. I have a really hard time writing about meeting people because I'm never crazily excited externally. I also don't like to write about meeting said people but this made my day even better than it had been in the first place so I felt obliged to include it.
After that Hope and I had burrito bowls and went to the end of Dispatch's set to get a good spot for Vampire Weekend. My friend had been saving a spot for me (front and center, too) but I never made it to her. Hope and I found ourselves about two people back, right in front of where Chris Baio would be standing, playing the waiting game. Vampire Weekend was the most important show for me to go to, namely because I've loved them for almost as long as I've loved Muse and I hadn't seen them until Firefly. I'd waited three years for that show. It's a life event for me.
The show ended up being absolutely stellar. Baio smiled at me four or five times, Hope took incredible photos, and I got to see the band in the flesh for the first time. In addition, they played every song I adore, someone had a sign that said "PIZZA PARTY" (L'homme Run, reference), and Baio sweat through not only his shirt, but also his pants. It was absolutely incredible. No words. I stayed after the show and while I didn't get a setlist, I got a pick and I was able to watch the crew break down the stage. I was very emotional.
We then went to see Foster the People with the moms and Hope and I danced for a while before she and her mother left. My mom and I stayed until the end of the show. She asked me if I wanted to go and I said, "No, this is the last show of Firefly 2013 and I plan on enjoying every second of it." We both agreed on that so we stayed and danced and had a good time, despite dealing with the pain of standing and dancing for about three days straight. My mom only got photos of the video screen because we were too far back to get anything better. I don't regret that.
In the end, Firefly was absolutely amazing. Nothing can ever really beat last year but I'd say that this was another one of the best weekends of my life. If I had to choose a top three shows it'd go as follows: 1. Vampire Weekend 2. Robert Delong 3. Red Hot Chili Peppers
Here's to Firefly 2014 and all the Firefly's in the future. I'll miss you until I get there.
