NOTE: I really fixed the picture links this time, hope you enjoy them now!
Krazyfest. For the past three years, I had constantly heard of it. Heard of the awesome lineups every year. Heard of the stories so incredible that they could only be deemed "krazy." Heard about the all-around fun times. And every year, I was too chickenshit to go. Not this year. I'm 19 now. I have independence. I am going to go to Krazyfest! The only hitch: find people to go with, so I don't blow an arm and a leg on gas, hotel, etc. So I recruited my partners in crime:
Liz Panella -- The girl who got me into most of the bands I listen to today. I've known her for who knows how many years. When she saw the festival's lineup, she could hardly contain her excitement.
Carol Jones -- A year older than both of us [but still a young 20], she was the "mother" of the group.
Harrel Townsend -- The tough Chicago guy. I met him at college this past year, and he fucking rules. I don't even think he left the pit at all during Saturday. But I digress.
So once our motley crew was assembled [minus Harrel, who had to work and would meet us down there on Friday night], we set off from our hometown of Rockford, Illinois. In case you were wondering, driving from Rockford, Illinois to Louisville, Kentucky is 6 hours of the most boring landscape you'll ever encounter. Once you get past Champaign, there is nothing. Alas, we forged on.
We pulled into the Microtel Inn, unpacked quickly, and headed towards our destination:The Historic Water Tower, located along the Ohio River. After about 20 minutes of driving, we ran right into the place and realized just how awesome this was going to be. Cool thing #1 - Free parking! Cool thing #2 - They let people bring in absolutely anything except for drugs and weapons. Very cool. As we arrived, local band Pflanz was finishing up. From what I heard at a distance, they sounded very heavy. Following them was Story So Far, from Chicago. I had never heard of them, and wasn't too impressed. During these first few key bands, we did our most important activities -- went record shopping at all the different band and distro booths. Since we were so engrossed with all the cool stuff in the back, we failed to notice a bunch of long-haired weirdos take the stage and quickly rock out for a half hour. Not paying attention, we just assumed this band was Holy Angels, the next band listed on the bill. Little did we know that Holy Angels had "van trouble" and this forced Planes Mistaken For Stars to go on early, rocking the balls off of the small crowd that realized who they were. I didn't realize this for a while, since first we had to watch Small Brown Bike tear it up. This band is really, really good. They haven't reached that "great" status as of yet, but they're getting there. Despite being a little restrained on stage, they still delivered the rock music to all those who would listen, even playing their song of their brand new split 7" with Cursive [which is a part of the Makoto Records split 7" series -- subscribe at Insound.com and you will not regret it].
Picture: Small Brown Bike
Review: Small Brown Bike - Dead Reckoning
Review: Small Brown Bike - Our Own Wars
After Small Brown Bike ended, the majority of the crowd was treated with an unfortunate surprise - Planes Mistaken For Stars had already played, due to Holy Angels having "van troubles," as mentioned before. Trying to give every band a fair shot, Krazyfest allowed Holy Angels to squeeze in between Small Brown Bike and Hot Water Music. From the opening note, I was completely riveted to their set. Wait, no, no I wasn't. They were one of the worst bands any of us had ever had the displeasure of seeing. Every song sounded exactly the same, and their singer Mark [ex-Enkindels, who turned out to be the whole weekend's emcee] was a complete jackass. This only made Hot Water Music seem even better.
As HWM took the stage, the crowd seemed to grow exponentially, and the pushing began. It was all in good fun, though, and the boys from Gainesville came on and rocked all of us for a solid 45 minutes, relying heavily on material from their newest album "A Flight and a Crash" as well as "No Division." Older material seemed to be cut from the set, for the most part, but some classics showed up throughout their show. Their set closed with "It's Hard To Know," a song that features Tim Barry of Avail on guest vocals. This is the same Avail that was scheduled to play after Hot Water Music. Would we see a special walk on? I hoped so, but for some reason it didn't take place. It was a complete tease to the audience, but what can you do, right?
Picture: Hot Water Music 1
Picture: Hot Water Music 2
Picture: Hot Water Music 3
Picture: Hot Water Music 4
Review: Hot Water Music - A Flight And A Crash
Review: Hot Water Music - No Division
Review: Hot Water Music - Live At The Hardback
After Hot Water Music, I left the pit, sweaty, tired, but spiritually fulfilled. I fucking love Hot Water Music. Their new album is incredible, and it puts them into the category of "band that I need to get a tattoo of" [this category was currently empty]. Carol stuck around for Avail up front, as Liz and I pulled back. I've seen them before, and to be honest, I've never really liked them all that much. Carol goes apeshit for them, though, so who am I to tell her no? From talking to Carol, the band apparently played pretty much something from every album, including the Avail song, which I have no idea what it's called, but everyone knows the words to it :"I don't know where I'm going, and I don't know where I've been.... Did I shoot myself up again" etc. I'm sure you all know what song I'm talking about, somehow we all know it.
Review: Avail - 4AM Friday
Anyways, Avail closed out the night, although Hot Water Music was the real closer for me. All three of us headed for our hotel, tired, sore, but ready for the madness to come on Saturday.
PS -- the score of 3 1/2 stars is simply for Hot Water Music and Small Brown Bike. It would probably be higher had A)I gotten to see PMFS and B)Holy Angels wouldn't have played.
