Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Awesome Fest Five: Keep It Awesome, Keep It Fast


Awesome Fest/Fast is back for it's fifth year (third year in San Diego). For what started as a relatively small event, the Fest has turned into a force to be reckoned with, now occupying four of San Diego's main venues for three days/nights with wristband-only access to see the best of underground punk, garage, and shit too cool to have a genre. These are bands you'll find on the pages of Razorcake; Pitchfork- not so much. Organizers limited ticket sales to 400, and they're close to sold out, with NO passes available onsite. Once you miss preregistration, you're out.

Awesome Fest attracts bands and fans from around the country. This year's bands include Shark Pants, Muhammad Ali, Be My Doppelganger, Toys That Kill, Madison Bloodbath, Soviettes, David Dondero, Rumspringer and more. The DIY ethos keeps the event growing year after year. "At AwesomeFest, there are no corporate sponsors or no direct dealings with any managers. All bands playing have been personally asked by one of the organizers." Like last year, night shows happen on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Soda Bar and Eleven, while afternoon shows are on Saturday and Sunday at The Office and U-31. Additionally, they've added a pre-fest shows on Thursday at Soda Bar and Eleven, a lawn party on Saturday, and a foos ball tournament at Luigi's on Sunday.

Organizers encourage attendees to have fun while respecting the hotel and venues that host them, while the bars are staffed up and ready for some heavy drinking. A bartender told me, "last year we ordered a pallet of PBR. That's 100 cases, 12 tall cans per case. We ran out by Saturday afternoon. It is easily our biggest weekend of the year."

All the information you need can be found here.
Passes
Bands
Schedule

Update: I just got off the phone with Davey and there are less than 10 passes left. Buy them now, or try the message board. Pre-Awesome shows are $7 each or $10 for both, but there will be no paid admissions allowed at any of the venues during Fest. You must have an event wristband to get into any of the shows.

No comments: