The Fest 12, Gainesville FL, Oct. 31-Nov. 3

[fastmusicfan]

http://www.punknews.org/article/5240...to-the-fest-12 I searched, I swear, and didn't see an existing thread for this thing. Has anyone been to this festival? There's over 300 bands playing and it's fairly cheap. Fun Fun Fun Fest's lineup isn't super blowing my skirt up, I'm mulling over Riotfest Chicago, but this could be a thrifty, no flight, kind of close option. It's super punk focused, but to see Obits, The Night Marchers, Torche, All, The Draft, Titus Andronicus, Smoke or Fire, Code Orange Kids, etc. and not break the bank is pretty tempting. I'd really love some input if someone has been there.

[fastmusicfan]

The site: http://www.thefestfl.com/fest12/ Also, there's a "pre-fest" in Ybor City, with over 100 bands, many doing "special sets"? I'm tempted to check out Ybor City simply due to Hold Steady songs.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

I've thought about going for years - the tickets are cheap, flights generally are cheap into Gainesville, and it's cheap to stay there - and the line ups are insane.

I got discouraged unfortunately when I heard it was very hard to get into places. They apparently sell too many tickets considering the size of the venues involved and there end up being crazy lines to get into any sets. This information was from about 3 years ago though.

[fastmusicfan]

Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what I'm wondering. The Florida Theatre pics on Flickr look ridiculously jam packed, but some of the smaller act venues look pretty awesome. I'd freaking love to see Obits and Night Marchers, though. There's a ton of others that would be cool to see or see again, but I am hesitant about going without some confirmation that the festival doesn't flat out blow goats. It's actually kind of tempting to do the "PreFest" in Ybor/Tampa. Sounds like it could be way more mellow, being the middle of the week and all.