Image via Complex Original
While Afropunk shut Brooklyn down and the inaugural Hot 100 Fest took over Jones Beach State Park on the East Coast, FYF Fest kept Los Angeles buzzing well into both nights this weekend. After news that Frank Ocean would not be showing face for his highly anticipated performance, waters were looking murky for what has become one of the West Coast's biggest musical events of the year. Unbothered, tens of thousands of people flooded Exposition Park to watch Kanye West step up as Ocean's worthy replacement alongside acts like Morrissey, D'Angelo and the Vanguard, Run the Jewels, Purity Ring, Solange, and FKA twigs. The chatter about New Yorkers leaving en masse for Los Angeles (full disclosure: it me) to become a part of the "booming creative class" has, in part, to do with things like FYF. Cheaper rent and tighter beaches don't hurt either.
Now 11 years in, the festival—which stands for "Fuck Yeah Fest"—started as an experiment for a then 19-year-old promoter from Torrance. It was an underground thing. No Age was the most consistent name on the bill from 2004-2009 (they played in 2011 as well) when shows happened at the Echo, a converted space above an American Apparel up the block. Growing out of the venues it originated in, FYF built up a cult following and eventually seduced Coachella's super-promoter Goldenvoice to come on as a partner last summer.
In 2015 FYF is no Coachella by any means, which is great. Hip-hop and R&B made up a significant percentage of the best acts of the weekend—a first for the fest that made roots in rock, punk, hardcore, and later, electronic and pop music. Food was good (shout out the amazing falafel stand in the VIP compound), security was nice (shout out the dude that ran 200 yards to return my jacket after it dropped), and I didn't see a single headdress. (Honorable mention to the five white girls with cornrows I tallied over the two days. None of them were Kylie or Kendall, but that was pretty much the most sus things got all weekend.) From Ye's guest performances by Rihanna and Travi$ Scott, to BADBADNOTGOOD's afternoon jam, and finally a religious Solange-Nina Simone cover experience, here are the Five Best Things that Happened at FYF Fest.
BADBADNOTGOOD in the Arena
L.A.'s Exposition Park is just south of USC, wedged between the Memorial Coliseum and the Natural History Museum. Most of the performances took place on standard outdoor stages, but a number were scheduled inside the Sports Arena. Wading single file down a long ramp into the dark room in search of BADBADNOTGOOD, I was preemptively sour to have to watch from a sweaty, pitch-black packed floor when it was 90 degrees outside on Saturday afternoon. When the three most-excited Canadian gentleman in L.A. County started raging numbers from their excellent hip-hop-informed jazz album, III, my anxiety lifted. "We've never played in a room this reverbial," exclaimed drummer Alex Sowinski. "It's absolutely amazing." Standing astounded at the sight of thousands of kids screaming at the top of their lungs and moshing to modern jazz, I couldn't help but agree.
Kanye West Brings Out Travi$ Scott and Rihanna
Coming on board at the last minute gave Kanye's performance an uncharacteristically informal quality. Frank Ocean's voice filled an empty stage when the opening notes of “No Church in the Wild" sounded, a nod to the last minute lineup swap, before Ye walked out. While his stage production was new—a massive square lightboard hovered parallel atop the mainstage like a cinder block in a Super Nintendo Mario game—the rest of the show was the good kind of loose. Yeezy was as energetic and epic as ever, but when he tossed a hoodie-clad Rihanna the mic to sing the chorus of "fourfiveseconds," she seemed as surprised as the crowd. When she came back to the stage for a quick take of "All of the Lights," it was like being in the room watching them playing around like old friends. Travi$ Scott was an added bonus, looking possessed for both rapid performances of "Upper Echelon" and “Antidote.” One particularly invested spectator happened to be a towering dad who spent the show alternating between wild headbanging and violently staking his claim to a prime position. After watching Kanye run through the hits including "Stronger," "Power," "All Day," "Gold Digger," and "Good Life," superdad started to tear up, Facetiming his daughter during the show closer "Only One." Somewhere backstage a very-pregnant Kim was simultaneously taking a selfie. It was a near-perfect end to night 1.
Solange Covers Nina Simone's "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black" With Dev Hynes, Moses Sumney, and KING
The energy in the crowd waiting for Solange to start was warm and enveloping. At any festival you experience that unapolagetic bro with a huge backpack and a tiny girlfriend who bulldozes his way past objectors without a care. In the crowd before her set, Solange fans twirled, made out, and introduced themselves to me as though each and every one of us had been personally invited by the younger Knowles sister herself. When her set started 15 minutes late because the guy doing soundcheck had to make sure three different microphones were ready to go, it was clear our girl was going to bring out some friends. Shortly after Solange whipped off her bra mid-set with a shout out to #FreeTheNipple, her guests appeared. While longtime collaborator Dev Hynes stuck around for the smash hit "Losing You" to close the performance, it was a rendition of Nina Simone's "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black," that brought Hynes, KING's Paris and Amber Strother, and rising L.A. singer/songwriter Moses Sumney to the stage that became the highlight of the entire festival.
D'Angelo and the Vanguard Into FKA Twigs
Watching D'Angelo and his band the Vanguard set the stage for one of music's most provocative innovators, FKA twigs, was like experiencing a time warp. Once the provocateur-du-jour himself, D'Angelo gave an explosive performance flanked by band members clad in Straight Outta Compton T-shirts, dancing with abandon to "Ain't That Easy," and "Betray My Heart," from his 2014 album, Black Messiah. It was familiar and without precision in the best way possible, packed with emotion and a mastery few artists on FYF's bill could match. Save a quick Morrissey singalong in between, that performance led straight into the starkly juxtaposed exactitude FKA twigs brings to the table. Her purposeful, jagged choreography accentuated each note in "Water Me." By the time she moved into "Video Girl," twigs had opened up enough to find the sweet spot between the regimentation and controlled chaos that exemplifies FYF's best qualities.
Morrissey Headlining the Main Stage
Morrissey closed out FYF with guns blazing. First of all, his entire band came out rocking "Crapitol Records," T-shirts, a not-so-subtle shot at the label that dropped him in 2014. Moz isn't here for subtlety. He opened his set with "The Queen Is Dead," in front of a massive poster of the Queen throwing two middle fingers in the air. He switched back and forth between songs from his solo catalog and Smiths classic like "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before." Though the crowd was noticeably thinner than it was for Kanye, Morrissey fans are emotional maniacs and there was no shortage of crying and awkward, lonely flailing along to every sweet note that poured out of his mouth. He played video footage showing graphic police brutality during his performance of "Ganglord," but didn't explicitly comment on the videos—some of which were so graphic people actually left the crowd. He later taunted security about their numbers, telling "at least 50" of them to leave before urging his American legion of devotees to shut this whole Donald Trump for president parody down.