I remember my first HFStival. I was 16, the Gin Blossoms were at the top of the charts, and I had recently discovered rock 'n' roll. And there I was, at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., 60,000 sweaty people pushing me around, beer in my shoes and Andy Dick pulling down his pants on the stage. It was 1996, and I was at my first rock concert.
If you live in Maryland, D.C. or Virginia, the HFStival, presented by WHFS 99.1 FM, is your yearly mini-Woodstock. Things happen at the HFStival - Courtney Love's infamous stage dive, for instance. The Ramones played the festival in '95. Stone Temple Pilots, Beck, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine and Limp Bizkit have been there. No Doubt played it right before they went on the Tragic Kingdom tour. Also, chances are, if you are willing to skip the main stage and hang around by the street stage instead, you will catch a set from the next big thing.
This year was no different. On May 27, Alien Ant Farm performed on the HFStival side stage. Next thing you know, their cover of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" is the next most-likely-to-be-overplayed song on the radio. On May 28, Sum 41 were just some nice guys signing autographs in the RFK Stadium parking lot. Come August, they are performing with Tommy Lee and Rob Halford at the MTV 20th Anniversary Bash.
Each year, the main stage of the HFStival is a who's-who of popular rock 'n' roll. If they are getting overplayed on a modern rock station, they are probably going to be at the festival. Not that that's a bad thing. This year's performers included Coldplay, Lifehouse, Fuel, 3 Doors Down, Incubus, Cold, Linkin Park and Staind. There was a DJ set by Fatboy Slim, Live performed with Tricky, Greenday lit their instruments on fire and Weezer played a small, private show somewhere in the depths of the stadium.
For the first time in its 12-year history, the festival spanned two days instead of just one. Some of the bands, like SR-71, Coldplay, Lifehouse, Fuel, Live and 3 Doors Down played both days. At $35-per-day, the HFStival was no cheap thrill, but if you counted up all of the acts on the main stage, street stage and "Locals Only" stage, it divided out to about a dollar per band. Not a bad value. Not bad at all.
The only problem was, with so much going on at the same time and massive crowds of people trying to do it, it was nearly impossible to get back and forth from the main stage to the street stage and vice-versa in time to see whatever band it was you might have been trying to see. And unless you were extremely devoted to a local band, there wasn't even a point in trying to get out to the locals stage if you wanted to catch a band on one of the other stages anywhere around that time. Maybe there is such a thing as too much of a good thing..
After two days of heat, rain and music, the HFStival boils down to memorable moments. Incubus covered "Like a Virgin." Dave Grohl ('96) showed up to introduce Tenacious D, hanging around for both days of the show, giving rock paparazzi something to do in between main stage sets. Stabbing Westward played on even after singer Christopher Hall's nose was broken by a cell phone that someone in the crowd threw up on stage. Breasts were bared. A Coldplay fan got to join the band on stage and play the harmonica. A Greenday fan got to play Billy Joe Armstrong's guitar. Live invited fans to a free show at D.C.'s 9:30 Club after the first night of their HFStival performance.
At 21, I am much less tolerant of someone else's spilled beer in my shoes than I was at 16. And don't even get me started on how obnoxious some of the teeny-boppers are. But fortunately for concert-goers, unlike me, the HFStival hasn't gotten less hip over the years. The organizers still triumph at spotting the trends in modern rock and bringing to D.C. the best possible mix of punk, hard rock, alternative and whatever else might be popular at the time.
