You're insinuating that your definition of 'intimate' merely reagrds the size of the venue? How many other arena size bands do you know that bring a minimum of 5 crowd members up on stage with them every single night and either sing/play/dance/stage dive in front of 14,000+ people? And how many other arena size bands will read somene's scrappy piece of paper with rare song requests like 1,000 Hours scribbled on it and start playing it even though they haven't played it in at least 18 years and know it'll sound like shit?

It's a hell of a lot harder for arena size bands to do those things when they're playing to thousands of people. But Green Day have consistently done it whether they are playing to 500 people or 50,000 people. I think THAT is intimate. and completely worth camping out for if you want to be the closest to all of the action and be lucky enough to get pulled up on stage (which I was)






......sorry for the OTness

You're allowed to like what you like.
Don't let some dude standing on "Internet courage" and "more-punk-than-thou" self-righteousness get you down.

I agree...

but overall speaking: the Fest is festival where people mainly come to see a certain kind of small bands, so its no surprise some strange comments come about a band like green day, that is big and not really connected to the punkrock scene anymore

I'm sure most people here on the board are really open minded about the musical taste of others, but posting about a band that is so out of the range of the Fest, provokates some answers, somebody might not like to hear..

after the Fest you might agree that one of the best things about this festival is that most of the band place in venue with between 200 and 500 people with an awesome athmosphere, because there are so many "nerds" from all over the world that sing along and party, which make a set at the Fest simply special from other clubshows of that band as well... I won't say a 10K + show can't have a good athmosphere as well, but its way different from teh athmosphere I experienced always at the Fest

On occasion I've found that a couple venues here and there, staff will be nice and if the line isn't too long outside (i.e. maybe only a few people), if you already have a paper wristband indicating that you've been to that venue already in the day, they'll let you in without having to stand on line over again.

Specifically, Market Street Pub used to do that and last year, 8 Seconds did it a couple of times.


Of course, this is really a crap-shoot and really only depends on how generous the outside venue staff is and/or how long the current line is, but its worked a few times.

I don't recall them doing it last year but even The Venue had let me right in during past years if I had a wristband on from them earlier in the day.

yes, the Venue does/has done this too. I remember.

1. There are several situations in which "just showing up early" can still be defeated by clubs that open at the last minute and/or slow door people.

Exhibit A: One gets stuck in a registration line on Friday (or Saturday, if they just got into town) to get their wristband, then sprints over to the venue in question, but because it hasn't opened in time and doesn't have its shit together, there is a backup to get into an empty room.

Exhibit B: One wishes to see the first band playing on a particular day, but because the club is slow and late, only the first 30-50 people in line actually get to see the whole set.

2. Thankfully, the registration line problem has been mostly solved by computers and enhanced crowd management techniques.

3. The fact that Common Grounds and Market Street have closed down render much of this discussion moot. The Atlantic is just small with rather cramped exits, they really do seem to do the best they can given their layout constraints.

4. Venues that normally cater to crowds who either want to dance to top 40 dj's and drink dumb shooters and try to get laid or come to see one headlining act which doesn't go on until 11:30 at the earliest naturally aren't going to understand why people might be desperate to get into the club at 5:30 on Friday evening, or 11:00 Sunday morning, or whatever. Likewise, on a normal weekend, their goal is to get people to stay in their club and drink for as long as possible, so the whole hopping around thing might be alien to them, as well.

5. For every pain in the ass club, there's always another one (or two or three) with no line difficulties, as there's always a percentage of people who are passed out, eating food, out throwing bottles at cops, or whatever, not to mention all those people tied up in a handful of lines.

I say bring on the heat... after the past month of over 100 degree temps in Texas, I can stand in line in any heat! Let's do it!

After the hell that was punk rock bowling registration in May, if a group cuts me in line after I've been waiting for 2 hours, they will have tickets to a full blown SHIT SHOW

PRB reg. line was so full of super gnarly people....we had the people who were standing 1 group behind us for 2 hours magically appear directly in front of us as we neared the casino entrance. It was actually comical, the gall!! Reg. line at Fest is so much more fun and friendly, I don't even care if someone cuts!

Cuts don't usually bother me but the people at PRB were quite possibly the worst punk crowd I have ever had to be around. But oh well, Fest is good people!

The "line" at registration is more like an amorphous party moving in the same direction, kinda slowly. People jump in, then jump out to jump in someplace else...the shows don't even start until like 2 or 3 hours later anyways. Not like you're in a rush. Unless you REALLY want to get in the pool right away, I guess.

I'm really excited to meet new people! I love meeting people at shows.

...And I have to admit, I have a bit of a thing for American accents

My only really goal for Fest other than having an awesome time is to see Small Brown Bike.

Noob question, what time do I need to get to venue to get in, grab a beer, and see their set, start to finish?

first band at the busiest show of the weekend... IF Small Brown Bike is your make/break band this weekend, show up EARLY because the FL Theatre takes forever to process the line up (check IDs/give wrist bands).

personally, I'm gonna hope that the line is gone because I'm gonna check out Worn In Red first...if not i have some back ups in mind