festival fever
Change can be a good thing: What's to come from Fun Fun Fun Fest's new home atAuditorium Shores
Nov 2, 2011 | 3:21 pm
Fun Fun Fun Map 2011.
Auditorium Shores on a regular day.
For the past five years, Fun Fun Fun Fest was held in downtown's small, intimate Waterloo Park. This year for its sixth installment, the festival moves over to the expansive, lake-front Auditorium Shores—a brave choice by FFF organizers. The switch-up is a bold one because no matter how much we, as humans, bitch and moan about what's routine and established, we tend bitch and moan about change even more.
So with this weekend's festival on the brink of massive change for organizers, artists and ticket holders alike, CultureMap went straight to the horses mouth—i.e., James Moody, founder of Fun Fun Fun Fest—to find out why it’s going to be amazing and what FFF attendees can expect to see at the new venue.
First and foremost: space. Lots and lots of space. The previous site of Waterloo Park measures in at 10.00 acres compared to Auditorium Shores' 81.02. Throughout the year, Auditorium Shores plays host to the Austin Triathlon, Capitol 10k's finish line, Rasta Fest and the largest dog park in the city, just to name a few.
While Waterloo may be small, it is also hilly, providing a naturally divisive way of separating stage areas without any trouble. Auditorium Shores' land is flat where Waterloo’s is rolling, but sound interference shouldn't be a problem on site owing to thicker tree lines and larger distances between stages.
"It's wider, more green and with more water without beer cans floating in it," says Moody. "Also with better sight lines and more areas to sit and relax."
“The setup is similar in that it is color and genre based, but Blue will now be closer to Orange, and Yellow will be inside of a tent,” he says of the overall layout.
It would be wise to mentally prepare yourself, because with 71 more green acres to play with, the amount of tickets sold has risen significantly. "It will still feel very intimate because of the trees, lounge areas and vendors," Moody reassures.
Just one benefit of expanding festival grounds and number of tickets sold is the ability to book stronger headliners, he adds. So though you may wade through a few more people to make it to the front of the stage, you can thank those few more people for attracting the likes of thrash-metal legends Slayer and/or dreamy indie heroes M83.
While we've grown to count on FFF to be a more laid back, bare-bones festival, the Transmission crew has added more non-music diversions. Among them: bars, food, merch and a few fashion vendors. However, the standout might be the Fun Fun Fun Fest Poster Show presented by the American Poster Institute in which "16 handpicked artists from around the nation will represent their favorite FFF bands with posters for sale."
So fret not, festival lovers. Moody and co. are well aware of your worries. "FFF lovers will love FFF6 if we do it right." You can count on the Transmission team to do everything they can push your fear of the unknown aside. It's still independent, it's still progressive and someone's still going to get into some trouble.
First and foremost: space. Lots and lots of space. The previous site of Waterloo Park measures in at 10.00 acres compared to Auditorium Shores' 81.02. Throughout the year, Auditorium Shores plays host to the Austin Triathlon, Capitol 10k's finish line, Rasta Fest and the largest dog park in the city, just to name a few.
While Waterloo may be small, it is also hilly, providing a naturally divisive way of separating stage areas without any trouble. Auditorium Shores' land is flat where Waterloo’s is rolling, but sound interference shouldn't be a problem on site owing to thicker tree lines and larger distances between stages.
"It's wider, more green and with more water without beer cans floating in it," says Moody. "Also with better sight lines and more areas to sit and relax."
“The setup is similar in that it is color and genre based, but Blue will now be closer to Orange, and Yellow will be inside of a tent,” he says of the overall layout.
It would be wise to mentally prepare yourself, because with 71 more green acres to play with, the amount of tickets sold has risen significantly. "It will still feel very intimate because of the trees, lounge areas and vendors," Moody reassures.
Just one benefit of expanding festival grounds and number of tickets sold is the ability to book stronger headliners, he adds. So though you may wade through a few more people to make it to the front of the stage, you can thank those few more people for attracting the likes of thrash-metal legends Slayer and/or dreamy indie heroes M83.
While we've grown to count on FFF to be a more laid back, bare-bones festival, the Transmission crew has added more non-music diversions. Among them: bars, food, merch and a few fashion vendors. However, the standout might be the Fun Fun Fun Fest Poster Show presented by the American Poster Institute in which "16 handpicked artists from around the nation will represent their favorite FFF bands with posters for sale."
So fret not, festival lovers. Moody and co. are well aware of your worries. "FFF lovers will love FFF6 if we do it right." You can count on the Transmission team to do everything they can push your fear of the unknown aside. It's still independent, it's still progressive and someone's still going to get into some trouble.
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A small sampling of standout vendors
Food
- Austin's Pizza
- Black Sheep Lodge
- Juiceland
- Lucky J's
- Aquarelle
Retail
- Prototype Vintage
- Car2Go
- Bruise Cruise Festival
- Strut
- RUNNUR
Non Profits
- Invisible Children
- Texas School for the Deaf
- SIMS & HAAM
- Action for Animals
