Float Fest, August 28, 2015, at the Cool River Ranch

A summer trip to see Brian, who lives near Dallas, that could have possibly been going to Austin turned into my official bachelor party there once Seth got involved.  Staying in the city to party was great (as long as we stayed away from 6th Street and the kids) but it could be great to go outside of Austin too. Of course we had to check out a music festival, whether or not the weekend was contingent on one happening in the first place (I was just happy to be there). Austin might have a music festival every weekend but we got a good one with Float Fest. Most festivals are a good enough time, with music and drinking and carrying on, but this one was even fun, with the added component of river-rafting. Brian's truck broke down the morning of, before we even got out of Austin, so that left Seth and me with a 46-minute Uber ride, including back-roads near the site, which all turned into its own adventure. No matter that we would eventually have to figure out a way back that night, assuming all the Ubers would be taken up for the long drive back to town. But even just Seth and me is a party (see: Lincoln, late 2004) and we decided to do up the day, as if there was any other choice. After a ride on a rickety, very-used school bus to the top of the river, we took a few hours to lazily raft down, fighting a few floating snakes and spiders but with plenty of Miller Lite. To answer the most popular question about the show: No, there were not bands playing on the river -- they were all on site at the end. So it was a music festival with optional river-rafting and however much you want to mix those -- certainly something you couldn't get in a lot of other places, especially in southern California. The river trip was fun enough to do again, as it was still the height of the day, but we made our way around the concert site, an inviting place since, being Friday at a modest festival, it was nearly empty. Not much exaggeration: it was the most sparsely-attended music festival I've ever been to, by a long shot. It could have just been a middling festival that hadn't established itself on a greater scale, competing with all of Austin's other events, so far outside of the city, and on a Friday. So we got our fill of local brews and slip n' slide races and wandering the easy, wide-open space. There weren't a lot of acts to be there for -- it was all about that night's headliners -- so we decided when we got there to pick one and go crazy like we were big fans. We went with Robert Ellis, who played about halfway up the bill, and whose performance we were able to walk up close enough to to touch the stage, and even to heckle the band and have the keyboardist play along. But the guy was actually pretty great, enough for us to be embarrassed that we had to use him as a distraction for the day. It wasn't long after that that Esquire magazine ran a feature on him. After that was probably more Fireball shots until the night, when we ate and listened to Bright Light Social Hour at a distance (not enough to make an impression), and maybe Dr. Dog could have been something if our un-sober attention had drifted that way, but mostly it was the wait for Local Natives. To be honest, I'm not necessarily a big fan. Carla loved them from before we got together, and we'd seen them, and Seth knew them well enough to want to be in for their show. They might not have the album I want to put on but live, on that day, with that much alcohol and the bro-magic of a bachelor party weekend, they were fantastic. They played enough material that we knew (they were touring their second album, which neither of us had) and even a covers (though a predictable one). Being among a crowd sparse enough to not get cajoled while enjoying the main stage act was a rare pleasure. The relatively-few people there were also into it, likely real fans, and the vibe was contagious. Maybe it could have been any band and still have been a good time, but the fact that it was actually a good band that were fun live put it over the top to be one of the best moments among many great moments that weekend. And great to see L.A.-locals (if not natives) do so well in another city. Once the set was over we had to figure out a way back to the city, without an Uber (which, even if there was one, would be 10x the usual rate). Obviously we did, and that was an adventure too, as you could expect with the Seth & Mar Show.

Local Natives’ set-list:
“Breakers“
“World News“
“Wide Eyes“
“Black Balloons“
“Sea of Years“
“Warning Sign“ (Talking Heads cover)
“Fountain of Youth“
“You & I“
“Whatever We Want“
“Camera Talk“
“Airplanes“
“Heavy Feet“
“Who Knows, Who Cares“
“Sun Hands“