Five Things | Free Press Summer Fest

Last Saturday & Sunday I found myself at the Free Press Summer Fest (FPSF), which is a really big music festival in Houston. It was supposed to be in a huge park with grass & hills, but had to move last minute to a parking lot of NRG Stadium because of the terrible flooding we had over Memorial Day weekend.  The festival features an array of musicians, from heavy metal, to rap, to indie, to techno/DJs.  The tickets are pretty pricey, so I’ve never gone – but this year, I found some online the day of the festival. She was willing to sell them for over $100 less than what she bought them for. We ended up getting Fancy Pants tickets (which are a VIP ticket that allows you into air conditioned tents and special concerts) for less than what people paid for general admission tickets.  If you follow me on Instagram (@blake.1398), you’ve seen these photos already. And if you follow me on snapchat (@blakesy), then you saw some super awesome videos.

Here are some things I learned from my first FPSF experience.

001.  Summer is officially here.
I’m used to the heat that Summer brings, but I was not prepared for the heat I felt over the weekend. It was as if the sun was an inch from my face (ok, not really.. but it was pretty bad!). We put sunblock on maybe every two hours, but I still got burned on my face, shoulders, and back of my legs. When the crowds formed for the musicians, it became even hotter. We made the mistake of getting closer to the stage for a really popular artist, so we quickly became smashed between hot, sweaty people that were putting off body heat. I almost freaked out from claustrophobia, but luckily I let myself get lost in the music. Thankfully, FPSF is pretty awesome because they had tons of free water stations around the park. We also bought a refillable cup from a soda maker and were able to get free soda (& ice!) refills as much as we wanted. Coke was also there giving out free coke bottles to everyone.

002. I fit in with teenagers. 
I wore shorts, a tank top, and white converse on the first day of the festival. It didn’t take long for me to realize that about 98% of all teenagers there were wearing white converse.

003. But I don’t fit in with them that much.
When I was in high school and college, I wore short shorts. My dad hated it. But, if I tried to wear what these teenagers were wearing (high-waisted shorts with their cheeks hanging out – and by hanging out, I mean I saw some that were like only half covered!), my dad would’ve locked me in my room. How do these teenagers get out of their houses like that?! And really, why would they want to? Call me modest or grandma, but I don’t understand why you’d want to wear shorts that are basically like a huge denim wedgie. Why not just walk around in a bathing suit or your undies?  Doesn’t it make you a tad uncomfortable to know that you’re 15 and you have all these older men looking at your butt like that? But if that’s what rocks your boat and you have the confidence to walk around with your butt out, good for you. I just hope it’s more comfortable than it looks.

004. I guess I like techno/EDM/whatever the hell people call it.
I really enjoy listening to DJs now, mostly because I love dancing to them.  And it’s even better when it’s in a huge crowd and everyone is dancing and just losing it.

005. Drugs are everywhere at festivals.
In my opinion, I think more people there were smoking or doing other drugs than were drinking. It wasn’t annoying at first until I was next to people smoking in the crowds.  I don’t care if you smoke, but do you have to blow it right in my face?  To be fair, I guess there was nowhere else to blow it.  A smoke shop was a vendor at the event too. I guess the cops just sort of put blinds on and didn’t want to arrest people on drug charges.  They could have had a field day getting people since they were all smoking in public and were carrying drugs and paraphernalia on them.  (Weed is illegal in Texas).


Overall, FPSF was amazing, and I would definitely go back. The music was great. The people watching was great. Even the parking was super easy and affordable.  Pretty much everything about it was perfect, except I could do without the blistering summer sun next time.