Senior Damon Meredith soared above the crowds as he was moved hand-to-hand through the crowd at the Jurassic 5 concert at Fun Fun Fun Fest.

“I went as a part of Mac Radio, so we got to do artist interviews,” Meredith said. “We got press passes and photo-ops and got to go backstage.”

However, even if one wasn’t able to go backstage like Meredith, there was still plenty to do.

“They have a bull machine,” sophomore Addy Hernandez said. “They have a photo booth where they take free pictures of you. They also have stuff to dress up. They have a craft section where you can bedazzle bandanas. They have huge merch tables.”

Hernandez said most people were there because they wanted to hear the bands, though.

“I know a lot of people go to ACL just to say they went to ACL, but at Fun Fun Fun people are there because they want to be there,” Hernandez said. “They want to see the music, so everyone there is really down to earth and really cool. People take care of each other there. It’s a completely different environment; it’s way more welcoming.”

Fun Fun Fun Fest is compared to ACL, the other large music festival that occurs in the fall, very often. However, the attendees said they are completely different experiences.

“[At Fun Fun Fun] the stages are a lot smaller [than ACL],” Hernandez said. “Instead of waiting an hour or two hours in between each show at ACL, there is only 20 minutes between each set, and the sets are 45 minutes long. Most of the time, that forces bands to play their favorite songs that they want to play because they only have 45 minutes.”

Fun Fun Fun Fest is also smaller than ACL, with only about 15,000 people attending per day, compared to 75,000 at ACL.

“If you really want to get to the front of the show, it’s not unrealistic,” Hernandez said. “You don’t have to wait at the stage for five hours.”

It’s also feasible to see the bands that one watched perform wandering around the festival themselves.

“The people that are playing there also want to go to the fest because the music is so good,” Hernandez said. “I met a few musicians there because they were just walking around enjoying the fest.”

Hernandez and Meredith said everyone enjoyed the festival.

“It was just beautiful to see everyone so excited,” Hernandez said. “The crowds were pretty huge, and everybody was having a lot of fun during the shows.”

Photos by Talia Miller.