Free Press Summerfest

This is by far the worst festival in Houston. The security company were explicitly racially discriminatory. I felt I was abused because I was white. The «security team was unprofessional and inappropriate. Who ever runs this festival should be fired! I will never be subject to this abuse again. In summary you suck!

A true homegrown music festival. Started as a block party and the locals wanted more. Beautiful to watch sooo many Houstonians come out for a weekend of music, art, and fun!

Great music festival here in Houston, and if you’re a diehard music fan of certain types of music and large crowds, then this is definitely your scene. For 2015, they moved the festival to the Yellow Lot of NRG Park and had 7 stages. I thought the location change was going to make it worse, but I liked the venue location and from what I’ve heard from others that went, they preferred the concrete «parking lot» to the wet grass and dirt. You can wear nicer clothes and shoes on the concrete of course without having to worry about them getting too dirty.
I only visited on Day 2 (Sunday) when most of the musical acts were electronic, rock and alternative type music. My favorites included: Skrillex, Major Lazer, Weezer, GTA, Flogging Molly and Flume. Sadly, I missed Steve Angello and Tove Lo.
Plenty of restrooms (port a potty’s) although the lines were long, food trucks, food booths, drink booths, people watching cause there were some crazy outfits people were wearing, interactive experiences (i.e., 3D show for $ 5.99), and good times to be had.

I’ve always been team FPSF since 2009. When they first had the festival I was there. And I’ve gone every year since then minus 2010 and I always loved it.
But this year I refuse to be on board with a company that plays the same way as the Houston Rodeo does. «Early bird gets the worm» yeah right. This year just exactly how many cheap tickets were there? 2 – 5? I just find it hard to believe that even before my clock hit 10AM that the lower priced option tickets were already gone. And the second level options never went on sale. They were gone as well. But of course like the Houston Rodeo you don’t care because well people still buy tickets and that’s all that matters. I’m not a privileged person. I don’t have 130+ dollars not included the other 100 bucks it takes to survive a 2 day festival to blow. The only reason I was able to afford all the other years was because you were fair with your tickets. If you’re going to say you’re gonna have cheaper tickets actually be fair and give a decent amount of tickets so the disadvantaged 21+ people have at least a better chance to get in and have a great time. And please try care about your unhappy fest goers. Care that they’re unhappy and make changes don’t just be lame because you made your money.

This past year was AWESOME!!!
Even with the rain/​crazy storm alert, which clearly the staff have no consensus on how to instruct the patrons, it was so much fun.
There’s still some stuff I think they could get better: the water refill station was an attempt at plumbing. Having tried this myself at home, I can attest to how plumbing is almost NEVER a novices game, it failed poorly. It just leaked water all over the ground and with water supply shortages that’s a very bad thing. People made do, but I think they’ll learn for next year.
The best advances were the congestion wasn’t irritated by poorly placed setups, ie: ads for cars…, but one stage was chosen for acts with such a huge audience and that meant it was almost impossible to get out or around that stage without just walking down the hill, more than 200 feet from the stage. But with those few gripes, we really enjoyed it. Awesome acts, the food options were pretty good, we did have some tummy trouble (2 of us) that ate at one place, too bad really, it was actually good!
Looks like they’re learning, one year at a time. We’ll be back, Houston is fun, the people are awesome, best place to see and interact with cool people. Plus, really awesome bands, which is really why we go!

I went for the first time in 2013 & I absolutely loved it! The bands and performances were amazing, the food– mmmmmm! All of Houston’s best were there! I do get a bit claustrophobic, though. So the crowds wore me out a bit. But, twit was definitely worth the experience– I had a BLAST! :) I hope FSPS grows, and gets bigger and better!

2013 & 2014.
FPSF was my very first (and so far only) music festival and I must say it is quite impressive. I love their headliners and luckily for me, I haven’t had to choose between the closing acts for either the Saturday or Sunday nights the past two years. 2013 started off deadly hot, no one in my group knew if we would survive the day much less the second day… but we had blast and (thank you based god) for granting us some awesome weather to complete an amazing weekend of fun musical acts and time spent with great friends. 2014 started off rocky as well with the storm that had us evacuated from the grounds for a few hours. It made my mood pretty sour but once the shows picked up, I was happy again. The layout was a bit weird this year as there was much congestion in the walkways for (I forgot what stage). But the best part of the festival were the closing acts because my boyfriend and I lucked out by finding a sitting area on top of a light structure that was high enough to see over everyone. That made everything so perfect! We got to see Zedd and Above&Beyond undisturbed and with the utmost comfort.
Carry as little as possible but make sure you have cash and an empty bottle for water. Take lots of pictures and enjoy yourself! You’re given two days of fun with some of the biggest artists around, and you have almost a whole hour to enjoy them right in front of your face.

Hot as hell. Only a couple of artist worth seeing so doesn’t justify the price. Long lines to get drinks & water. Porta potty’s are real crappy too.

Two stars only because I was able to see some of my favorite artists. Truly disappointed by my first and most likely last FPSF. Having gone to large festivals like Ultra Music Festival in humid Miami and four insanely hot Vans Warped Tour, I felt like I was well prepared to spend all day in the hot Houston sun, boy was I wrong.
They advertised water refill stations but there were only two that functioned normally between the two days and another by the Saturn stage that was non existent the first day and disassembled by 6pm the second day. What are you trying to kill us all? This is Houston! You need water or people are going to start fainting! Not to mention the water stations that did work were placed at the most crowded and congested walk ways at the park.
The arrangement of some of the stages was silly too. Why would you have the crowd stand on a steep hill sloping to the right and the stage ahead on an incline so that all you saw were people’s hands in the air. And who’s smart idea was it to place one of the biggest acts, Welcome to Houston, at one of the smallest stages right in the middle of the festival where everyone is trying to walk by or watch. The hoards of sweaty and pissed of attendees were all shoving and about ready to start trampling people.
Poor planning overall. If you do attend, make sure to pack some wet wipes just in case one of the MANY intoxicated high schoolers decides to puke on you (as this happened to my friend during Adventure Club)

I think it’s cool Houston has a festival and all… but I wasn’t impressed with the way it’s set up.
From people throwing their trash on the ground to the once filled with grass but now destroyed patches with mud.
I left the festival feeling unsatisfied and disappointed.

Guys. I finally figured out how to do a music festival if you’re over the sweaty mass thing, and just want to sit and listen to nice music. Because I’m no longer in the young, carefree age, and rapidly approaching the crotchety mindset, I require more amenities.
So how to properly «do» a music festival on your day off from baby showers and weddings? You spring for the expensive ticket. Yes. But no sweat, you’ve been saving for this like a responsible adult. But why should you? Air conditioned toilets. Meals. Side stage access. Parking Free beer and water. If I didn’t win this argument at «air conditioned,» then nothing will save you from the sweaty masses in hipsterwear.
Here are the deets (as the cool kids call it): meals are 12 – 3, and 5−8pm – don’t be late, because all the food will be gone (as we found out); bring ear plugs (your geriatric ears need protection); you can bring minimal cash, because you’ve already paid for everything up front; sunblock; ear plugs; sunglasses; hat.
The sidestage entrances are back away from the stage, so that you can get to the stage without wading through the huge crowd. It was a really nice to avoid the crowds and get to where you want to be. Also a nice perk was a small tent with limited seating, because, you know you’re not physically what you used to be (and standing for 8 hrs is really hard on the back).
Because the years and my desk job have been hard on my body, and my stomach area is… not as firm as it used to be, I opted for running clothes for its moisture wicking properties. And shoes you don’t mind getting muddy. While you’re feet won’t be encased in mud (free spa treatment!), with all the water flowing, it can get pretty dicey on the ground. I also recommend closed toed shoes with backs to prevent scrapes on anything that can give you an infection.
This year it was particularly smart to have some sort of closed toed shoes because of the rain. People complained about the lightning in the area that caused the organizers to evacuate everyone, but I feel like complainers aren’t properly scared of lightening, liability, and lawsuits. Personally, I evacuated to the public library for some light reading (while furiously pushing refresh on my twitter feed).
Of course this is still Houston, and you need to be prepared for the sun, so cover yourself in sunblock and bug spray, and top it off with hat and sunglasses.
One criticism that I have of this year is that the stages were all out of order. The stages were: Saturn, Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars. An Jupiter was like the tiniest stage. Have some respect from astronomy and put it in order! It’s hard to tell if you’re going the right way, when you’re going from the Neptune stage to the Venus stage, and more annoying to find out you went the wrong way.
Also, some acts were in comically small stages. Like DMX at the Mercury stage. The crowd spilled out onto Allen Parkway and beyond. Why was Welcome to Houston not on the Mars stage? Literally everyone was there, and it seems the Mars stage would have been better suited. These are all planning issues that could be better.
I did see a few people faint, and it seems that a few of the volunteers weren’t trained in what to do. A few of them had a deer-​in-​the-​headlights look and went to get a staff member, who would tell the volunteer to get some water. It was even more difficult when people would faint in the middle of a large crowd, so it was hard to get to, and resulted in a lot of people from the fancy areas handing out water over the barrier, and trying to get volunteers who didn’t know what to do, to do something.
So meticulously plan your music schedule like it’s your best friend’s baby shower, and do this awesome music festival like the responsible adult that you are.

I’ve been to FPSF twice in my 3 years in Houston, and I’ve loved my experience both times. Yes, the weather is hot and humid, but it’s all part of the music festival experience! I haven’t been to any other music festivals, but I’d say FPSF is a fantastic starting point.
The 2014 line-​up was not as impressive as the 2013 line-​up (in terms of the bands that I liked), so I decided to volunteer for my festival entry this year. Honestly, it was not a bad trade-​off. I still got to see my top artist (Zedd) along with performances by CHVRCHES and Childish Gambino. The Golden Grill gave volunteers $ 2 off meals, and Coreanos even let us cut the line dinner line!
I thought the main stages + surrounding areas for 2014 were awkwardly set up as compared to 2013. More elevation at the Saturn stage would have been very useful. They also placed bands such as CHVRCHES and Cage the Elephant, bands that drew large crowds, at a relatively small stage where all the traffic was. I definitely preferred the 2013 layout and distribution of stages.
Tips for surviving Free Press:
— check the weather for chance of rain
— bring a water bottle; there are free water stations throughout the park
— extra phone battery
— wear sunscreen
— small bills & ID
— sunglasses
— wear comfortable shoes you don’t mind ruining
— make sure to keep your wristband on for both days; they will not let you in if it looks like your wristband has been damaged
— if you leave after 5pm, you won’t be able to reenter the festival
I’m already excited for the 2015 line-​up, and the festival was only 2 days ago…

Overall experience felt like a herd of cows dragging our feet on the way to the slaughter house, while using an event app that inaccurately relayed set times.
Too packed, my dudes. I’m all for getting gritty and bumping shoulders at festivals; I don’t have an issue with the weather or the festival goers. But at the expense of the experience, when you’re at a standstill and unable to navigate around the festival grounds because the level of congestion was beyond manageable, it makes it unenjoyable.
Due to the weather, I understand a lot of set times had to be rearranged. Again, not a problem. But at least have an app that is more responsive to live updates on set times. (Though, the weather notifications were really on point.)
I like what FPSF is doing for Houston. It’s a really great thing. Recommendations for next year:
More free water stations & restrooms (spread out rather than clustered). It goes a long way.
Manage the congestion. Consider different layout solutions.
Stick to the set times. We can’t predict the weather but at least have a reliable system in place that keeps everyone in the loop.

I had heard of this event for quit some time and I was finally able to attend Free Press Summer Fest in 2013. I had previously attended Lollapalooza so I of course could not help but to compare the two and I was extremely impressed with Free Press.
Of course, the HUGE downfall with this festival is how extremely hot it is in June. I am not going to lie… around 2 PM it is miserable. Do not let this be your reason why you don’t attend though! If the heat is an issue for you they offer the Fancy Pants tickets which is more expensive but it does provide you AC. If you are a Texas native Free Press heat is a walk in the park!
Moving on… the rest of the festival was amazing! The music, food, crowd, drinks, and the vendors all made for an incredible experience.
MUSIC: The artists that performed at FPSF were all so diverse. If you love hip hop, folk, or EDM (in my case I love all three) there is performance for you to enjoy! There were so many musical acts I didn’t even know of and when I left FPSF I immediately downloaded their albums!
FOOD: Make sure to bring cash! I believe you can use credit/​debit however having cash makes things a lot easier. There were a ton of food options to choose from everything from pizza to asian food to burgers. Free Press has anything to satisfy your craving!
OVERALL EXPERIENCE: After FPSF was over I was genuinely sad. I was born and raised in Houston and Free Press is by far my most cherished Houston memory! Eleanor Tinsely Park couldn’t be more perfect for this event. It highlights the city in such a way that make you feel proud to be in Houston!
Things to bring:
Bring cash
Empty camelback (you have to purchase water at the festival)
Sunblock
Hand sanitizer
Extra toilet paper (just in case they run out towards the end of the night)
Counting the day for FPSF 2014!!!

This was my first freepress. Let me tell you this: IT’S HOT! If you’re serious about this then buy the air conditioned passes to give yourself a break from the heat, you’re going to need it. Drink TONS of water. Dehydration is no fun! Go early to bands you really want to see… the larger the name of the band the more likely you are to only hear and not actually SEE the band at all. They have plenty of bands to choose from. Love the app and ability to plan your schedule.
MANY food options, a lot of food truck options. Booze is pricy and lines are long so if you’re serious about that then double fist.
Parking can be tough. try biking or taking a cab, it will likely be easier and/​or cheaper.
They check backpacks but not too thoroughly if you hear what I’m saying. Wink. Wink. Not that I smuggled anything in myself but saw a variety of items that certainly made it by security. Bring something to sit on if that’s your thing.
Dress cool, stay cool, wear pants… and you’ll be good! Enjoy!

This was my first summerfest and I must say it exceeded my expectations. Despite the hot heat in Houston in June we survived and had an awesome time! I’ve been to many other music festivals around Texas but to be able to attend one in my city was the icing on the cake! Lots of crazy, fun, free spirits from young to old having a great time, awesome line up, amazing energy! I love the that there is a lot of seating on the hill so you can hear the band and watch as you cool down under the shade. Drinks/​Food are pricey but that’s to be expected. They really did not check our bags thoroughly so the second day I brought some waters in my bags.
I will be returning to FPSF every year. Thank you to all those Houstonians who were apart of making this event happen for us!

This was my first year at FPSF, and it was a solid success. The lineup was perfection, and I think I prefer 2-​day festivals to 3-​day festivals at this point. It’s difficult to properly rock out 3 days in a row.
The sound was pretty good, with the exception of the speakers cutting out for about 30 seconds during Arctic Monkey’s set. It was reasonably easy to get a good spot for every show we wanted to see. The only times it felt crowded were at times on the main road when walking between stages, and especially when the festival ended on Saturday night, it turned into a cattle call. Thank god we left an hour early on Sunday. There was a mad rush to the stage by idiots who wanted to see Bassnectar after TV on the Radio’s set which involved a lot of pushing and yelling. The crowd was on average much younger than your average festival, with a few dad rockers thrown in for good measure.
Food and drink selections were plentiful and readily available without much of a wait. After dealing with the lack of free water at Coachella (forcing you to then spend $ 2/​bottle), it was extremely refreshing to see so many free water refill stations at FPSF. We did get into it with the pizza guys for not giving us a refund for a cold slice of pizza that cost $ 6, but I guess that’s how festival food management goes. Try the popsicle truck!
Thankfully, while Houston in June is inevitably hot, the weather wasn’t too bad this year. I’ve heard horror stories about the heat and lines to get into this festival in the past, so we opted for the fancy pants passes, which I felt were completely unnecessary. If I ever come back to this festival, I will be buying regular GA. There were never any lines at either of the gates and I’m not sure I ever saw a fancy pants viewing platform — if it existed it must have been far away from the stage and thus useless. The biggest disappointment were the fancy pants tents. The «air conditioning» was nonexistent, and in some cases it was warmer in the tents than outside, especially on Saturday. We got no fancy pants freebies at ALL. Don’t bother.
Eleanor TInsley Park is an interesting location… it’s impossibly close to downtown and several parking garages, and its sloped hills make for much better sightlines than at flatter festivals. However, there was almost no grass on the ground, and so the little bit of rain turned many parts of the park into mud. It wasn’t much of an issue, but I can’t imagine the park condition if it had rained more. The festival is basically planned along one straight line, which makes walking between stages a bit of a hike in some cases. The amount of trash left on the ground by participants was extremely disappointing. The festival would do well to follow in ACL’s footsteps and get volunteers to walk around the grounds with recycling and trash bags during the day.
WEAR SUNSCREEN, PEOPLE!

«I feel so close to you right now,» the thousands-​deep crowd belted out in unison with Calvin Harris at the head, and I couldn’t help but think how a propos (literally and figuratively) that lyric was. The crowd was huge at the sold out festival, but somehow the lines (entry, consessions, portapotties) were completely reasonable. Eleanor Tinesly Park could not be a better setting for an event such as this.
In all my years of being, this was my first bona fide music festival experience. Here’s what I learned:
1. Don’t take a cab. It was so hard to get a return cab at the end of the first night. If you’re planning on drinking, I’d suggest taking the Wave. Otherwise, there are plenty of lots and even street parking nearby. Biking was also a popular option.
2. Do spring for Fancy Pants tickets. You better believe I will be purchasing that option during the blind presale for next year. Why? Two words. Air conditioning. There are other perks too, but getting relief from the hot, hot sun for a few minutes will significantly improve morale.
3. Don’t overdo it on the booze. Seriously. It’s so easy to have sober fun at this festival, but one way to not have fun is by losing your brother, sitting on the curb, vomming, and remaining at the mercy of other sun-​drunk festival goers. My suggestion is to stick to water during the day and drink it up as the sun starts to go down.
4. Do designate a meeting spot. I was reminded of the age before cell phones because while trying to help above mentioned girl we realized it was extremely difficult if not impossible to get a text out and cell phones were going straight to voicemail.
5. Don’t be too rigid with your concert going plans. Some artists will be late, some will start early. Pay attention to your must-​sees and set up shop early. Also, try to see some people you’ve never heard of. That’s the beauty of music fests.
6. Do pack strategically. Bring the things you need (sunscreen, small ground cover to sit, water bottle, booze… wait, what?) in as small form as possible. You don’t want to find yourself maneuvering through the crowds with giant bags. People will be annoyed if you hit them in the head.
Now that my music festival cherry has been popped, I can’t wait for more. You know what they say: Once you pop, the fun don’t stop!

So I’m sitting here at work, blasting Passion Pit’s iconic «Sleepyhead» through my headphones on full volume and munching on one of the, what, like BILLION free Cracker Jack snack-​bags they were handing out yesterday (yeah, thanks FPSF, I’m set on munchies fo’ lyfeeee), trying to bring myself back to that magical, almost euphoric setting of the EPICNESS that is Free Press Summerfest 2013. It’s only been 12 hours since I left and I’m already having major withdrawals — the music, the people, all the amazing energy and hype just radiating off all of us during those two days… freakin crazy. I swear, if you collected all of our good vibes and wrapped it up in a pretty little package, you could probably end a civil war somewhere.
Yes, it was like 100 degrees outside. And yes, I nearly died in that sweltering heat. Everyone was melting. But I mean, whatever, you know? It’s Houston. It’s part of the grand package. And in my opinion, FPSF did a damn good job at making everyone as comfortable as they possibly could when it came to something so incredibly out of their control: there were numerous water stations set up all over the park for your re-​filling pleasure; water mist stations for you to cool off in; paper fans being handed out left and right; free snacks to keep your energy up – so chin up, buttercup! There’s food trucks to visit. There’s merch to buy. There’s music to jam to – 8 stages-​worth of music, in fact. And this year’s line-​up was awesome: Calvin Harris, Passion Pit, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (fellow Texans fans, there was a J.J. Watt sighting at the end of that one!), Postal Service, Arctic Monkeys, Matt & Kim, Bassnectar, 2 Chainz, Of Monsters and Men, Alabama Shakes, etc. I know a line-​up of 80+ bands is a *tad* much, but there’s something for everyone — whether you’re swaying to the soft crooning of Cat Power, grinding something dirty to 2 Chainz, jumping and fist-​pumpin’ to Calvin Harris, or just going flat-​out m’f*kn RIDICULOUS to Bassnectar. (Yes, I will admit to doing all 4. No shame no game, kiddos!)
When you’re not lost in the music, explore. Like I said, there’s food truck and food stand galore. Orrrr you can be smart like me and pack a cooler of goodies to leave in your car and have yourself a fantastic parking garage picnic party. Since you’re free to wander in and out of the park (with your wristband, of course), why the hell not? My party parked in a garage ($ 10 garage parking is TOTALLY worth it, btw) not too far away and people would walk by and stare at us hanging out, eating sandwiches, drinking beers… and I’m preeeetty sure I saw envy in their eyes. Then, after a 10min nap and a shot or two, my peeps and I were back in the game.
In the end, FPSF was an incredible experience. In-​between the heatwaves and occasional choking on second-​hand weed smoke (yeah, that’ll happen a lot), I found myself just drinking in all the amazing collective energy of everyone around me. We were just a bunch of young stupid kids having the time of our lives and not giving a dizaaaamn. :) Oh, and «1-​star» Jesse K., I sincerely hope you enjoyed all that «bump thump bass» nonsense going on from Bassnectar last night. We made sure to go **EXTRA** hard for you, bud! SEE YOU NEXT YEAR, FPSF!

I’m super impressed that HTOWN hosts this music festival with approx 100 musical acts, over 100,000 attendees last year walking distance from my house! The acts were first class: Snoop Dogg, Willy Nelson, Afrojack, R3HAB, Major Lazer, Pretty Lights, Erykah Badu The Avett Brothers, Flaming Lips, Primus and whole bunch of other acts and bands I fell in love with for the first time at FPSF. VIP-​Fancy pants is so worth it, tents were nicely furnished and bar lines were short. Perfect from getting away from the high heat if you can’t bear it. I happen to love the Houston summers here because I’m an island boy at heart.
Mark my words #FPSF will continue to get bigger and better each year as Houstonians demand these type of events in their city. And for the blind pre-​sale price of $ 100 for a VIP ticket to a two-​day music fest with big acts is a steal! It’s the cheapest festival of this kind in the country. In fact I’m sending invitations to a bunch of my friends in Los Angeles for this year’s fest.
The setting is absolutely one of a kind and beautiful using the elevations of the Bayou as a natural amphitheater with the Houston city skyline behind you. It’s super rad. This is a must for anyone into music and summer fun who’s in Houston June 1 – 2, 2013. Can’t wait for it to come. If you see me holla at Mark G!!!