Eleven years ago, when FYF Fest started out as a small hardcore and punk festival in Echo Park, with a bill full of thrashy guttural performers such as Wires on Fire and The Mean Reds, nobody would have ever guessed F*ck Yeah Fest would one day be headlined by a commercially successful rap superstar.
This year, after Saturday night headliner and alternative hip-hop performer Frank Ocean dropped out—cancelling due to scheduling conflicts, according to a statement released by his publicist—Kanye West was brought in to plug the hole.
When the announcement was made, the reaction on social media was mostly negative, ranging from disgust and immediate ticket hawking to disappointment over the festival’s direction.
It seems FYF Fest is either having an identity crisis or trying to diversify its range of performers. Looking back at previous line-ups, the turning point between a more underground scenester-geared line-up and one that tilts toward mainstream and electronic acts was 2011—when Goldenvoice, the promoters behind Coachella and Stagecoach, began co-producing the FYF Fest.
This year the genre boundaries have been pushed even further. With such an eclectic array of performers, FYF Fest risks becoming diluted and losing its identity. On the other hand, by offering mainstream acts alongside stuff closer to its punk and alternative roots like Metz and Joyce Manor, FYF Fest hits attendees with music outside their purview.
A testament to the diversity this year was that on one end of the festival shoegaze pioneers Jesus and Mary Chain were blasting their serrated noise rock, while a five minute walk away, Kanye West was mish-mashing Nina Simone’s mournful cover of Strange Fruit with plaintive, autotuned lyrics about a culture of hedonism and superficiality.
Improvements to the festival this year were a more easily navigable stage layout and sets that went later into the night. The long lines of last year were addressed, and entering the festival was a breeze.
Some highlights of the night included Kanye West cramming in ten hit songs in the last ten minutes of his set. He opened the spitfire barrage with “FiveFourSeconds” and was joined on stage by Rhianna. Bloc Party and Mary and Jesus Chain had healthy mosh pits going and hip-hop duo Run The Jewels shook a the festival grounds with their fat, ferocious beats.
FYF Fest continued Sunday at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena and Exposition Park with night-two headliner Morrissey.