The Fest music festival has announced the lineup for its upcoming FEST 18 event later this year. The Fest is an annual music festival held in Gainesville, Florida that is focused mainly on rock and punk rock music. Each year the festival hosts a variety of artists over the course of the weekend in Gainesville, providing a variety of events. This year, FEST 18 will be held from November 1-3. Some of the acts in attendance will include Jawbox, Jawbreaker and Iron Reagan. As a completely independent festival, The Fest relies on the strong rock community for much of its business and is ran completely for the purpose of bringing music to the people.
Jawbox, a 1990s rock band, is just one of the bands set to perform at FEST 18. Beginning with the release of their debut album, Grippe, in 1991, Jawbox became one of the larger rock bands to come out of Washington D.C. at the time. After a series of records in the 1990s, the band split up in 1997 and has rarely performed together since. This January, however, the group announced its first tour in 22 years. The reunion tour will be the first major performances from the band in this century, and will be held later this summer. For Jawbox fans that do not have the opportunity to see their tour, their show at FEST 18 is a must see.
Jawbreaker is another band set to perform at FEST 18. The famous 80s punk rock band has recently become active once again, beginning to tour together in 2017. Famous for their influence on emo rock music, Jawbreaker was known for tracks such as “Do You Still Hate Me?” and “Accident Prone.” The band broke up in 1997, following poor reception to their 1995 Dear You album. Lack of enthusiasm from fans led to tensions rising between bandmates. This ended in the break up of the band entirely after two of its members got in a fist fight on the street. Now, however, the group has begun touring again, bringing their style of punk rock to fans decades later. They are sure to put on one of the most memorable shows at FEST 18.
Also in attendance will be the harcore rock band, Iron Reagan. Iron Reagan released their debut studio album in 2013, a project titled Worse Than Dead. The album established the band as an up and coming influence in the thrash metal scene, and the band has only cemented this place since. As of now, the band has released four full length albums, the most recent of which being 2018’s Split. Since the debut of that album, the group has been performing at a variety of shows. Now they are adding FEST 18 to their list of upcoming shows. Iron Reagan will be one of the most exciting performances of the weekend. Tickets for FEST 18 can be found on the event’s official website, here.
UPDATE (5/13): The Fest has added a bevy of new bands to its 2019 lineup. Joining the festival will be artists like Against Me! (who will be performing two of their classic albums on their 2 Nights 4 Albums tour), Stiff Little Fingers, The Bronx and Mariachi El Bronx, American Steel and Spraynard. Also announced are artists like Torche, A Wilhelm Scream, Bullets To Broadway – who are reuniting for the show, J. Robbins, Laura Jane Grace of Against Me!, The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die and many more. Check out the full lineup at The Fest’s website.
Photo Credits: Raymond Flotat
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