All photos by The1point8
We get it, LA is easy to make fun of—what with our yoga classes and crystal worshiping and lack of public transportation. But there’s a reason they call it the Best Coast, after all, and this year’s edition of FYF Fest boasted some of the most exciting and innovative acts making music right now, all in the tree-shaded, museum-encompassed festival grounds at Downtown’s Exposition Park. Kendrick Lamar, Vince Staples, Kelela, Boogie, Classixx, Head Wound City, Jagwar Ma, and Ty Segall and the Muggers were just a few of the local acts to kill it on the fest’s first day, while addictive DJ sets from the likes of Dave P, Gerd Janson, and Red Axes reflected the tastemaking vibes of LA’s international underground scene.
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Day one of the festival showcased some literal fire from Kendrick Lamar, a triumphant homecoming set that delved past the hits, in a way you only can when you know that nearly every person in the crowd knows every word regardless. The extended set explored stripped-down jazz arrangments of To Pimp a Butterfly tracks like “These Walls,” as well as cuts off of this year’s Untitled Unmastered, and homages to the “Day Ones” off of Section.80.
Other highlights included a massive dance party courtesy Hot Chip and the visceral joy that was Wolf Parade, two acts often relegated to second-tier greatness in the shadow of their respective mid-00s analogs LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire; they proved at FYF that they’ve always been just as good—if not better.
From the comebacks to the young guns to the weirdness in between, we were on scene, taking it all in. Check out the sights and sounds of FYF 2016 Day One below.
Kendrick Lamar
Hot Chip
Hot Chip DJ set
Tame Impala
Kelela
Vince Staples
Julien Baker
Ty Segall and the Muggers
Grimes
Todd Terje and the Olsens
Explosions in the Sky
Air
Moby
Junior Boys
Jagwar Ma
The1point8 is a photographer based in LA. Follow him on Instagram.
Andrea Domanick is the West Coast Editor of Noisey. Follow her on Twitter.
