Fest 24: Day 3 in Gainesville, FL

I feel like with my past few years of Fest, I’m usually starting off pretty strong and then winding down quite a bit more by day three. This year it was looking to be the exact opposite. I had a very stacked Sunday planned ahead of me full of familiar, old, and new sets I was planning on seeing. This was shaping up to be one of my busiest Fest days ever so far!

I once again woke up pretty early, forever unable to sleep in. I made use of the time and sorted through edits, while eating some of the leftover cold pizza from Five Star that I snagged a whole box to myself on the walk home last night. Eventually Wyatt’s was open, and I could head down get my coffee fix in. It was already setting in a bit that this was the final day. I had already began to pretty much pack everything I could, knowing that once I headed to the music I’d pretty much be down there until I needed to sleep. I stupidly scheduled my flight for 6AM Monday morning, not thinking the schedule through at all. Once everything was all set, I began walking to Baby J’s bar.

Chad Price would be playing a acoustic set there. I wore my Buddies Fest shirt knowing I’d see him and quite a few others from last year’s festival today. I have also been catching a lot of him lately thanks to Buddies, and also with ALL touring through Detroit a few months back. While setting up my camera and chatting with one of the other photographers, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Sam Russo saying hi! We hadn’t really gotten a chance to catch up yet this year, so it was great t see him and talk for a bit. I also ran into Jeremy Jessen from Rad Owl as well and chatted a bit before Chad played.

After that I made my way to Bazar, so I could finally catch Signals Midwest this weekend. Being sad about the conflicts I had earlier in the week, I was glad this secret set worked out. It was a packed room for this, to the point where even with my camera visible there were not many places to move to. I ran into Jan once again and caught up, then Maxwell and the band were finally ready to play. After a few songs, it was already time to make way to see NOBRO next. They were another band I have been eagerly planning to catch after having some conflicts and missing most of their set at Riot Fest earlier this year. They came out rocking Bo Diddley, to plenty of fun and familiar faces along the rail and crowd as well!

Up next was another Fest staple I couldn’t wait to check out again. Middle-Aged Queers were back playing this year, and I have been eager to see them again since Kendra introduced me to them a few years back. We had dancing, bubbles, and hotdogs crowd surfing during “Glizzies Bangin'” on top of all the energy and excitement. We also had a moment where Shaun brought out his partner and son, who was in the cutest little hotdog suit, and held him up to the crowd while everyone sang the beginning of “Circle of Life” to him.

Once again, I was on the move to try and fit way too much into a small amount of time. I stopped by to see Caitlin Edwards and her band rock out again at the Atlantic (after getting lost trying to find the venue at the older location). I then bounced back to Backyard at Boca for some Shehehe, back to Bo Diddley to get my fix in with The Copyrights, and then back to the Backyard one last time to catch another Buddies Fest special with Christy Costello and her band. My feet were definitely feeling it on day three after all that running around, but it was worth it with all the great bands I somehow managed to fit in.

It was thankfully going to get a bit easier at this point, because I had my next three sets all planned at Bo Diddley Plaza. I re-connected with Rich and Ricky for the final few stretches of the evening and night. Nerf Herder was next, and so funny. My partner freaked out a bit when I told her they were playing, as she is a very big die-hard Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan. She also gave me a lot of shit for not knowing the theme song was by Nerf Herder, but to my defense I almost had never seen the show until I met her… and streaming makes it very easy to skip those opening intros now.

Up next were two more personal favorite bands I was stoked to finally see again. Sparta has always held a special place with me, especially since they were also my very first concert I had went to. I think it was a little over 23 or so years ago when the SnoCore tour came through and we crammed into our friend’s dad’s car to drive us two hours there and back to see them. I’ve been revisiting their catalogue a lot since that set at Fest. Rich decided to go rest up back at the hotel real quick, so Ricky and I held it down for Samiam. That is another band I am always excited to see, and I have loved their new album Stowaway a lot. Still playing through it quite frequently in between checking out the new albums that have been released throughout 2026. After we got four or five songs in Ricky and I made our way to catch some Drag the River!

We timed it out perfectly and caught up with Rich on the walk over to Depot Village. We were a little late and missed a few songs, but not by much. I always love seeing Snodgrass live, and getting to catch Drag the River again so soon was an extra bonus on top of that. I ran into Sam Russo again one last time and caught up a bit in between the songs we were singing and listening to. We snagged some quick selfies, and said our goodbyes after that set to make it through the final stretch of killer bands for the night. On the way through, Rich, Ricky and myself got a quick photo under the fest sign as well.

I have been loving Sweet Gloom so much, and with a new album out I was even more excited to finally see them again as one of the final bands to close out my Fest 24. We got to Bazar a bit early to get good spot up front and ran into front person Jaake right at the door, who greeted all three of us in one gigantic hug. We caught up a bit and talked about how our Fests have all been so far leading up to the final few hours, then headed inside to see some rock and roll. Despite it being slightly later on the final night, the room was packed and everyone was there to move. Bazar 47 was the perfect size and layout for Jaake to make his way around the room greeting friends and cheers-ing drinks as he sang through some of the new songs from their recent sophomore release, No Love Lost. I cannot express enough how crucial it is that everyone catches a Sweet Gloom set at some point in their life, especially if it is at Fest.

When their set was over, Rich began to make his way to catch the second half of Bouncing Souls‘ second night playing. Ricky and I ended up staying back to hang out and chat with the bands at Bazar, and also wanted to catch another act that was up whom I was unfamiliar with, The Albert Square. I recognized faces from other bands and acquaintances, but have never heard them before and was excited to add a new band to the playlists for the flight and travel home in a few hours.

After that I’m pretty sure everyone in the room made their way down the street over to the University Club, where Dog Party was up next, and my final act for the night before trying to catch some sleep. It was great to see them again, and I loved that it was yet another Fest where I’m closing my time out with a band I had recently found out about thanks to them playing Buddies fest before. They played through a lot of great jams, and Randy Moore/Bones Shredder even stepped in to play drums on one of the final songs, while Lucy stepped into the crowd and sang with the crowd.

It’s crazy how the busiest day of the weekend suddenly started winding down quickly and crashing. While Ricky, Rich, and I wanted to catch our traditional Fest Wrestling sets at some point before calling it, we decided to head back to our places and get what few hours of sleep we could before needing to hop on shuttles and buses starting at 4AM.

Overall it was another amazing time at Fest, with so many amazing people, friends, volunteers, etc. Thank you to all the bands and staff that make this happen every year, thank you to all who have read this far through my ramblings of trying to remember what all happened over the weekend, and a big thank you to Bad Copy for letting me continue to come out here and have an amazing time representing them and capturing so many memories of others.

Cheers, and see you all next year!