Freefest Year 2

It was about that time again--Freefest. I had gone the year before and why in hell would I pass up a free festival, especially when M83 was scheduled to play this year. Except first I had some shit to endure, though I was not aware of it yet. A couple days before I was supposed to get on the bus to DC, I was scheduled to have a wisdom tooth pulled. I hadn't thought much about it; I had had two others pulled earlier in the year and although unpleasant they weren't that big of a deal. So I expected the same for this one. I realized later, while the dentist ranked back and forth on my tooth forcing me to endure a horrible ripping pain in my jaw and blood smeared all over my face, that I should have expected the worst. Afterwards I felt like I had survived being tortured. And the next day was even worse--one side of my face had swollen up and I looked grotesque. The next day was not much better and I was forced to go out in public. I was extremely embarrassed and I immediately ruled out Freefest. Except the next day my face was less slightly less grotesque and I changed my mind.
After a bus ride which was almost as bad as the wisdom tooth pulling itself, I decided that I'm too old for bus travel. Luckily JW picked me up which improved my mood, especially because I got to see the cat whom I lived with senior year of college. He and JW and BK all shared an apartment now that they were living back in NoVA. Instead of going out we decided to rest up for Freefest day tomorrow, especially since due to my meds I couldn't drink. At this point I hadn't had a drink in about 5 days, which was probably the first time since I had moved to NYC. I knew that it wouldn't be possible for me to stay in NYC for the weekend and not drink, which was another motivation for Freefest. The next day we set off, with me sporting a huge bun that JW had done my hair up in and some 80s purple sunglasses to accentuate them. My face was basically back to normal which was a huge relief. We arrived at the Fest pretty early, due to a surprising lack of DC-area traffic and met up with some of JW and her new man friend's friends. We caught Portugal the Man' set, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I am also now on the lookout for the lead singer (an adorable little hipster) whenever I go to Brooklyn now, but that's a different story.
We then spent the majority of the afternoon all sitting on a blanket in the sun, watching bands that aren't normally my taste but that I really enjoyed such as Alabama Shakes and Ben Folds. I was satisfied and kept thinking about how much nicer this was than being stuck in the sweaty disgusting crowd at Electric Zoo. I was actually among people my own age! We also witnessed a hilarious yet tragic interaction while sitting.
Scene: Tooly looking dork in a UVA t-shirt wandering around. He goes to lay down in the grass and his chubby girlfriend runs up to him and plops on top of him. She is sitting holding his face and speaking sternly to him while he tries to look past her towards the stage. She isn't having it and grows more heated. She continues to speak, looking very upset, while he continues to ignore. Suddenly she winds up and slaps him. Tool has no reaction. She dismounts and sits next to him in the grass with her head in her hands. Tool says nothing. A couple minutes later they both get up and walk away, to our dismay.
Not long after this, Richard Branson showed up on top of the stage and sprayed a bottle of champagne over the crowd. Just an average Saturday.

Soon, it was time to meet up with MM, Same Name Friend and Raver who had arrived at Freefest late. We wanted to watch Porter Robinson, but it turns out none of us could handle it. The crowd was just too young and sweaty so we watched from the background. I still enjoyed it but I knew I was just too old to be in the midst of it anymore. Then it was time for my highlight of Freefest--M83. I had loved them when I had seen them in the spring and this time was no different. Except we arrived to the stage much later than I had wanted due to multiple food and bathroom runs. We had about 12 people in our group at this point and it was proving difficult to keep us all together. We were forced to split off at the beginning of the set which made squeezing into the crowd easier but it was next to impossible to get anywhere even close to the stage. So I had to make due with the back but JW took care of business as she yelled "BYE" and "Uhuh!" to everyone that tried to get in front of us. At one point she even started physically blocking people with her body which caused them to be utterly confused and me to laugh. M83 was glorious and French just like last time and we were all enjoying it. A sampling:

Back at the apartment that night, JW and I stuffed our faces with carrot cake she had made for her man friend's bday. We watched this video about 12 times in a row, while dancing in our seats and yelling "cake cake cake!" in between mouthfuls.
All it took was a missing tooth, M83 and a weekend away from New York to remind me that I could indeed have fun without drinking.