It was around this time a year ago when it was announced that FYF (Fuck Yeah Fest) was done for in Los Angeles. But not only that, Texas’s Day for Night and Free Press festivals had also gone out the window, all as a result of their founders and festival runners being accused of sexual assault. For music fans in those areas, it was a deal-breaker – a heartbreak from what were probably the most eclectic music festivals in the U.S.
Now, Goldenvoice has implemented yet another festival in Southern California dubbed “Just Like Heaven,” which is to be held at Queen Mary Park in Long Beach, CA on May 3rd and 4th. The lineup boasts several bands that came to prominence during the mid-late 2000s post-punk scene, such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Phoenix, Grizzly Bear, MGMT, and a reunion of The Rapture, among others.
But when the fest was first announced, many were quick to draw similarities between Just Like Heaven and FYF, some dubbing it as “FYF’s substitution,” and since it’s pretty clear that FYF won’t be returning this year, it’s safe to say that FYF, for the foreseeable future, is over.
But that’s not to discredit Just Like Heaven as L.A.’s next best music festival, since it does evoke the gaping hole of music festivals in Los Angeles, or even Southern California at large, for alternative music. Just Like Heaven, however, is the alternative for that, providing an outlet for fans of indie music that were pushed aside as Coachella slowly raised to its mainstream status.
It’s interesting that it’s called “Just Like Heaven,” because what does that mean exactly? The Cure certainly won’t be playing, but is the title to conjure easier, simpler times? Evoke nostalgia? Imply that alternative music festivals were a highly missed event?
Not necessarily, but if this festival is to live beyond its title and lineup in the foreseeable future, it’ll have to provide a safer, much more cautious environment. One clean of harassment and assault and intended to evoke real change in the music festival landscape.
That being said, you’ll find me stuck in traffic on the 405 South toward Long Beach on May 3rd, waiting anxiously to witness how true indie music festivals used to be. Maybe that’s what Goldenvoice means by Just Like Heaven – an attempt to capture how we imagine what music festivals used to be like.
Tickets are on sale now. Check out the lineup below:
