This year’s Live 105 BFD Festival was a completely different gig than last year’s fest. For one, tickets sold out fairly fast (being that they were only $10.53 base price; one-third the cost of last year’s tickets), whereas in 2007, they were still available on the day of the event, and not only that, but they were giving out free tickets.
Another change to this year’s BFD was the fact that the venue was slightly moved around with the stages being set up in the parking lot area. There is still no official explanation for this, but it may have limited the number of tickets sold over last year.
On top of all of that, the 2007 BFD had a better line-up than this year’s show, as many fans and reviewers have pointed out (including the San Jose Mercury News): Interpol, Social Distortion, AFI, Bloc Party, The National, Kings of Leon, CSS, Queens of the Stone Age and many others.
But again, for only $10 a pop, it’s no wonder this year’s BFD sold out, but it would have been a much better festival if they had anywhere near the same amazing line-ups as years past; and people would have paid the $30 or more for more headlining acts – that is pretty apparent from what so many are saying.
Based on the number of new festivals this year, it is not a stretch to conclude that BFD organizers had a hard time filling the line-up with ‘top name’ bands and artists for this year’s event, and thus, the lower price for tickets.
Additionally, they make more money from advertising and vendors than the tickets anyways. Therefore, as one very disappointed past-BFD fan wrote, it’s not like the festival-goer is really getting a break, especially if the line-up is such a drag compared to previous BFDs.
So far, there is not a very good selection of YouTube videos to show – which is amazing considering the Bay Area is a major tech and music center of the world. Perhaps, more videos of BFD 2008 will surface later on, but for now, here’s the IRC picks:
Alkaline Trio – “Help Me”
Alkaline Trio was one of the best bands in the lineup for BFD 08, so here’s another clip – “Radio”
Here’s another view of Alkaline Trio playing “Radio”
MSTRKRFT performing with lightshow at 2008 BFD:
More from MSTRKRFT’s BFD set:
MGMT serves up “Of Moons, Birds & Monsters”
Airborne Toxic Event bangs out “Sometime Around Midnight”
LoveLikeFire performing “Signs”
The Kooks performing short clip of “Naive”
PlayRadioPlay performing “I’m The Pirate, You’re The Princess” at BFD 08
Magic Bullets performing “Yesterday’s Seen Better Days”
Thought this was cute; little kid dancing to Cypress Hill
AntiFlag – Song title? (short clip, not best quality)
Santogold performing “You’ll Find A Way”
From inside the tent: Cover version of Daft Punk’s “One More Time” by (anyone know? Bueller? Bueller…)
If you have any interest in seeing the BFD trash left around after the festival, check out the After BFD video. Other videos include performances from Here, Here; Apside plays “K Vision”; short clip of Flogging Molly; PlayRadioPlay performing “Compliment Each Other Like Colors”.
YouTuber OHteenhearts offers a bunch of videos from BFD, but they are fairly low quality and short. Yet if you are a crazy Kooks or MGMT fan, and you just must see no matter what, check them out.
Related reading:
Live 105 BFD – The Flobots
Folly Molly, Cypress Hill, Alexander Hamilton Highlight 2008 BFD