THE WELCOME TO HOUSTON CROWD
No disrespect to the Welcome to Houston rappers, but this crowd was the very, very worst. Ever been crushed up against a mob of crushing teenagers? Wait. Strike that. Ever had a crushing mob of drunken jackass frat-boy-in-training teenagers pressed against you? No? Well, then you obviously skipped over Welcome to Houston. Now, I love some Willie D and Scarface, and hearing Kam Franklin sing the hook to "Tops Drop" was awesome shit, but what was not awesome shit was having the dudebros behind me — who were young enough to not even KNOW the hook to Fat Pat's song — not only hit on my old ass, but crush it with their gangly Bambi bodies. I really do heart you, Houston rappers, and I would do anything for love, but yeah. I won't do that. Again. (ANGELICA LEICHT)
FLOGGING MOLLY
To clarify, I've always liked Flogging Molly in the right situation and I've seen them dozens of times. And therein lies the problem: Flogging Molly shows are always exactly the same. Sure, it's fun, and yes, I would recommend anyone who hasn't seen before them to check them out. That being said, at this point, if Flogging Molly was slotted against any other band I was even marginally interested in seeing, I would go with the other band every single time. (SELENA DIERINGER)
R. KELLY
Listen, if I'd spent decades trying to fight a child-preying reputation, I'd probably keep my hands, and balls, off unsuspecting fans. But nope. This is Kells we are talking about, and the man cannot perform without slappin' de balls on at least one unsuspecting victim, so yeah. That happened. "Ignition (Remix)" also happened, as did a bunch of other shit. But it's R. Kelly, and it's awkward, and maybe let's just not do this again next year, okay? "Pee on me" chants are not the one. (ANGELICA LEICHT)
CHANCE THE RAPPER
Chance is relatively new on the rap scene, but he gained some serious street cred quickly with his album Acid Rap. His recordings are definitely unique, but as a festival performer, he did not deliver. Walking out in his overalls, he looked like a confused teenager and as he sang he basically pantomimed his songs throughout his set. His involvement of the audience came in awkward intervals and his lyrics were unclear and often it seemed as if he was mumbling into the mic. Everyone around me was popping molly; perhaps that's what one needs to enjoy his show. (KANDACE LYTLE)
G-EAZY
Gerald Gillum, the up-and-coming Oakland rapper better known as G-Eazy, came to Texas and forgot the words to three different songs in the middle of his performance. G-Eazy, man, you’ve got to know the lyrics to your songs. Maybe he was distracted that his hometown Golden State Warriors were only a few minutes away from starting Game 2 of the NBA Finals. After the third time he conceded and said, “Shit, I’m gonna do an old song. There’s no way I’ll forget those.” Regardless of his missteps, the fans who gathered had no qualms and continued to stay hyped up and scream for more. Oh well, G-Eazy, “These Things Happen.” (JACK GORMAN)
“SUMMER NIGHTS”
I'm no great fan of Skrillex, and I was happy to skip R. Kelly's performance. But I think the worst thing I heard all was the fun-loving jerks singing "Summer Nights" from Grease on the train ride home. I left my earplugs in for that. Maybe I'm just a sucker for live music. I didn't hear anything that struck me as awful at FPSF. (NATHAN SMITH)
FUTURE ISLANDS
This is a tough call — the band performed with a ton of stage presence, led by an emphatic performance by lead singer Samuel T. Herring. While the band is certainly unique (which is hard to come by these days), this comes down solely to personal preference. I believe that Future Islands are secretly starring in a cheesy 1980s teen movie where they are a synth-pop band by day and werewolves by night. This would explain the bizarre Rollins-esque screaming atop bouncy synth keys. (SELENA DIERINGER)