Rancid-Yak on the Main Stage will have a great Stage show. UFO's?
Tom Baker Space Man?

What I heard of Tim Easton was really good.
Wasn't feeling The Sun.
Wasn't into Rancid Yak Butter Tea Party, but man did they have a stage prescence!

Word to the wise: Do not take a 7-week old puppy (especially if it's the cutest puppy in the world) to Comfest unless you are prepared to stand in one spot the entire night while everyone pets your dog.

Yeah I would have to agree, not really into what the Sun gave friday. Miranda Sound was really good! they put on a great show. the poplar stage had some really good acts like tim easton...anyways gotta go to hear some pretty mighty mighty.

-matt



Mrs.Children at Little Brothers Mon. June 30th doors 8:30

i was at the poplar stage and thereabouts mostly, dug the apocalypso set and really dug the manda and the marbles set. not so much the rancid yak, but that 8-10 slot at poplar was good to me. unfortunately came to late to see miranda sound, but i did hear good stuff about their set from several credible sources.

Pretty Mighty Mighty sounded really awesome. I dug how they arranged the new tunes (Noise Dive was one of them that I recall from Chinn's solo stint). I'm glad they played Blackjack Mastered too off the Normal EP. I've been bugging Chinn to play that one for quite sometime and he finally listened to me.

I have to say Gil Mantera was a big waste of my time. They should have been on the Live Arts stage because it was more theatrics than music.

Gil Mantera was the highlight of my entire life.

okay - although Gil Mantera was aimed at being theatrical and funny, the Fischerspooner-esque music was still decent (in an embarrasing, hard to admit kind of way). They had a huge responsive crowd, and were one of the more entertaining acts to perform. They had the crowd totally enthralled and made me crack up more than several times. AMAZING - who cares if they didn't rawk out, they had an excellent set and excellent crowd participation (a little too excellent at times).

Favorites of the day:
Friday - RYBTP and Th' Flyin Saucers (caught about half of each set cause I could not decide)
Saturday - Wigglepussy, Indiana - those guys were impressive, dark (in a light-hearted way...?), tight, and hard to describe. Runners up would be Thee Invaders (loved the Mortville and Dead valentine songs among others), Gil Mantera, and The Favors in no particular order. Also enjoyed what little I heard of Sugar Pill. Fly Paper was okay, although it was mixed kinda badly, and a bit too jam-ishly repetitive for my taste, but sounded tight.

okay,
here goes. i had a great comfest. so much fuckin fun. surprisingly, i saw a lot of good acts. let me see, i'll go in cronilogical order. monster movies were pretty good. the sound was a little fucked up, but their intensity was there regardless. outrageous orange were fucking aweful. just a bunch of the same nonesense one would expect of a "popular" columbus band. i was not impressed having never seen them. tim easton was pretty good. gotta respect the guy for his efforts. watershed...whatever. they can blow me. same as the sun. no wait. i'm sorry. the sun were good, but i know the drama that went down with them and i am a bit jaded. they were like the vines with a touch of the kinks. not my bag. rancid yak blew my dome of the fucking bleachers. their stage presence was great and their music was completely different than anything else. actually, while i'm on this topic, i reads the show review in the other paper of wigglepussy and the yak and must admit, it was a good one. it intriged me to check them both out. i am skipping ahead a bit, but wigglepussy, indiana put me in a place unknown to me. their music is good, without a doubt. but, it seemed a little too much at times. i don't quite know. i'll have to check them out again to decide what the fuck it is they are going for. gil mantera's were something else. the music was horrible, but you can't discredit their stage presence. oh my god. they have the biggest balls in columbus to do what they do. pretty fucking brilliant if you ask me. thee invaders were not as good as i thought. they have a lot of hype, but they fell short of that to me. the music was okay, but the presentation was pretty disgusting. just a bunch of washeed up older punkers trying to be rockstars. the randy's were fun. their vocals are immaculate. for what they do, i had to smile in that old timey 50's kind of way. oh wait, i forgot to mention flypaper. holy-fuckin shit. they were amazing. everyone int the tent was bouncin' around like there was nothing else that matters. i was blown away by their set. paul brown seemed a little sub par to me. ukelele man can kiss my ass and the midnighters were quite the surprise to me, as were the bygones. happy was great, as always and tony monaco is my hero. so, all and all, my picks for this week-end were:
rancid yak butter tea party
wigglepussy, indiana
gil mantera's party dream
flypaper
tony monaco
the bygones
i do wish i could'e seen tuml, miranda sound, cheater slicks, the vague, starving goliath, the big creak, utterspace, pretty mighty mighty and the jive turkeys. but as you know, drugs and alcohol make you unaware of time. happy comfest to all and i can't wait until next year.

Yeah, I missed quite a few bands because I was lying on a blanket questioning reality and attemping to stay still. I thought Miranda Sound kicked arse!

Best comfest yet for me.

Saturday:
I saw 84 Nash
Townsmen
Gil Mantera
Jive Turkeys

Sunday:
the Randys
Postal
leah carla Gordone
marcy Mays
Midnighters
Bygones


I'd say Gil Mantera is great. Perfect Comfest show. Not my bag in real life- but I would never miss a Comfest performance. Townsmen were great. Steven wood (Postal, The Bygones) was incredible. The hero of Comfest. The Jive Turkeys, the Bygones, Townsmen. the Midnighters and The Randys are simply great bands.

The Randys did their thing as always and made everyone happy. I particularly loved the Randys fly swatters.

Everything smells and tastes like Rolling Rock. My nervous system is a mess. I can't sleep. I never get up this early.

A lot of you all skipped work on Friday afternoon to come see us or other bands. I love you people. The soundguy wasn't feeling us, but we had a lot of fun. Thanks for making us feel so special.

Comfest was fantastic. Pretty Mighty Mighty ripped my heart out. I somehow forgot how good all of their songs are. They were fantastic.

Friday:
Templeton sounded great. The Woosley Band's guitar player destroyed his Rickenbacker after a low-key set. What the poop was that all about? Tim Easton sounded good from afar, but I couldn't get close enough. TUML were funky and crazy, very tight. I missed Starving Goliath by twenty or so minutes. I suck. I was a mess in the grass by the time RYBTP hit the stage. I really suck. I really wanted to see them.

Saturday:
PMM stole the show. They don't need fireworks or fuzzy animal costumes or spaceships. Even without Noel they kicked my ass all over the tent. Jesus, Salthorse sounded great too. I need to buy their cd's. I accidentally stumbled into the jazz tent and caught some of Maggie Green's set. She was SULTRY. I'll leave it at that. I'm stupid.

Sunday:
The Fallow Valley Sinners, the Midnighters and the Randy's were all perfect. Sweet corn, more Rolling Rock, great company and smooth, happy, country rock. Happy C was the perfect finale. Actually, that funnel cake was the perfect finale.

What a great weekend: So many friends, so many great bands, so many great people volunteering. Every city needs a Comfest.

- billy, miranda sound

Oh man, what a great weekend. Had a lot of fun just chilling, people/dog-watching, running into people I haven't seen in quite a while, dressing up in a spacesuit & playing the Bozo stage, and of course seeing lots & lots of bands. Highlights included:

Friday: I didn't really see much of anyone on Friday, as I was busy loading equipment & putting up fences & other fun stuff during my volunteer shift in the afternoon & then spent the rest of the day doing last minute preparations for our stupid stage antics. The bands I did see, I saw from behind the main stage, so I can't really say much about them one way or another.

Saturday: Wigglepussy was as good as I expected (though I've seen them before, it was when we were sharing the stage with them at MadLab, so it was kind of nice to actually view the show from the front). The gazebo provided kind of an odd venue for them though, as it was somewhat disconcerting to see kids dancing in front of the stage during their set. Next up was Gil Mantera, and.. I have to say, I don't think they're really my thing. I've seen them 3 or 4 times, and it seems to me that after you've seen them once, you've seen all there is to see. Stuck around the gazebo to catch the Jive Turkeys finishing off the night, though I wasn't totally paying attention to them as it was late & I was dead tired.

Sunday: At my girlfriend's request, I checked out the Hoodoo Soul Band on the Main Stage & while they're definitely good at what they do, I didn't dig them all that much. I think I have a bit of an anti-cover band bias, so that probably affected my perceptions of them a bit. Wandered around a bit more, then headed over to the Jazz Stage (really, the grass outside of the Jazz Stage since the stage itself was packed to capacity) & listened to the always-wonderful sounds of Tony Monaco.

So.. yeah. That's my Comfest '03 experience. Thanks to ample free tokens (this is why you should volunteer, kids) & a house within walking distance of Goodale, I spent no money & didn't need to move my car for the entire 3 days. How can you go wrong with that?

Comfest. What a beautiful fucking event. The fact that this festival can continue on the backbone of volunteerism is, in itself, remarkable. And the overall vibe of friendship and freedom makes a dude think that there might be a tiny bit of hope for humanity after all. It's a big red reset button. Reboot.

This was the first year that I was a part of things. In the past, Comfest meant 3 days of intoxicated carefree bliss to me. This year, I spent much of the time either lugging shit around or focusing on our little 45 minute opportunity to entertain. And to be honest, I feel much more satisfied this year...or maybe affected is a better word to describe how I feel.

Tearing down the live arts stage last night with other volunteers really put shit into perspective for me. Yeah, we all got splinters and bruises and it took almost 5 hours and it generally sucked, but we had a good time. It was pretty cool striking up a conversation with a stranger while carrying a big fuckin' hunk of lumber or fighting a stripped screw...just accomplishing something together in general. It all made me think of the big picture: thousands and thousands of people have a great time at Comfest every year...all because a few folks donate their time and effort to make it happen. I'm not trying to get all sentimental up in here but, when I got back to the park after unloading the stage, I felt pretty fucking proud to have contributed. Walking around looking at peoples' faces and seeing the contentment in their eyes, I couldn't help but feel good about being a part of the group that did our little part to help the whole thing along. Yup...and the beer tasted that much better.

Sorry to ramble on...I'm just seeing Comfest in a brighter light this year.

OK...highlights for me were: The ever-entertaining Rancid Yak Butter Tea Party. I was right up front, drunk as hell and bumping into everyone like I was in a pinball machine. Yeah. The Yak brings the thunder...and that makes me smile. I didn't see too much on Saturday, cuz I was checking out all the booths and trying not to be nervous for our set. Spent some quality time at the Jazz Tent, though. Yesterday, early on, Gravy brought some good ol' drinkin' music. They always have so much fun on stage...it's infectious. The Randy's sounded great. And last night, I got whooped on by the Tony Monaco Trio. That shit was pretty badass.

So there it goes...it went by too fast again, but my aching body and cloudy head indicate that I had myself a great time. Hope you all did, too.

Oh yeah, and a big shout-out to the sunshine-filled sky.

Wonderful weekend all around. I just moved back to Cols. this year after living away for more than a decade and Comfest has really blossomed into something special. It always was, but this year just seemed extra special, I guess.

My faves:
(I hung out at the Gazebo most of the weekend. My favorite tree is there.)
RICKI C (Poplar Stage)-
Ricki is a friend and he has a great rock and roll spirit. He ended his set by walking around the tent singing London's Burning on his acoustic guitar while extolling the virtues of Joe Strummer. Great set.
BUCKTOWN KICKBACK (Gazebo)-
Some excellent afternoon beer drinking twang. I want to see these guys again. Soon.
GIL'S PARTY DREAM (Gazebo)-
These guys hurt me, they were so damn hilarious. Made me smile for quite awhile.
THE FAVORS (Poplar)-
Sort of a Cramps rip-off musically and visually, but loads of energy and a good time. And Ginger, the dancer left of the singer... uh... wow.
MARCY MAYS (Gazebo)-
A low-key set that brought back some good memories.
HAPPY C (Gazebo)-
The perfect set to end a great weekend.
WATCHING MY KIDS PLAY WITH NEW FRIENDS RELENTLESSLY-
My 5 year old son asked me, "Do they have this every weekend?"