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Downtown Las Vegas’ second annual Best Friends Forever Festival has come and gone. But the mayhem and memories we shared will live on.
Over the weekend, fans of ’90s and early aughts emo bared witness to numerous significantly cool moments: The rapturous reunification of indie rock’s Rilo Kiley, starring Las Vegas-born lead Jenny Lewis; the farewell gig of seminal Houston band Mineral; the crowd-surfing, scaffold-scaling madness of These Arms Are Snakes (you had to be there); post-hardcore emo greats Cursive performing two critically acclaimed albums—Domestica and The Ugly Organ—in the same weekend (joined also by Lewis); and a 30th anniversary show with the slow-burning sad core outfit Pedro the Lion.
Seemingly nothing could rain on this parade, except monsoon levels of actual rain. The band Narrow Head was forced to forfeit its set on Friday afternoon after thunderous clouds and lightning rolled in. Fans who weren’t already sporting ponchos sought shelter under a tent as the rain raged on for two hours, delaying the original set times. But the elements failed to put a damper on our weekend. Here are some of our other favorite festival moments.
Bear vs. Shark (Friday, BFF Stage)
Before the storm on Friday, Bear vs. Shark brought a man-made cyclone to the stage. Deploying a cannon of post-hardcore riffs from its 2005 album, Terrorhawk, vocalist Marc Paffi performed with the energy of a lead half his age—clawing his way into the crowd like a mad man and sprinting from one side of the stage to the other for “5, 6 Kids.” The band upped the ante on “Baraga Embankment,” which prompted the trombonist to drop down into the audience to blast out notes, while Paffi hammered away on the keys. It was refreshing to see instruments like that being used in such a hardcore setting. And Cursive later revived that trend with its headbanging cellist. –Amber Sampson
Oakwood (Saturday, Third Street Stage)
Oakwood concluded its tour on Saturday with a sensational set, crammed with bangers from its 2013 self-titled EP and 2015’s Summer. The Austin trio played with little restraint, delivering lively riffage on catalog favorites like “Pokémon Master” but paring the energy down for “Hope Is a Dangerous Thing.” “I’m gonna lose my voice on this set for sure,” the lead vocalist warned, before wailing through the emotive chorus of “Space Jam Theme Song.” The crowd later broke into applause for “Footnote,” Oakwood’s first new track in 10 years. But it was “I’m Still Cheering for the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team” that left the audience panting in approval—one fan even snuck up onstage to dance before security put an end to the spectacle. –AS
Hey Mercedes (Saturday, Third Street Stage)
After performing with Braid at last year’s fest, singer and guitarist Bob Nanna returned with pop-punk project Hey Mercedes for one of the most upbeat sets of the weekend. A charming intro from The Goonies preceded a marathon of melodies, beginning with “Quality Revenge at Last” and “Frowning of a Lifetime,” two highlights from 2001’s Everynight Fire Works. Hey Mercedes played tight and at lightning tempos, inciting more than a few crowd-surfs in the audience. The evolution in both sound and content can be traced back to Nanna, whose work in Braid brimmed with sadness, while Hey Mercedes adopts bright chords and catchy hooks. During “Eleven to Your Seven,” Nanna extended the mic out to the audience, reveling in the way the crowd recited the chorus verbatim. With Braid and Hey Mercedes checked off the list, which band would he return with next? Perhaps Orwell? A girl can dream. –AS
Texas Is the Reason (Saturday, BFF Stage)
Texas Is the Reason hit the main stage like a ghost from your favorite CD, the kind you made when everything mattered, and nothing made sense. Since my teen years, the band’s lone studio album Do You Know Who You Are? has returned in waves, sometimes as a life raft, sometimes as a surprising reminder of a more mentally confusing time. Named after a Misfits lyric and a JFK assassination conspiracy, this New York post-hardcore band has spent the last three decades flitting in and out of the scene’s collective memory. But when Garrett Klahn brushed up to the mic and said they still think of these 30-year-old songs as “new,” you believed him. Because that’s how it sounded—still fresh, still captivating. They didn’t move like men with day jobs and kids and knees that pop in the morning. The set operated on pure muscle memory. Every jagged drum fill, every fuzzed-out guitar line hit, every vocal screech was observed and truly felt by the crowd. “The theme in a lot of these songs is about going home,” Klahn said, and by the time they closed with “Back and to the Left,” that’s exactly where we were. Not in the past, but in a place we’d nearly forgotten we could still recognize. –Gabriela Rodriguez
Tigers Jaw (Saturday, BFF Stage; Fremont Country Club after show)
No surprises here. Tigers Jaw’s afternoon set delivered exactly what it promised: a tightly wound dose of emotionally literate anthems that still know how to hit like a basement show. The Pennsylvania outfit, a cornerstone of the 2010s emo revival, proved once again that it hasn't lost its touch when it comes to stirring up a pit of flailing limbs and earnest singalongs. Crowd surfers floated, while stoic head-nodders held down the periphery with arms crossed in quiet approval. It was everything you'd want at 3 p.m. on day two. But the real magic unfolded hours later in the much darker, much grimier confines of Fremont Country Club. Following local openers Crumbcatcher and Twin Cities, Tigers Jaw performed just after midnight and somehow felt even more alive than they had in the daylight. “I just got a big ol’ second wind of energy,” Ben Walsh announced mid-set, and the crowd matched it beat for beat. The late-night mood turned reverent as fans shouted back every word of “The Sun.” That moment lingered long after the show, a fitting end to the night, or beginning of the early morning, depending on how you look at it. –GR
Empire Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) (Sunday, Third Street Stage)
Out of all the heart-wrenching sets that graced the two festival stages over the weekend, this might have hit the hardest. The band, founded by husband-and-wife duo Keith and Cathy Latinen, also known as Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate), have been riding the wave since their outstandingly memorable album, What It Takes to Move Forward, released in 2008. In between tracks from the aforementioned project and a slew of songs from various releases between 2008 to 2014, Keith took a lighthearted approach while talking to his midday crowd. “We’re very excited to be here for this battle of the bands,” he said. “Please vote for us for best band at Best Friends Forever Fest.” This was the comedic relief we needed before the band broke into “I Was Somewhere Cold, Dark … and Lonely” a harrowing song about a near death experience. –GR
Marietta (Sunday, Third Street Stage)
Now for a fun one. Marietta, a youthful emo/pop punk project that formed in 2011, found its footing in melodic build ups, catchy riffage and choir-level choruses. Songs from its debut album, Summer Death (2013), like “... So They Left Me at a Gas Station” and “Cinco De Mayo Sh** Show,” underscored divisive emotions among the band and bruised pleas to not be forgotten. This garnered huge reactions from the youngsters in the audience. It was a conveyor belt of crowd-surfers and non-stop dancing in the pit throughout Marietta’s set. “Yeah Yeah Utah,” arguably the band’s best song, was a performance highlight. It gripped the crowd in such a communal singalong, even casual fans were desperate to join in on. –GR
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