Alt-rock icons and their fans descended on Nationals Park in D.C. on Saturday, marking the return of the HFStival after 13 years.
The festival, started in 1990 by local rock station WHFS, has been held at numerous concert venues around the D.C. region, including D.C.’s RFK Stadium, M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore and Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. Back then, it was one of the biggest music festivals on the East Coast, featuring big names like the Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane’s Addiction.
It is the first time Nats Park has hosted the event, and organizers expect 29,000 concertgoers.
For many rock fans, HFStival’s return was highly anticipated. A large number of Millennials turned out, reminiscing on their times at the festival back in high school. Some folks came to the park sporting old HFStival T-shirts, and even T-shirts from WHFS, which went off the air in 2008.
Mike Rosen of Falls Church, Virginia, told WTOP he returned because he was nostalgic about the event and the music.
Many of Saturday’s concertgoers shared memories of previous festivals. KC of Alexandria recalled breaking his back at the show in 1997 at the age of 14.
“I was crowd surfing, and they dropped me,” KC said.
Another unusual story came from John Wirono of Germantown, who told WTOP that he got backstage access in the past because his friends were performing.
“I walked into Billy Idol’s dressing room one time when he was in a little bit of a situation I shouldn’t have walked in on,” Wirono said.
Tom Turner of Annapolis remembers “selling beers to old guys in traffic” on their way to RFK Stadium back in 2004.
Rock bands like Lit (“My Own Worst Enemy”), Filter (“Take A Picture”) and Tonic (“If You Could Only See”) opened the show, playing under the sunny, blue D.C. sky. Those were nicer conditions for festivalgoer Lee Van Voorhis than the 1992 festival.
“We remember going to the Prince George’s Equestrian Center — how muddy and dirty it was, but how great the music was on different stages,” said Van Voorhis.
Crowds were scarce when Lit, Filter and Tonic took the stage in early afternoon, but as the day wore on, crowds began to grow for Jimmy Eat World, Liz Phair, Bush and Incubus.
The music promised to bang on into the night, capping the evening with Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service.
See photos from HFStival below.
