Our annual roundup from Gainesville, FL's famous Fest.
Fest recaps are tough. It’s a 4-day* event with over 400 bands. By my spotty count, I saw at least 42 bands and 7 comedians and I’m sure those numbers aren’t accurate. I had some holes in my daily schedules that I wandered about town, ate foods, met up with friends, or just forgot what new bands I checked out. I missed a good dozen more I would have liked to have caught live but—what can you do?—a guy’s gotta eat and sleep. Beyond the massive scope of the event, it’s also more about “the scene” than it’s about spotlights. Sure, big names and big draws played, but there isn’t a Winner of Fest, as much as there’s an ongoing twelve-venue party where each band has Tony Weinbender’s stamp of approval. Fest 12 was my seventh in a row and I doubt I’ve seen a bad band yet. Night Birds playing at Fest 9, 10/29/2010 – photo by Nicole C. Kibert on Flickr. Fest 12 was marked by an expansion to 4 days*. The expansion was fairly organic, as unofficial shows have been hitting Gainesville on Thursday night for years in advance of Fest and out of towners like to arrive early. The changes this caused were twofold. First, at a day longer, there was a stronger sense that people in the audience were wearing out. On Saturday night, crowds were a bit calmer: four days of raging takes its toll. Second, the extra time allowed a greater distribution of … Read more
Fest 12 is Scene Point Blank’s seventh time in Gainesville. In that time we’ve talked to more bands than we care to list (but they’ve included Dillinger Four, Paint It … Read more
We post a variety of features in recurring series – click below to browse them.
A regular series by Robert F.
A wide-ranging guest column written by BJ from Ancient Shores, mainly covering film but extending into philosophy and aesthetics too. Check out BJ's work on the A389 podcast.
How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Scene Point Blank looks at how musicians split their time, and how their careers influence their music.
Guest column by T of Vegas
A cookery column by Nick, vocalist with metal band The Famine. Veggie/vegan friendly!
A roundup of coverage of the annual punk rock festival held in Gainesville, Florida
Our annual roundup from Gainesville, FL's famous Fest.
SPB's coverage of the annual festival in Gainesville, Florida.
Our coverage of the annual Fest extravaganza.
Our coverage of the 19th edition of the Fest – an independent multi-day, multiple-venue music festival held annually in Gainesville, Florida.
All our coverage from the long-running music festival
Articles about the Fest 21
Our coverage of the 22nd edition of the FEST.
We dive into the back catalog of a record label and ask them to nominate their most memorable releases from their label's history–with a few suggestions of our own.
An interview format where we ask a band to rate and review a bunch of music
A radio DJ profile series created by Christopher D & Matt Hutchison.
There’s so much music released, whether physically or digitally, that keeping up with what’s going on becomes almost like a full time job. With Only Death Is Real, the aim is to bring you something new.
A life lived and lessons learned by Eddie Spaghetti of Supersuckers.
Welcome to Running on Nothing, the latest addition to our stable of columns at Scene Point Blank. Running on Nothing offers a look at the world through the eyes of Kole, bassist of The Lippies, guitarist of The Bloody Lips, and gigposter artist.
We survey some of the other music releases out there. Results may vary...may get weird, but hopefully something covered here piques your interest.
A semi-regular column where we choose a specific area and give a local scene report.
Discussing the state of the music business at the kitchen table
A brief but englightening chat with an artist who reveals an interesting or unexpected story from their career
A collection of items grouped by topic, eg. "Top 5 Worst Beatles Songs" or "Top 10 best '77 punk releases".
One-question interviews with artists where we find out about the gear and equipment they use to achieve their sound.
A collection of coverage rounding up the year 2012, covering our favorite albums, shows, bands, and more, as well as asking record labels and bands about their past twelve months in music
It's the end of 2013, so here's our best-of roundup for the last twelve months.
Our annual round-up of the best music of the year 2014.
Our annual round-up of the best music of the year 2015.
Our annual round-up of the best music of the year 2016.
Our annual round-up of the best music of the year 2017.
Our summary of the best music (and more) of 2018.
Our wrap-up of the best music and more from 2019
Our wrap-up of the best music and more for the year we'll all want to otherwise forget, 2020.
Our roundup of the best music from the worst year (since the previous one, anyway).
Our favorite music and more from the year 2022
Our roundup of the best music of the year 2023
Looking for the SPB logo? You can download it in a range of styles and colours here: