5. Slayer
Turning around from photographing Slayer and seeing a dude in a wheelchair crowd surfing all the way up to the stage was easily a festival high point. This was hands down one of the most epic things I've ever witnessed at any fest or concert in my entire life. I was in awe of A.) This guy and B.) The jubilant metalheads smiling ear to ear as they passed him forward while violently headbanging to the positively lethal "Die By The Sword." Never did I think I'd get such feels from a heavy metal show. Also, I want to go on the record as saying that if I ever go deaf, my hearing loss can be traced back to this fateful Slayer set. 4. Nik Turner's Hawkwind Riding that King Khan high, I schlepped my fun (fun fun) ravaged self over to Red7 to see if I could catch a just-added Killer Mike FFF Nites performance. Turns out, I'm not good at paying attention to detail and the show, meant to make up for a disastrous daytime performance by the rapper that had been cut short due to sound issues, had taken place at 10. It was now 10:45. Womp. Luckily, as is often the case at music festivals, this was a happy bit of scheduling confusion kismet. Taking the stage were Austin hardcore gems, Wet Lungs, who just about blew the speakers off the walls and shook the beer right out of my can. Great as they were, though, the real score here was Nik Turner's Hawkwind. Seeing this 73-year-old legend clad in glitter facepaint scream-singing his space punk tunes into a mic with a saxophone strapped around his neck as his backing band ripped on their guitars at crazy high decibel levels was honestly inspiring. He's 73, you guys. What a magical badass this guy is. If you're curious, you can head over to the Ten Eleven tonight and see them for yourself.San Antonio Current works for you, and your support is essential.
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