USD takes on summer festivals

Toreros make the most of summer while attending festivals across California

Summertime is ripe with music festivals, and University of San Diego students made sure to take advantage of that by attending festivals across California. Popular events included festivals such as FYF Fest, Hard Summer, and Outside Lands. 

FYF Fest, a three-day weekend festival, is held at Exposition Park in Los Angeles in late July. Exposition Park is a public park located in South Los Angeles, near the University of Southern California campus. Headliners for the festival included Missy Elliott, Frank Ocean, and Nine Inch Nails. The festival has run annually since 2004. Senior Will Knopka attended the festival and shared which performances he experienced.  

“My main priority was seeing Frank Ocean,” Knopka said. “While waiting to see Frank I got to see MGMT and A Tribe Called Quest. They were alright, but nothing compared to Frank. His voice was incredible live, and he played most of his album “Blonde,” as well as his recent singles. He also brought out Brad Pitt. It was definitely one of the best performances I’ve been to.”

Another popular festival for Toreros was Hard Summer Festival which was held at Glen Helen Amphitheater and Regional Park in San Bernardino. The festival, which ran in August, featured artists such as DJ Snake, Rae Sremmurd, and Migos. 

Senior Tiffany Tran went, and explained her perspective. “It’s not your stereotypical rave, it’s not as crazy as Electric Daisy Carnival, for example,” Tran said. “People go just for the music, and they always have a really good lineup. They had huge headliners like DJ Snake, but I really liked seeing two lesser-known artists, DJ Malaa and Tchami. It’s been at a different venue each year, but the Glen Helen Amphitheater definitely worked out.” 

Junior Michael Gomez also shared similar sentiments toward Hard Summer. 

“Listening to artists like Snoop Dogg, Rae Sremmurd, and DJ Snake live was awesome,” Gomez said. “The audience was so energetic and fun to be around.”

Outside Lands, a three-day festival held in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, was also popular among USD students this summer. Tiffany Tran also attended Outside Lands and enjoyed her experience.

“The venue was crazy; it feels like you’re hiking through the woods the entire time,” Tran said. “There was a lot of indie music this year, with EDM music at night. I saw Cage The Elephant, and I loved them. They’re known for their super lively performances, their singer was running all across the stage with his shirt off, and it was very retro.”

Tran also enjoyed how the festival ended early. “You didn’t feel like you had to keep on pushing yourself to your limit. It was really an outdoorsy experience, you felt like you were going to summer camp, to be honest. Everybody was wearing really fun clothes and there was a lot of fashion. You definitely had to dress appropriately with the cold weather, and everybody was on trend.”

Senior Keegan Mulcahy also enjoyed the performances at Outside Lands. 

“It’s in Golden Gate Park, which is cool,” Mulcahy said. “I saw Louis the Child and he was definitely one of my favorites. The Who was great to see live as well. What separated it from other festivals for me is that it’s not that big, and you can walk from each stage pretty quickly, and they had a lot of good food options, as well as art.”

This summer proved to be a fun one for Toreros attending festivals across California, and the trend is sure to continue as the KAABOO and EDC  festivals approach. 

Anderson Haigler | Arts & Culture Editor | The USD Vista