This past Saturday's FYF Fest in downtown's Los Angeles State Historic
Park marks a turning point for the homegrown DIY festival founded by
Sean Carlson and essentially put together by friends.

Instead of the multiple venue format in Echo Park, the sixth annual
installment of what was formerly called the F Yeah Fest moved outside
where hipsters of all make and model could wander between the three stages
of punk, metal and indie rock music.

 "It's awesome and huge and totally chaotic," Ben Kramer, one of the
festival producers, said while rushing from the front gate to a meeting
at the far stage. "It crushes all the others."

Organizers expected 7,500-10,000 people to show up. Still, FYF retained
its intimate atmosphere. It didn't take much effort to get right up to the
front of the stage, and while the lines for food and water were long,
there wasn't much of a wait for the port-a-potties.

The Crystal Antlers' singer/bassist Jonny Bell sounded great,
even while growling through his shaggy hair. Unfortunately for the Long
Beach sextet, there were still tons of people in line waiting to get
in. (Yes, one of the main hiccups of getting bigger: more people. The
entrance line was ridiculously long and snaked back several blocks.)

San Diego's Wavves (AKA Nathan Williams, along with drummer Zach Hill)
sounded equally good with a late afternoon set that included
"California Goths," "To The Dregs," "So Bored" and "No Hope Kids," each
punctuated with Williams' mesmerizing Animal Collective-esque vocals.

As the sun went down, the music got heavier when punk band F* Up and
metal group Torche played, then it was time for the sketch comedy team
of Tim (Heidecker) & Eric (Wareheim), best known from the show "Tim
and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" on Adult Swim. Dressed in costumes
that were something like Jethro Tull meets the Brady Bunch, the duo's
musical comedy wasn't nearly as funny as Tenacious D, but their stage
antics were worth watching.

Closing out the main stage was Atlanta "flower-punk" band the Black
Lips, who are incredibly proud of their reputation for rowdy concerts.
In fact, guitarist/singer Ian Brown couldn't even wait for the Black
Lips to play before getting in some mischief. He jumped on stage while
No Age was finishing its set, threw beers out into the crowd, screamed
into multiple microphones and generally caused a two-minute ruckus; not
that No Age seemed to mind.

Although a little dusty and with only one drinking fountain to refill
your $3 bottle of water, the park is a nice fit for a festival like
this. There wasn't any sound bleed from the other stages and the
cityscape at dusk is a beautiful site.

However, as is the problem with all festivals that use this
kind of multiple stage set-up -- you're going to have to make choices
when it comes to which band you really, really want to see. So, the
indie-avant act I was the most bummed to have to cut short was the
pairing of two of Brooklyn's finest underground bands: hip-hop group
Ninjasonik and low-fi duo Japanther. Luckily, they play together often
so I'm hopeful I'll get another chance to check them out.

Trumping Brooklyn, though, was Portland's The Thermals. Maybe it's
seeing lead singer Hutch Harris' veins pop out of his neck or hearing
the lyrics a little differently, but this is a band whose music always
takes on a deeper, more biting edge when seen and hear live.

The band performed a steady set of songs off all its albums including
"Here's Your Future," "Our Trip," "How We Know," "We Were Sick," "It's
Trivia," an explosive "Pillar of Salt" and "Now We Can See."

And right before launching into a sing-a-long "No Culture Icons,"
Harris quipped to the crowd: "We gotta go soon 'cause your governor just
sold this park."

A main focus of this year's FYF was to raise awareness of the financial
problems facing California's state parks. At least 100 parks are in
jeopardy of closing because of the state's budget crisis.

"We care about the parks. It's serious to us," said FYF's Kramer, who
lives three blocks from Los Angeles State Historic Park and would be
crushed to see it close.

Sean Woods, superintendent of the Los Angeles sector of the state's
Department of Parks and Recreation, admits he didn't immediately see
the park as a proper venue for FYF. He now thinks there are lessons to
be learned from FYF, such as using social networking as a promotional
and advocacy tool.

"More than money," said Woods, "this is reaching out to a demographic that might not be a parks user."