Houston...There is no problem...

This weekend Grayson & I took a trip to Houston for the Free Press Summer Festival, this SOLDOUT music festival nestled in Downtown Houston's Eleanor Tinsley Park with 87 bands playing on 6 stages pretty much constantly over 2 days.

To say this was a concert is the understatement of the century. It was 10x the size of Rocklahoma from the weekend before.

We started the weekend off on Friday after work. I met Grayson at her loft and dropped off my car and we road tripped it down to Houston that night, arriving around 1a.m. to our hotel the Houston Marriott Downtown. We slept in until around 10, and got up and ate some lunch. Braving the Houston downtown traffic was a nightmare for two small town Oklahoma girls. We pretty much white knuckled our way a few miles down the road. We saw a cute little tattoo shop downtown and decided to go and have a look before we went to the festival, seeing as the first band we were really wanting to see wasn't until 5ish. We walked in and they told us they could tattoo us both for $20. We couldn't turn that down.

They mostly just wanted to flirt, and he wouldn't even take my tip. We promised next time we were in town we'd go by and see him. ;)
We valeted the car back at our hotel (everything is valet in fancy schmancy Houston) and walked the 8 blocks to the festival that day.

We moved across all 6 stages, and saw: Alabama Shakes, Arctic Monkeys, 2 Chainz, Passion Pit, and ended the night with Calvin Harris.

Day 2 started with me jumping on Grayson's bed to wake her up around 10. I was hoping to get in a little Houston culture other than the festival (ie The Space Center -cause I'm a science dork) but Gray was really dragging. I don't blame her, we'd already braved the whole afternoon in the 95° weather yesterday. Finally got her up and around and we checked out at noon. She wasn't really into the whole science geekery, but I managed to talk her into the aquarium, which was only a few blocks away. We had lunch at the restaurant there, and talked her into the shark tour.

Then walked back to the festival and saw some really great bands:
Mavis Staples, Cat Power (one of my faves), Of Monsters and Men, Macklemore, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (THE BEST), Social Distortion, and Bassnectar.

Have to say getting to see Cat Power was really awesome. Apparently she's had a rough year, usually cancels or doesn't show up to gigs. She looked cracked out on something, mumbling in between songs and almost crying at one point, but the way she sang was amazing. And I hate to say it, but I wouldn't be surprised if she passed soon, and I feel privileged to have seen her. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals were the best of the whole weekend. She was energetic and amazing. They covered Black Sabbath's War Pigs, and the crowd was so into it, the energy was a literal buzzing. We drove back that night after Bassnectar's rave, and made it back to Pryor at 5 a.m. on Monday morning, jamming out in the car the whole way to keep each other awake. Poor Grayson had to work, but I took the day off, and spent it napping by the apt pool, reading, and had a late lunch with JEN.

Who's going with me next year?