The number of summer music festivals has greatly increased in the past few years with the introduction of Coachella, Rothbury and Lollapalooza, but for people who can’t make it to any of those, Athens’ own form of Woodstock, Five Fest, is tomorrow.
“I graduated from OU, so I know this is something OU students would want,” said Five Fest’s creator, Dominic Petrozzi. “It is definitely a free-spirited event, so everyone should enjoy the surroundings; no one needs to worry about a safe environment because we are working in conjunction with the (Athens County Sheriff’s Department).”
The department will provide six officers from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. and nine officers plus four on horseback from 4 p.m. until midnight, said Chief Deputy David Malawista. Their pay will be $40 per hour for officers on foot and $12.50 per hour for those on horseback, he added.
Petrozzi and a friend started One Fest, the first fest in the series, during his senior year at OU. The friends organized the event after realizing there was not another spring concert festival.
“We had done some block parties in the past, but with a huge festival we had no clue what we were doing; we just ran with it,” Petrozzi said.
Although 4,500 people attended One Fest, Petrozzi did not anticipate it becoming an annual event.
“Since we were seniors we thought that was going to be the only one, and then the next year came and we just kept going with it and had Two Fest,” Petrozzi said.
Now living in Columbus, Petrozzi owns a combination clothing boutique-and-record studio called Industry Standard, where the products have an emphasis on hip-hop.
Petrozzi has booked a lot of acts with a hip-hop influence but he said he makes sure to book a variety of music, such as DJs spinning reggae and Top 40 tunes, so that all festival-goers will be satisfied.
This year’s acts also include The One-Eyed Show, Downplay, F.A.M. Fresh Entertainment, Jesty Beatz, B. Yonest and others. In all, 11 acts will play Saturday.
After fans voted, one band with the most votes won a spot on the bill; the winner was Columbus’ Apocalypse Inc., a band of DJs with a hybrid sound of guitar-driven funk and hip-hop.
“I hate hip-hop nowadays; I think its gimmicky and cliché,” said DJ Colin Garchar. “Being a hip-hop artist, it is kind of hard to make music and not fall into that category, but we try to stay original,” he said, adding that his influences include The Beatles, Marvin Gaye, John Coltrane and ‘90s hip-hop artists like Big Daddy Kane, old Wu-Tang Clan and De La Soul.
Garchar said that he makes most of the beats with other members of the group, Mayh3m! and DJ Cheese. The band is recording an album to be released at the end of the year and will be performing with Aesop Rock in August.
— Ryan Dunn contributed to this report
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