Event: The Fest 23 (Oct 24-26, 2025)
Jacksonville
Gainesville is just a little too far for me to drive to. On paper it’s about an hour and a half, but based on my previous travels, it’s probably closer to two hours for me to make the long drive. I did look into The Fest, it looks like an SXSE or CMJ style of music festival. That means there are numerous venues and about a million bands playing. I’m not sure how Gainesville is laid out, but part of what makes SXSW works is that all the venues are on the same two or three blocks. When I was covering NXNE (in Toronto) what sucked is that some bands were playing so far that I had to take the bus to see them… and that’s no fun.