Characters are welcome at FreeFest

“Let Free Ring” is the motto once again for Virgin Mobile’s FreeFest and hangs from all three of Merriweather Post Pavilion’s stages.

Virgin Mobile’s annual FreeFest concert this year proved to be another success, bringing out people from all over – even a man with an Australian flag.

Keaton Pavier, a senior engineering major, brought a piece of home with him to FreeFest and waived it high. He brought an Australian flag attached to a pole with holiday lights also attached. Security took away his pole but that didn’t stop him from finding a big enough branch to attach it too.

“Being ‘that guy’ was pretty fun” Pavier said. “Considering that we live on the east coast, and not in a busy place like NYC, there were more Australians there than I expected. Seeing someone from home on this coast is pretty rare.”

Waving his flag in the chaos of the Dance Forest, as Virgin Mobile calls one of its stages, Pavier naturally attracted people to him.

The Dance Forest itself was a hit. Artists like Porter Robinson & Zedd, NERVO and Thomas Gold were among the notable performances. Virgin Mobile’s lineup for the Dance Forest especially seemed to be capitalizing on the growing electronic dance music, known as “EDM,” scene. Pavier commented that a lot of his generation is starting to enjoy this type of music.

“My favorite artist was definitely the NERVO twins, who also reign from Australia,” Pavier said. “Their set was just pure energy the entire time.”

But not all the excitement took place at the Dance Forest. Sung-Min Kim, a junior journalism major, spent most of his time enjoying the performances at the West Stage.

“I’m talking about bands like Future Islands, The Dismemberment Plan, Portugal the Man,” Kim said. “From what I’ve heard, this was a solid lineup compared to other years.”

For a veteran in the music festival scene, Kim thought the turnout for FreeFest was “much more massive than expected.” He had been to Pitchfork in Chicago before, but because most other music festivals focus on one type of music, only a certain crowd comes out. With FreeFest, the artist and music selection is eclectic to say the least.

“It was one of the biggest crowds of people I have ever seen,” Kim said.

FreeFest ended another year with headliner Skrillex, a dub-step DJ. He ended the night with fist-pumping, head-banging energy. Even Pavier, who’s not a huge fan of the artist, stuck around to watch the show.

“His stage and performance was undeniably awesome,” Pavier said.

With another year done, FreeFest regulars are already looking forward to the announcement of the lineup for next year’s festival.