Betcha didn't see this one coming: Austin's annual late-year concert extravaganza, Fun Fun Fun Fest, just revealed the lineup for this year's edition, and the headliners will be none other than everyone's favorite metalhead leatherboys, Judas Priest. That's right, of "Breaking the Law" fame. The same guys, in fact, who just released a music video earlier this afternoon for a new single, "March of the Damned."
It's not an entirely unprecedented move for the festival. Fellow metal legends Slayer have appeared on the bill twice in years past, including as recently as 2013. Priest's appearance will be an historic one, too: believe it or not, the Brits haven't played in Austin for 25 years.
If Rob Halford and the boys aren't exactly your cup of tea, there's plenty more to get excited about. The lineup makes for particularly interesting comparison alongside Austin City Limits Fest, which was revealed last month and will likely vie for the interests of North Texas concertgoers looking to make an autumn trek down to the state capitol.
Among the other bands at the top of the bill is Neutral Milk Hotel, who played Dallas just last winter but would probably just as soon forget about that whole episode. There are also indie balladeers like Death Cab for Cutie and Alt-J, rappers including Nas and Wiz Khalifa, Girl Talk, and sporadic reunitees Death from Above 1979.
All in all, like ACL and many other festivals these days, there are plenty of throwback names on the Fun Fun Fun bill, including Dinosaur Jr. and Guided by Voices, who should be able to break up several times still before November rolls around. If it's an either/or proposition between the two Austin events, it could boil down to such hilarious considerations as Neutral Milk vs. the Replacements, Eminem vs. Nas, or Judas Priest vs. Outkast. (Okay, bad example.) Then again, who says you can't do both?
Tickets for Fun Fun Fun Fest go on sale tomorrow morning, Tuesday, May 20, at 10 a.m. over at funfunfunfest.com. Check out the full lineup on the next page.
FUN FUN FUN FEST 2014 MUSIC LINEUP:
ORANGE STAGE Death Cab for Cutie, Neutral Milk Hotel, Alt-J, The New Pornographers, Dinosaur Jr., First Aid Kit, Guided By Voices, City and Colour, Yo La Tengo, Failure, Dum Dum Girls, Foxygen, Courtney Barnett, Sun Kil Moon, Yann Tiersen, Majical Cloudz, San Fermin, Angel Olsen, Tinariwen, J Mascis, Mineral, King Tuff, Knapsack, Chelsea Wolfe, Reputante, Spider Bags, Julianna Barwick, Wildcat! Wildcat!, Scott H Biram, The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, Nostalghia, This Will Destroy You, Dana Falconberry, The Sour Notes, Good Fields
BLUE STAGE Nas (Illmatic 20th anniversary), Wiz Khalifa, Girl Talk, 2 Chainz, Atmosphere, Flying Lotus, Sky Ferreira, The Presets, Gary Numan, Cashmere Cat, Ginuwine, Z-Trip, Run The Jewels (El-P/Killer Mike), Lunice, Yelle, Ryan Hemsworth, The Internet, SOHN, SZA, Thundercat, Mas Ysa, Say Lou Lou, Gardens and Villa, Roosevelt, ASTR, Jacuzzi, Cities Aviv, Zorch, Blue, The Misfit., The Digital Wild
BLACK STAGE Judas Priest, King Diamond, Death From Above 1979, Rocket From The Crypt, Death Grips, Gorilla Biscuits, Blood Brothers, Amon Amarth, Black Lips, Hot Water Music, Iceage, Sick of It All (blood sweat/scratch the surface anniversary set), Deafheaven, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, METZ, Pissed Jeans, Glassjaw, Pallbearer, The Bots, Iron Reagan, Pianos Become Teeth, Fat White Family, Radkey, Twin Peaks, Crooked Bangs, Communion, Breakout
YELLOW STAGE (comedy) To be announced July 1st, 2014
ACTION SPORTS To be announced in August 2014
