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What a wonderful festival it was. I think it’s always sort of shocking to new comers to hear how outstanding the Freeway student musicians are, performing earlier in the day as people start to flow in. It’s easy to see that many of these musicians are on their way to bigger musical projects. It caught me, watching students cover a band like The Front Bottoms, who just a couple of years ago were playing for 15 people just a couple of miles away behind El Burrito in 5 Points. Now they’re of course drawing thousands and playing bigger clubs in towns all across the world. That gap isn’t really that far and I think it’s important, especially for teenagers, to realize that. It takes a lot of hard work, and at a young age, but you don’t have to wait to chase your dream. Youth is the lifeblood of a music scene. They’re the ones going to shows. They’re the ones setting the pace, and the taste, and overall vibe, but it’s often not until after the fact that they realize that they have that control. Watching the student bands bleed over into the SceneSC stage of bands like Human Resources, She Returns from War, Beach Tiger and more, it’s these bands who are only a couple of years older, just years removed from grade school or just out of college, chasing that same music dream. It’s good to see them team up and chase that together and it’s what we at SceneSC love to cover and help along.

Photos by David Stringer and Brandon Coley