I write this while I eat the last of what’s left of my Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, with a raging headache and operating on only 12 hours of sleep for the past 4 nights. This past weekend was the end to one of my favorite seasons, Summer. In honor of this, Phoenix hosted it’s second annual Summer Ends Music Festival, which ran 4 days this year: Thursday through Sunday. I only bought a daily pass for Thursday with Cold War Kids, Brandon Flowers (the lead singer of The Killers), and Hozier.
This was my second year attending Summer Ends, and it grew tremendously in size to say the least. I made a last minute decision to skip my only class on Thursday, frankly because it was 105 degrees and I was too hot to walk to the opposite side of campus. I met up with my friend Nick before the festival doors opened at 3, and waited an hour and a half for the doors to open at 4:30. We were one of the first people there, so we got an awesome spot in the shade while everyone else stood out under the sun in the sweltering heat. Once the gates opened, it was every man for themselves as people shoved each other out of the way and sprinted to the barricade. In the midst of all the commotion, I lost my favorite necklace, a chakra balancing crystal, which I bought only a few months ago in a market in the heart of Mexico City. Because of this I was a little bummed, but Nick and I had made it to the front of the barricade so it was worth it. The sets were amazing, and I was singing along at the top of my lungs and dancing nonstop. Brandon Flowers put on probably the best set, (I had already seen the great Hozier at Coachella so I wasn’t as excited) and he played a couple Killer’s songs that the crowd went crazy over. I experienced “Mr. Brightside” performed live, and with the entire crowd singing along and absolutely loosing their cool, it was the highlight of my life. By the end of the night I was starving, covered in sweat and tears, and was absolutely exhausted. Nick and I were planning to go to IHOP when I got a call from our friend asking me to drive with her to Flagstaff (a town that’s a little over 2 hours away) to pick up our best friend from Northern Arizona University for the weekend. Of course I said yes, and after dropping Nick off (he has a curfew), Sarah and I were on a road trip by midnight. The drive was nice, and we listened to some killer party jams and talked the entire way. We got there at about 2:30 AM, and our friend, Brianne, was more than happy to see the both of us. We then stopped at Denny’s (which is in my opinion not as good as IHOP but we had to make do) but we had some delicious nachos, sriracha burger, and hash browns, and started our trip back home at around 3:30 in the morning. We made it back into Phoenix at 6 AM, and I had an 8:30 class so I went back to my dorm to shower and get ready.
Nick & I at Summer Ends//photo by Phoenix New Times
Cold War Kids at Summer Ends
Brandon Flowers at Summer Ends
Me, Sarah, & Brianne at Denny’s
Out of focus photo from the backseat
It’s safe to say that I tried to go to bed pretty early on Friday after I finished up with all of my classes for the day, but couldn’t sleep because my roommate had a lot of people over. Saturday morning I woke up and did all of my homework, and that night I went and had dinner with Brianne at Phoenix Public Market, one of my favorite restaurants in Central Phoenix. After that we grabbed a coffee at Lux Central, and once there we got a call from a friend that they wanted to go to a frat party at ASU and meet up with Sarah, so we reluctantly agreed mostly because we wanted to make sure everyone would get home safely. Surprisingly enough they let us in the party, with me rocking some pretty clutch, vintage mom jeans and felt completely out of place surrounded by blonds in high heels and mini skirts. We left pretty quickly, and went to spend the night at Nick’s with a few other friends. We watched “The Adventures of Sharkboy & Lavagirl” whose special effects, acting, and cinematography thoroughly offended me, and we fell asleep at around 4 AM after I played a little round of karaoke by myself. I dropped Brianne off at her house at 10 in the morning on Sunday, and that night I ended the weekend with another concert. Nick had gotten us tickets to see The Lighthouse and The Whaler, so we spent the night listening to some phenomenal music with a not-so-phenomenal opening local band, and went our separate ways after trying to catch a glimpse of the blood moon, but sadly we missed it.
The Lighthouse and The Whaler at The Rebel Lounge in Phoenix
It’s a bitter sweet ending, but was by far the best way I could’ve possibly concluded my summer, and I’m so happy I got to share it with people I love. Thanks for reading about my adventure; I hope your last weekend of Summer was just as swell as mine. Happy Autumn xx
P.s. Sorry for the crap quality of my photos, I was having too much fun to snap some real gems!
-Steph
Freckhled 