HFStival shakes up Nationals Park, returns to capital after more than a decade

Alternative rock icons and their fans gathered at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, marking the return of the HFStival festival after 13 years.

The festival was started in 1990 by local rock station WHFS, and has been held at numerous concert venues throughout the D.C. area, including RFK Stadium in D.C., M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, and Meriwether Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. At the time, it was one of the largest music festivals on the East Coast, featuring big names like the Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Jane's Addiction.

This is the first time Nats Park has hosted the event, and organisers expect 29,000 people to attend.

For many rock fans, the return of HFStival was highly anticipated. A large number of millennials attended, reminiscing about their high school days at the festival. Some people came to the park wearing old HFStival shirts, and even WHFS shirts, which went off the air in 2008.

Mike Rosen of Falls Church, Virginia, told WTOP he came back because he was nostalgic for the event and the music.

Several attendees at Saturday's event shared memories of past festivals. KC from Alexandria recalled breaking his back during a concert in 1997 when he was 14 years old.

“I was surfing, and they dropped me,” KC said.

Another unusual story came from John Werono of Germantown, who told WTOP he's had backstage access in the past because his friends were performing.

“I went into Billy Idol's dressing room one time when he was in a situation I shouldn't have been in,” Werono said.

Tom Turner of Annapolis remembers “selling beer to old people in traffic” on their way to RFK Stadium in 2004.

Rock bands like Lit (“My Own Worst Enemy”), Filter (“Take A Picture”) and Tonic (“If You Could Only See”) opened the show, playing under sunny blue DC skies. Those were better conditions for festival attendee Lee Van Voorhis than the 1992 festival.

“We remember going to the Prince George Equestrian Center — how muddy and dirty it was, but how great the music was on different stages,” Van Voorhis said.

The crowds were small when Lit, Filter and Tonic took the stage in the early afternoon, but as the day progressed, the crowds began to grow for Jimmy Eat World, Liz Phair, Bush and Incubus.

The music promised to continue to roar throughout the night, with Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service closing out the evening.

See photos from HFStival below.