Because a four-day, “walkable” music festival just isn’t enough.
What’s the question?
The question is this: Why would 35 Denton, that scrappy team of DIY art and music enthusiasts, stage a big bash in one of the hottest months of the year?
35 Denton could have planned the Hot Wet Mess — the Sept. 1 all-day music bash (with Super Soakers, water balloons and water slide, probably) — to give fans of the spring music fest a hair of the dog that bit them, to keep the organization on our collectiveradar or, perhaps, as a counterpoint to the North Texas State Fair and Rodeo, the country and Western bonanza that precedes it.
Regardless of the reasons, 35 Denton has booked an impressive slate of acts to whip the college demographic into a lather.
Reggie Watts, comedian, human beatbox and rhyme master, returns to Denton to make music on the spot with his loop recorder pedal. Her Royal Highness of Bounce, Big Freedia, also returns to Denton to get thousands of booties quaking to her infectious and powerful bounce music.
The Black Lips, a rowdy Atlanta quartet, brings its racket to Denton for anyone who needs to let out his or her wired, adolescent rioter for a set. (Seriously. Got a hankering to break something or spray paint a public wall? Put on your steel-toed boots and head to the fairgrounds and let your inner demon child howl at the moon — even though you’ll be blinded by the Texas summer sun when you do it.)
The one-time Denton duo Fergus & Geronimo will make noise at the Hot Wet Mess, too, along with Portland’s Mortal Orchestra and Los Angeles duo No Age. Special guests are Denton’s RTB2 and DJ Sober.
— Lucinda Breeding
THE HOT WET MESS
• What: All-day concert presented with the Black Lips, No Age, Reggie Watts, Big Freedia, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Fergus & Geronimo, DJ Sober and RTB2
• When: Sept. 1. Doors open at 1 p.m., and the music starts at 3 p.m.
• Where: North Texas State Fairgrounds, 2217 N. Carroll Blvd.
• Details: Advance tickets cost $15 plus $1.75 surcharge. For tickets and more information, visit http://thehotwetmess.com .
