Since fall of 2010, local and devoted St. Louis music lovers and beyond have attended Loufest; a music festival in Forest Park. This year Sept. 12-13th  with tickets ranging from $60-$95 for general admission, Loufest is a moderately inexpensive and affordable music festival compared to festivals such as Coachella for $400 or Lollapalooza for $275. With 30 plus bands performing across four unique stages, Loufest possesses a wide variety of music genres: rap, alternative, folk, blues, etc., making it easy for anyone attending to find something they would enjoy at this festival. Headlining for 2015 was Hozier, with the hit single “Take Me to Church” on Saturday, and The Avett Brothers on Sunday. But I was looking forward to some of the lesser-known performers such as Pokey Lafarge, Milo Greene, Knox Hamilton, and Blue October.

Pokey Lafarge is a local St. Louisan with a jazz, ragtime, western swing, blues-like feel to his music. His most recent album Something in the Water, released in April of 2015, has had incredible

reviews and his other albums have had good reviews as well. His fun-loving spirit while preforming is contagious and gets everyone up on your feet to dance, even if you aren’t the dancing type or just genuinely cannot dance. Starting off the show at the Bud Light stage with an immense crowd, Pokey blew away the audience starting with his hit song, Something in the Water, with his incredible group of musicians. 20 minutes after the performance, Pokey did meet and greets at the Euclid Records tent. He was overwhelmingly kind and thoughtful. Such a genuinely nice musician who hasn’t lost his homeliness.

Milo Greene is an incredible group made up of 5 different people with incredible harmonic capabilities. “Autumn Tree”, from their 2010 album, is a very captivating song leaving you with chills. They have many albums on soundcloud as well as spotify. In my opinion, Milo Greene blew all of the other bands out of the water. I can not express how incredible they were. While I was not only front row, I was able to meet them as well. You could see how grateful they are for their fans and how excited they were to meet us.

I was looking forward to seeing the well known rapper, Ludacris. With many hit singles such as “How Low” and “Rest of my Life”, he was given high expectations. Known as a crowd pleaser and adding a different kind of atmosphere for the festival, Ludacris got the whole crowd up and moving. Chanting lyrics and dancing along, all 25,000 people watching him had a great time: even the children with earmuffs on.

Playing just a few hours before The Avett Brothers, was the one and only: Billy Idol. This 59-year-old from England has made quite the impact on music with 3 nominations The Grammys and many hits such as “Rebel Yell” and “Dancing with Myself”. He came into the punk movement with a band known as Generation-X. Not even expecting to be close, I somehow ended up front and center and with a drumstick. His performance blew everyone away. Young and old, people piled up in front of the Bud Light stage. Idol killed it with White Wedding second to last. He was definitely a show stopper.

Music isn’t the only thing that Loufest has to offer participants. There is also food from restaurants all over the Lou which is what they call the “Nosh Pit”. Mission Taco Joint, Dewey’s, and Strange Donuts were all be featured at The Fest along with many other restaurants: well known and unknown. Let me tell you, you could never go wrong with a delicious ooey gooey butter cake donut or maple bacon from Strange Donuts each for only $3.

Loufest is an incredible experience filled with music, food, and much much more. Whether you are there to sit back and relax or dive right into your favorite bands, like myself, Loufest could be the time of your life.