Across the country, there are music festivals that offer different types of music for the tastes of different people. There’s Lollapalooza in Chicago, the Governors Ball in New York City, and Coachella in California. St. Louis, however, has its own music festival, one that many St. Louis residents haven’t heard about–Loufest.

Located in Forest Park, Loufest is a two day music festival that draws people and bands from across the country, and also the world. Little Barrie, a rock band hailing from London, performed this year, bringing along their own humor when the rain started pouring on the first day, August 25.

“Is it safe to play electrical instruments in the rain?” the lead singer, Barrie Cadogan, asked over the microphone. Several audience members responded that the Loufest website said rain or shine. After the next song, Cadogan announced cheekily: “This rain makes us less homesick–the world could use a little bit more rain, America.”

It rained off-and-on during the festival, which took place on Saturday and Sunday, the 25th and 26th of August.

Junior Griffin Reed, a second year attendee of Loufest, found the rain to be something a bit like Woodstock. “It rained like it was the end of days and yet the music went on,” she said. “The crowds waited it out without a grumble–in fact, a couple of kids I knew took a slide in the mud!”

Muddy as it may have been, that didn’t stop the show. Reed stayed for the show, for her favorite act of the weekend: the Flaming Lips. The Flaming Lips, a rock band from Oklahoma, are apparently impossible to explain in words. However, Reed gave it a shot:

“The Flaming Lips are basically what would happen if a giant hippie robot vomited psychedelic dream splatters all over the place” Reed said. “They had everything: back-up dancers dressed as fairies, wandering people dressed as rabbits and gorillas distributing hugs, and Wayne Coyne in a hamster ball.”

The party never ended, even though rain was pouring and the sky was darkening. 18 hours of music spread over two days is something exciting, especially when it’s so close by in Forest Park.

“Loufest is a great event for CHS students from all walks of life and musical interest groups,” Reed finished. “It’s nearby, just over at Forest Park, and very reasonably priced considering the quantity and quality of the bands who play there.”