And so it was that on Free Press Summer Fest’s glorious fifth year as Houston’s largest and most musically diverse music festival, with acts ranging from the godfather of punk, Iggy Pop and The Stooges to southern rap pioneers Geto Boys, sold the fuck out. That’s right. Everyone in Houston finally caught on to the little project started by Houston’s only locally owned alternative newspaper and came in fluorescent-clad, flower-headgeared, beer-swilling droves to show some love to the big name dudes who scarcely frequent our deep-in-the-south city, not to mention the local little guys and everything they’ve contributed to make Houston the live music capitol of Houston.

Hit the jump for the full festival recap below the jump. We’ll have a full photo gallery/slide show for you tomorrow.

– grizzly

Cruising into the biggest Free Press Summer Festival we’ve yet to see, and seriously, if we keep expanding at this rate we’ll be cuddling up next to Austin in another five years, I had just missed the elusive Jandek, who I guess will continue to stay elusive to me, but arrived in time for the end of our buddies’ The Niceguys set, as well as the rip-roaring, life affirming chants of Japandroids. Not used to our swamp-ass climate, the Vancouver, DC duo sweated out to the oldies and the newies in the form of their two album’s catchiest songs. On the other side of the park, Interpol’s Paul Banks lonely howl was serving a completely different slice of rock pie.

The long-awaited Geto Boys reunion set came half-cocked as Bushwick Bill was a no-show, an absence reportedly attributed to a pot bust. Alabama Shakes on the other hand, braved some serious mid-day heat and got the whole of the festival to sing along with their breakout single “Hold On,” as on a smaller, yet somehow more packed stage, trap rapper and all-around fun guy 2 Chainz commanded a stellar performance, with more white kids singing lyrics from his major label debut Based on a T.R.U. Story than I’d care to acknowledge exist.

Alex Turner, heavily-accented frontman of Sheffield, England’s Arctic Monkeys surprised most lady festival goers by being the first dude to strip their clothes away during his set. Okay, it may have only been a moderate loosening of a button or two, but damn it, if those girls didn’t squeal at the tease. Those same tweens stuck it out to watch Passion Pit’s set, which had the sprightly Michael Angelakos running around the stage, beaming with excitement, leading sing-a-longs to songs like “I’ll Be Alright” and the set-closing “Little Secrets.”

Closing out the first day’s festivities were two highly anticipated acts, one a reunion, and one that long-overdue, Or maybe it’s vice-versa. Iggy Pop and The Stooges were all old-school punk throttle with the leathery frontman in schizophrenic attack mode, swinging his mic recklessly and acting out the lyrics to his songs including shooting up (with the mic and mic cord, of course) and crucifying himself. The Postal Service were a tamer, more nostalgic affair, though one ripe with emotive chemistry between reunited stage buddies and former-flames Ben Gibbard and Jenny Lewis. Sparks flew as the two back and forth’d “Nothing Better” and even hashed out a cover of Beat Happening’s “Our Secret.” Like the kiddos know who that even is.

Day Two started with morning thunderstorms giving a much-needed reprieve from the battering rays of the hot Texas sun, though it did leave a muddy mess all over the goddamn place. All the better to sludge it up with Baroness who played to an early crowd thirsting for hook-laden heavy metal. Elsewhere, Dawes were playing Southern Comfort, albeit from a Los Angeles perspective. The band’s rootsy rock proved perfectly-suited to the tastes of Free Press Festival-goers, who sang along to every word Taylor Goldsmith sang.

Gospel music’s Mavis Staples, with her warm and raspy voice, boasted the most feel-good set of the day, and even included a nod to our city’s Mayor, Annise Parker, whom she called “something good, something strong, something powerful!” Cat Power’s Chan Marshall was quite obviously not in the mood to perform music, limping onto stage and dealing with technical difficulties early on in her set. The heightened anxiety was eventually calmed, as Marshall’s smokey vocals came through and gave way to a breezy set that was appreciated by the main stage attendees.

Whereas The Bronx’s exhibitionist hardcore punk riled up their crowd (“This next song is for the best band on the bill — it goes out to us.”) into a messy circle pit of testosterone, Matt and Kim’s feel good vibes and cheeseball dance song interludes demolished all sense of rules as the 16-year-olds of the fest climbed atop stage rigging, parked vehicles, and each other, to play along with the duo. Matt himself said that “No lie, and please don’t think I say this every night, THIS is the best show of 2013 we’ve played.” I believe it.

The sincerity and plaintiveness of Icelandic chamber army Of Monsters and Men ruled the day as the band, hot on the heels of two stunning singles, packed the festival’s main stage to capacity and then some. Soon after, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis commanded an extremely large crowd, and at one point, had a coyote fur coat crowdsurfed up to the stage for the “Thrift Shop” performance, and eventually had it crowdsurfed back to its owner. Following in Of Monsters and Men’s grand, acoustic-wake on the Mars Stage were TV on the Radio, who turned it up to 11 and gave a much needed shot in the arm to the exhausted festival attendees. I feel it’s important to note that singer Tunde Abedimpe shaved off his beard, much like Kyp Malone did away with the bushel of afro that framed his face, and looked like a complete stranger to me. I won’t even lie – I thought the band had a fill-in for the first couple songs.

“Gogol Bordello” must translate into “Looney Tunes” in gypsy-speak because the band were all cartoon as they warmed up the crowd for the evening’s last set by the iconic punk band, Social Distortion. Mike Ness inquired as to who had work the following Monday, to which he replied “Fuck that. Enjoy yourself a 3-day weekend.” If only, Mike Ness. God knows I could use a breather and a milk bath for my sunburns to recover from the most successful Free Press Summer Fest to date.

Thanks for the good times, Houston. And even more thanks to the Free Press staff for setting up something all of us Houstonians can look forward to each year. We’ll see you at the next Free Press Summer Fest in 2014.