Why You’ll Love ID10T Festival

Bay Area/California/Festivals/United States

…assuming they’ll do it again next year. If you didn’t hear about this year’s inaugural ID10T Festival, it was a music and comedy festival, plus a comic-con all wrapped into two jam-packed days at Silicon Valley’s Shoreline Amphitheater this past weekend. Headliners included Weezer, Girl Talk, Demetri Martin, and Nikki Glaser. The diverse event was created and hosted by Chris Hardwick, who most know from Talking Dead, the Nerdist Podcast, and most recently, Talking with Chris Hardwick (the guy does a lot). Despite being a first time event, ID10T Fest exceeded my expectations and I absolutely hope that this is not the last.

Why I loved ID10T Fest (and why I think you will too):

The diversity! Hands down, this was what hit the event out of the park for me. I am not aware of another festival that so evenly combines music, comedy, and nerddom. It warmed my heart to be harmoniously surrounded by so many different walks of life at one event. You could be head bobbing with rock fans in one moment and be taking pictures with colorful cosplayers 5 minutes later. The same can be said for the diversity of the acts there – I never thought I’d see Nathan Fillion cracking jokes at the same event that I’d sing along with OK GO. Oh, did I mention there was Power Rangers laser tag? Yeah, that’s a thing.

The space! Unlike other festivals where you often endure the trek of the length of a few football fields, every stage was convenient to one another. This made it so easy to get from one show to the next.

The weather! You couldn’t ask for better festival weather – there was no threat of a sunburn and I also wasn’t freezing once the sun went down.

The lack of crowd! This may not bother everyone, and it’s certainly unavoidable at large-scale festivals, but I’ve become increasingly impatient with crowds as I age. However, the ID10T Fest crowd was not overwhelming. Getting in and out was pretty breezy, and the food and drink lines weren’t relatively bad! The one crowding issue we did encounter was the immense line to get into the comedy tent. We waited 45 minutes before being let in to catch Demetri Martin. They apparently didn’t anticipate such a huge demand for the comedy shows, which Chris Hardwick later addressed.

ID10T Festival in Photos: