This Weekend's Top Stop: HFStival

WHEN LOCAL ALT-ROCK station 99.1-FM WHFS turned into Hispanic dance station WLZL in January 2005, it seemed like a sound business choice: WHFS' ratings had been slipping for years, D.C. has a large Spanish-speaking population and Latino music genres like reggaeton had broken through to MTV. While HFS may have failed in D.C., it thrived in Baltimore -- and has resurfaced on Charm City's dial as 105.7-FM, an alt-rock/talk hybrid. It's because of the station's success in B'more that the HFStival is still alive.

The first HFStival was held July 4, 1990. It was a modest affair featuring a whole slew of "Where are they now?" artists like Neal Coty and a few "Who the hell?" bands like Jay Bone and the Hackensack Misfits of Soul. But the festival hit its stride by 1994, its second year at RFK Stadium, juggling two stages and featuring the Counting Crows as headliners.

The more things change, the more they stay the same: The Crows are headlining the second day of this year's event, joined by Dashboard Confessional, Coheed and Cambria, the Strokes and a bunch of bands you won't remember in 10 years. The first day has much more of a hip-hop bent, held down by Kanye West, at right, Cypress Hill, Matisyahu and Atmosphere. Sadly, there's no Daddy Yankee or Pitbull.

» Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, Md.; Sat. and Sun., $45, $100; full lineup at 1057freefm.com; 800-551-SEAT or 410-715-5550.

» MORE TOP STOPS for this weekend can be found here.

This post was written by Christopher Porter
Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images