Newark Airport, Terminal C, Gate 126. Waiting for the flight.

As I will, I got to the airport early. But even by my standards, exceptionally so. To wit, 4PM for an 8PM flight. I would call that early.

Freak Valley Festival 2025 is the destination, and while I’ll confess that I had my weeks all wrong for June and thought until last week that the return call to FVF was happening next week, at least I know that in the end I got here in plenty of time for the flight I’m supposed to be on. There are thunderstorms in the forecast. The sun’s out now, but I’ll be here long enough for the weather pattern to shift.

The reasons for getting here early were likewise complex and mundane. The Patient Mrs. had a meeting. The kid is in a hates-being-in-the-car mode, so this (somewhat) avoided us getting yelled at in the car on the way to drop me off. Today’s her first day of summer. She spent most of it building a rube goldberg machine, continuing her current interest in engineering. She watches James Bruton and Mark Rober on YouTube, and this week I made the unfortunate error of introducing her to Battlebots, which of course she’s on board with because it’s fighting robots shooting fire at each other and she’s seven and very much into that kind of thing.

I’m glad school’s over though. I don’t remember who, but I definitely told somebody at the school yesterday I felt like I’d just finished first grade, and her being done means I won’t miss her last days (her class had half-days till Friday; we made the last full day her last day yesterday) for being gone. Further to the interest of honesty, I’m heading to Freak Valley 2025 with redemption in mind. This is my fourth time traveling to Netphen, near the small city of Siegen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, if that helps. I have been every year since 2022, and the reason I’m calling it a comeback was the headspace I was in last year was so off. My mother had had knee surgery the day I flew out. I left from the hospital after they wheeled her to the back to go get on the plane. It was weird, and it felt not-great to be leaving my family at a time when maybe I might be able to help them out in some way after that surgery.

I had a great time at Freak Valley last year, and I have the coverage to prove it, but as in-the-moment as I might’ve been, I was also distracted, and again, off. I don’t have another word for it.

This year, I feel like I’m carrying less figurative baggage — to be sure, I brought like eight shirts and 75 chargers; I’m not short on the literal kind — and will accordingly be all the more able to be present while I can. Because the thing I know about Freak Valley after being there four times is that the moments I’m about to experience over the next four days are precious and fleeting, and my time in the Valley comes but once a year. The weather’s supposed to be killer the next few days, and I know when I get there I’ll see friends old and new and I’ll even finally get to catch Bill fronting Bushfire this year on the small stage on Saturday, and that’ll be my blowout. Tomorrow I’ll see My Sleeping Karma for the first time after 20 years of being a fan. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous for it. Goes like that sometimes.

So the whole mission — the only mission — is to enjoy myself this weekend, to find restoration in the music while I obliterate myself writing and taking pictures as much as I possibly can. I may or may not be the most uptight dude at Freak Valley, but everybody there is very kind and patient with me. I’ve been looking forward to getting back, and the plan is to take in as much as I can, to internalize all those mellow vibes that will be pervading the AWO grounds in the bright German sunshine that always seems to hold on just until the headliner goes on. Of course the writing is part of the experience for me, and I don’t know that I even could just stand there at this point and not start putting together sentences in my head — nor will I try to; I love the work even if I look like a jerk on my phone all the time — but it’s the whole experience I’m there for, from dousing my head with water in the AWO building to traipsing around the back walking path from one side of the field to the other for whatever reason. Freak Valley excels at having places for you to go and just be. I look forward to being in one of them.

But I probably shouldn’t get ahead of myself. First is boarding, which is still two hours off, and then the flight. But the process has started, and being at Freak Valley 2025 is that much more real in my mind for that.

Thanks in advance if you keep up reading at all over the next few days heading into the weekend. I have premieres slated tomorrow and Friday because, well, remember that part about having the wrong week? Well I wasn’t kidding. Those will happen as well as the fest coverage into and over the weekend. I forgot to bring a hat and may have to buy one as a result, but even so, my expectations are high. I did remember sunglasses. And, you know, underwear and toothpaste and all that stuff.

Tags: Freak Valley 2025, Freak Valley 2025 Coverage, Freak Valley Festival, Germany, Netphen

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2025 at 5:23 pm and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.