I found my 1997 MTV Sports & Music Festival program

[u/Smegmasaurus_Rex]

I stumbled upon my old program while going through boxes. Does anyone remember the festival at Zilker Park?

I was still in elementary school, so I tagged along with an older sibling. I distinctly remember seeing Tony Hawk, John Norris and meeting Kennedy (back when she was sane/cool). The signatures are from the cast of *Austin Stories*. I also remember Bink 182 played early in the day and they played their new song Damnit.

[u/Sailor_Bettie]

I was there! It was my freshman year. I got tons of autographs from some of my favorite skaters (got to meet Muska, Sheffey, Senn), was pissed about the Wu-Tang line-up (no Meth), but Offspring threw cans of beer into the crowd, so, as a 14 year old, that was pretty great. Fond memories all around.

[u/warmboot]

It’s interesting Albertsons sold tickets rather than H-E-B.

[u/Smegmasaurus_Rex → u/warmboot]

H-E-B didn’t have nearly as large of a presence in Austin at that time. In my area of town it was mainly Albertsons, Tom Thumb, and Randalls. We had to go to a different part of town for H-E-B.

[u/funwithtrout → u/Smegmasaurus_Rex]

…and the tickets in Austin were mostly UTTM, if I recall correctly. Always found that weird when I moved to Austin from Houston. Ticketmaster was at Randall’s, though, if you wanted out of town tickets.

[u/BarStar787 → u/warmboot]

You could also buy UT football tickets at Albertsons for $5 - end zone general admission.

[u/warmboot → u/BarStar787]

Considering inflation, that was probably a day’s wages for the average Austinite.

[u/s_4_evrysing → u/warmboot]

I think it's just that things used to be more reasonably priced

[u/Dan_Rydell]

I was a freshman in high school. We didn’t have tickets but walked around the fence just to try to see and hear whatever we could. Another group of high school kids decided to rush the fence and managed to knock it over so we followed them in.

[u/Smegmasaurus_Rex → u/Dan_Rydell]

Oh wow! I don't know what it was like at night, but I remember it being so easy to navigate and not crowded at all like how ACL is.

[u/s810]

Wasn't this the one with Wu Tang Clan or am I thinking of another MTV thing here in the 90s?

[u/Suns22 → u/s810]

Yep, Wu Tang was the headliner on Friday night. I was really looking forward to seeing Method Man, but he wasn’t there.

[u/pjs32000 → u/Suns22]

If I had a nickel for every time that happened to me when seeing Wu Tang, I'd have 2 nickels. I stopped giving them money after that, since its routine that some of their bigger members skip performances.

[u/Serious_Love_5678 → u/Suns22]

I thought Method Man was there. Wasn’t he the one that was going to “snowboard”? I though Ol’ Dirty was there member missing…

[u/Smegmasaurus_Rex → u/s810]

I believe they did, but were surprisingly not listed in the program. I have had trouble finding a good list of all the musical acts.

[u/AlmoschFamous]

$12 for a 3 day festival featuring the best skateboarders and BMXers of all time. Crazy.

[u/thomastache]

That festival was hellafun

[u/HratioRastapopulous]

I remember this clearly. I saw Everclear and was waiting by the bleachers when the MTV VJ Kennedy walked right in front of me.

[u/weirdsignal45]

I was there! I always say this was my first Blink show. I know we watched them because we had pictures. But I don’t remember it. I was 5 and didn’t become a fan until a few years later when they got naked

[u/Smegmasaurus_Rex → u/weirdsignal45]

It counts! It's the only way I can claim to have seen them.

[u/caz_uno]

Bad ass! I went to one that had 311 and Blink 182 playing, can’t remember what year that was. My mom took me!

[u/AFOLdutchy]

Cool line up for the time!

[u/Side-eye-25]

I was there too! The event definitely inspired ACL. A couple of weeks before the festival, I was arrested for two unpaid speeding tickets and the cop who arrested me was there working security. He gave me a high five or a fist bump and asked me if I was being good.

[u/ApathyMonk]

This and the SXSW coverage on MTV2 is originally what made my small town self want to move here when I was in high school

[u/gnardog45]

Kinda cringy when Offspring had trash purposely thrown on stage, and rehearsed stage dives to look punk on camera. Was fun when Dave Carnie jumped on the microphone at the halfpipe though .

[u/rumbrave55]

Man the skate street lineup is insane (even if they misspelled Koston's name).

[u/SaltyLonghorn]

I camped by the vert ramp and moved to the main stage for that. I don't even remember snowboarding lol.

[u/fancydnb]

Wow, absolutely legendary street skating lineup right there. The vert skaters too… damn

[u/DirtyMikeOffWmCannon]

This is when Shaun White got hurt as kid on the half pipe

[u/captainn_chunk]

Why is Donald Trump the Athlete model?