Firefly Festival located at the Dover International Speedway in Dover, DE has been one of the biggest festivals in the Mid-Atlantic. This year’s festival featured four very well known artists as the headliners,which included Eminem, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys and Kendrick Lamar. Not only did the headlining acts draw in a massive crowd, so did the acts that were listed under the headlining artists such as Alt-J, MGMT, LOGIC (reppin’ the 301), SZA, Lil Wayne, Vance Joy and many many more!
Arctic Monkeys
Flint Eastwood
Vance Joy
Four days of nothing but pure bliss. Whether you’re camping, “glamping” staying at a hotel etc, fans lived in the moment each day. No one felt judged, no one felt out of place. This festival felt like a safe zone because of the positive energy that was created by fans who came together enjoy the music and the culture at Firefly. The attendance for Firefly Festival 2018 was counted between 60,000 to 75,000 music fans. The fans couldn’t have asked for the weather to be more perfect than it already was.
Ever since Firefly first came about, the lineups were filled with an insane amount of talent. This year, the lineup was at its best (aside from last years of course, that was the best one yet in my opinion). All of the headliners, including all of the other artists on this year’s headliners no doubt seemed to be having the time of their lives performing on their set stages. From Foster The People drawing in a massive crowd on Friday night to Eminem praising fans in attendance for being “the biggest festival crowd he has ever seen” during his hour and half long performance on Saturday night. The best of the performances was being able to see Arctic Monkeys perform live, since they haven’t played a live show in quite some time.
Foster The People
Jimmy Eat World
Royal Blood
Not only is Firefly just about the “headliners” its about branching out to smaller artists and broadening horizons and letting new music into your life. Surprisingly, there were so many ways to attract and pull fans in to experiencing newer artists, for example, Martin Johnson of The Night Game (out of all seriousness, many fans only knew him from Boys Like Girls, which is ashamed because his project is absolutely out of this world), who we got to work with personally. That is the kind of thing I like most about festivals, being able to work with artists that are up and coming. Firefly offers a more intimate setting such as the Bud Light Dive Bar Sessions, where fans and artists can interact and bond over the love of music. The Night Game, Flint Eastwood and Harry Hudson are among the few artists who got to play at the dive bar. That was the best stage to be honest.
Portraits with The Night Game
Harry Hudson
As for the last night of the festival, Sunday was more of a laid back day for fans at Firefly. The lineup for that day consisted of the return of SZA, who just recently had some sort of vocal trouble as well as Rapper Kendrick Lamar who closed out the night on the main stage right before EDM duo Odeza kept the non stop party going on the Backyard stage to close out a fantastic weekend at Firefly!!