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Had a great time this year and saw a lot of great sets. As I said before premier camping makes the experience that much better getting in a day early, no traffic, and ended up with a less than 5 minute walk to the entrance. The weather was perfect though I would have preferred at least a little rain to help settle the dust.
Improvements from 2013: Portapotties were ridiculously clean for a festival. The new main stage area was great.
Top sets- I thought all of the Headliners were great- Foo, Jack Johnson, and Outkast all are in my top 10. My surprise set of the weekend was definitely Grouplove. Just an unbelievably fun set. Caught the Griswolds on the Big Break Stage and they were pretty good and I can see them definitely getting bigger over the next year. Weezer, Lumineers, Amos Lee, Arctic Monkeys, Big Gigantic and Beck were all great too.
Overall i personally just love the vibe of the fest. Sure there are a lot of kids there just to party but i'm not going to stereotype an entire crowd of girls in mom jean shorts and dudes in tank tops as a specific type of person because every person I encountered was friendly and I didn't see one fight or security incident the whole weekend. Security/police remained visible however let people have fun. Last year there were 0 arrests and I'm curious to see if they were able to do the same this year. The logistics/communication side can definitely still be improved but the important part is they are definitely taking fan feedback into account each year to get better. I'd still like to see them diversify the lineup a bit more. As an east coast resident its great to have something like this close by that doesnt require a double digit hour ride to Tennessee.
I get that. I just have more respect for people than to rely on stereotypes.
I was there this weekend and as general as his statement may be, it isn't too far off.
I think the biggest problem with Firefly is that it's way too close to New Jersey.
Whoa whoa whoa whoa. As someone who has made it a goal to separate the Jersey Stigma with certain parts of jersey, i would like to throw in that it is the side closer to New York, that brings this crowd. Talk about stereotyping.....
I was there this weekend and as general as his statement may be, it isn't too far off.
I think the biggest problem with Firefly is that it's way too close to New Jersey.
Whoa whoa whoa whoa. As someone who has made it a goal to separate the Jersey Stigma with certain parts of jersey, i would like to throw in that it is the side closer to New York, that brings this crowd. Talk about stereotyping.....
I always felt like it was the central Jersey/ Manalapan area
Whoa whoa whoa whoa. As someone who has made it a goal to separate the Jersey Stigma with certain parts of jersey, i would like to throw in that it is the side closer to New York, that brings this crowd. Talk about stereotyping.....
I always felt like it was the central Jersey/ Manalapan area
You are correct, but i am from South Jersey, we don't believe there are 3 parts... just two North and South.
I always felt like it was the central Jersey/ Manalapan area
You are correct, but i am from South Jersey, we don't believe there are 3 parts... just two North and South.
Another South Jerseyan here, and I believe in Central Jersey.
And in all honesty I do think FF's proximity to NJ (and NYC/Philly) contributes a great deal to the crowds. I'll be the first to admit that NJerseyans as a whole aren't the classiest bunch.
As a person from North Jersey I would like to apologize for the trash I grew up around that ruined the vibe of this festival. Luckily we can all agree the performances were on point.
1. Foo Fighters 2. Outkast 3. Pretty Lights 4. Big Gigantic 5. Grouplove (I didnt enjoy their set at all at Roo, but here I caught them twice and both times they were amazing) 6. Childish Gambino (surprisingly!) 7. Cherub (really chill dance party and it wasn't too crowded. Pretty great for Sunday) 8. Beck 9. Cage The Elephant 10. Weezer (that blur cover was pretty epic.. the dust storms kind of brought this one down though)
Last Edit: Jun 24, 2014 12:29:01 GMT -5 by Deleted - Back to Top
I was about to bitch that Firefly got "Generator" and "Big Me", but then I remembered when I saw the Foos, I got "Stacked Actors", "Breakout" and covers of "In the Flesh?" and "Breakdown"
Post by Farrisbueller on Jun 24, 2014 12:28:18 GMT -5
Well after 2014 Roo being my first festival and Firefly being my second, I must say roo has a better vibe but firefly was nice and had a couple things over Bonnaroo but overall was less than and as to be expected for a 3rd year festival. I agree about the toilets, almost always we're clean or at least had plenty of toilet paper, which roo did not do nearly as effectively. Also, the Bonnaroo main stage is a beast and the tents are nice because of the shade factor. But Fireflys main stage impressed the hell out of me, not only was it almost as big as The What and had a killer lighting set up., but they had 4 reapeater towers the had their own roughly 6-8 multicolored lights which gave me one of my favorite music experiences I've ever had when Jack Johnson came out for the encore and played Good People and during the last hook when it goes "where'd all the good people go?" Every single light on main stage and the towers illuminated the entire crowd like the spotlight was on us, it was such a beautiful moment that suprised the hell out of me in the best of ways. As for the other stages, there were three stages with a video screen, an awesome checkerboard style stage light and video screen set up flanking the main stage and overall had much better quality stages after the which and what stages Bonnaroo has. As for some of the detractors, the food was good but there were some duds, the silent disco sucks balls compared to Bonnaroo, they don't have real high caliber djs ever playing at this thing, is seriously just low lever djs with transitions and lots of fucking radio hits ugh. Also heard EMT would take over 15 minutes to respond to situation which seemed pretty bad. The layout of the stages is something I am not as fond of compared to Bonnaroo. Overall if I have the opportunity I will go to both but Roo is highest on my list. Top firefly shows 1. Foo Fighters 2. Jack Johnson 3, Beck 4. Portugal the Man 5. Jake Bugg (Acoustic set) 6. Weezer 7. Third eye blind 8. Smallpools 9. Chance the Rapper 10. Tune-Yards And yes Outkast had some good moments but was overall just okay for me. Pretty lights disappointed and Girl Talk would be my number 11 just because I enjoyed dancing, and there was large amounts of win that occurred on my behalf during the show so yah. Hope y'all had a good time and hopefully see yah next year!
While yes, there were many bro's and newly-minted 21 year old entitled folks, I don't know why it's constantly being referenced, I think you had to be looking for it if it bothered you that much. I had no issues with the vibes of this festival - everyone I met and interacted with was happy and willing to chat and if they weren't, giving them a high-five usually brightened them right up. For the most part you got back what you put in, in that way.
I started off comparing everything to Bonnaroo - this is a completely different festival - and once I realized that, the only things that got to me are the friggin' black lung it has now caused me and the crazy overpass walk from general camping - seriously it was like a 4 beer walk. Also the pre-marked campsites were great to have - we probably had 10 ft wide by about 35 feet long marked for our site and with the other sites in our group had more space then we could even use.
Besides the aforementioned clean and numerous portapotties, there were so many vendors that you rarely ever had to wait in line to purchase food/drink. I loved the setup of the stages, the sound was generally immaculate even in the back for when you needed to chill and having screens on 4 stages is great. The actual festival grounds are awesome at night with the trees all lit up in multiple colors, except for the ones behind the forest stage which were lit really trippy with white light especially when the wind was blowing them around.
Musically - There were a lot of bands I wanted to check out for the first time to see how they are live along with the Foo's, Outkast (again) and Pretty Lights. My favorite sets of the weekend and I'm only listing full sets I saw:
1. Foo Fighters - Never saw them live, remember getting their first album when it came out in 8th grade. Got a little extra dusty during These Days. Then The Holy Shits. Enough said.
2. OutKast - I stick by my excited post to this board - they look like they're having fun again together, even more than they did 3 weeks ago at GovBallNYC. 3. Big Gigantic - that's how you close a festival - a full 75 minute session of dancing and grooving and partying.
4.(tie)Pretty Lights/The White Panda - I was generally crashing after Big G finished up with PL and I basically had to beg my friend to come with me to White Panda. We walked in as they dropped an M83 Midnight City into Juicy mix that immediately had us going until the place closed for the night.
6. Weezer - had so much fun at this - apparently I'm a Weezer fan as I knew and sang along with every song they played. Great festival set. 7. Childish Gambino - seriously flames and raining sparks and man can he perform. 8. RAC - after a long day of partying and excitement at being there Thursday - loved his remixes of Armistice and Houdini. Danced lots. 9. Sleeper Agent - playing on a small stage to a few thousand people and they played their asses off. Fun time. 10. Airborne Toxic Event - one of my favorite bands. Seen better sets live but it was great to see them again.
And just because: 11. US World Cup game on the main stage. Talked to a ton of people, cheered my heart out and was crushed all in the span of 70 minutes.
Honorable Mention for partial sets: Kongos - we got there as they were doing the Come Together/Nuthin But A G Thing mashup and caught the rest of their set. Lots of fun. Twenty one pilots - insane energy. Beck - I really wished I could've stayed longer but had to go get a decent spot for Outkast. Listened to half his set and was feeling good.
I saw a lot of other bands as well but those are the memories I'll be replaying in my head about Firefly 14. I would definitely go back to this - obviously depending on the lineup but I really believe this festival has potential to be huge for the East Coast. I enjoyed it more than I did Governor's Ball which had lines from Hell during the day at almost all of the decent food vendors and water stations.
Last Edit: Jun 24, 2014 14:17:05 GMT -5 by usty - Back to Top
6/5-6/6 - Gentleman of the Road - Seaside
6/17-6/21 - Firefly
7/22 - U2 @ MSG
9/5-9/6 - Made in America - Philly
1. Portos were very clean, just think they should have more in some different spots so you don't have to travel as far from some stages. 2. Very easy in and out 3. Don't think I've seen so few vendors at a large fest before 4. Overall volume was to soft for Lumineers set (PA) 5. If you are at the front of line in at entrance closest to main stage do you really need to sprint to get to the rail for Foo Fighters (or anyone else for that matter) when a slow walk gets you there still well ahead of anyone else? 6. Dust sucks!! I barely used my camera as a result. 7. Playing Ping Pong in VIP during sets is awesome! 8. Sunscreen should be allowed in no matter what. I had to fight my case to get my spray bottle in 9. By far the smallest amount of corn I witnessed at any fest. 10. The hubs kicked ass! 11. Several rule changes regarding media access throughout (in their defense happens almost every fest) 12. Walk off the Earth Killed it!! 13. Never had an artist encourage me to get drunk before when I was trying to make the decision.
Definitely different from Roo, but not unpleasant.
Pros: The portos were always clean, in and out of the fest. Only a couple of times was the seat covered in mysterious liquid, and poopage was minimal. I did premier camping, and walking in and out of the fest was a breeze. Very easy for me to leave the main stage, grab a quick beer/apply sunscreen/whatevs and then be back in with a decent spot before the next act starts. I found the sound to be good at all the stages, and I enjoyed being able to find shade at any given time if I needed it. And since it's smaller overall, it was a nice change of pace to not have to walk an eternity from one part of the fest to another.
Cons: the crowd/vibe. It was a big frat party, which just isn't my scene at all. I'll take my stoned hippies over drunken bros any day. If I had a dollar for every time I heard an instance of sexual harassment... That being said, given the crowd's composition, I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of douchebaggery in the crowds themselves. I didn't go to the rowdier shows, but the bros up front at Beck were enjoyable to be around, which was nice.
Top 5: 1. Outkast 2. Beck 3. twenty one pilots 4. Kongos (never heard of them before but I liked their set) 5. Kaiser Chiefs
I mostly went to this fest because it's only an hour an a half away for me; I wasn't really crazy about the lineup. I'll only be back if I really care for the people playing.
Little RoRo got home last night from Firefly, and was excited to tell us about it. I said, "I heard it was a brofest," which made him laugh, but he agreed. Snapchat again beats normal delivery of news regarding bros and shows.
6. Weezer - had so much fun at this - apparently I'm a Weezer fan as I knew and sang along with every song they played. Great festival set.
Saw Weezer last month, and I agree -- they were a great show. It was a giant sing-along the whole time. Credit to them for having a catalog of tunes deep enough to pull that off. I was only slightly older than my son is now when I first heard "The Sweater Song." We need them to make an appearance at Bonnaroo next year.
how was the crowd for outkast? i was really tempted to come back Saturday to see em again but i wasnt sure they would be able to top their Hangout Fest set for me, that crowd was amazing since Outkast is from the south everyone was as into as as they possibly could and i was worried the corwed at FF would be filled with mostly people who didnt know anything pre Stankonia or even the Speakerbox/Love Below tracks.
Post by warpedfan11 on Jun 27, 2014 17:20:57 GMT -5
I don't know if anyone else experienced this, but I've never dealt with more people talking loudly during a concert then I heard at Firefly....I'm talking people holding full, loud conversations to the point where it was hard to focus on the music.
There were a couple people talking right behind me during Son Lux, and we are up front. I was really into the set so it didn't really distract me, just heard it in between songs.
