Firefly 2015: U2 (3 Nights)

Made it back home. Worn out, I'll give a detailed review tomorrow.

I should also mention that we left the festival sunday morning after the emergency evacuation.Slept in the car, dried out camp stuff out, and hit the road. Maybe sunday was a better day .

*RedFrog add water and a dose of better security. Saw too many guys dropping like flies from bad drugs and dehydration.

Chainsmokers were so good I loved it

My top 3 sets were Paul who was absolutely amazing as expected, showed up for the last half hour of Morrissey to get a good spot and ended up dead center about 15 rows back. For comparison, I showed up for Passion Pit at Roo to start working my way up, did the same for Wilco, and was at least another 10 rows back. Combination of the FF demographic, and no pit at FF. Maybe I’m Amazed, Hey Jude and Blackbird were my highlights.

Killers were great too. Only criticism is with their setlist construction, which seems to have a run of a few songs that aren’t as good in the middle-end of the show portion. Starting the show with Mr. Brightside into Spaceman is amazing, but as I saw the energy around me lag, I thought they would’ve been better served by dropping Mr. Brightside in the middle of that run of songs. Just a small quibble, they’re among my favorite bands to sing-a-long to on Spotify and I had a great time.

Snoop! Wow! Of everything at the fest, Snoop probably exceeded my expectations the most. I was expecting a good set, but he just dropped an absolute a-bomb of energy, running straight through his biggest hits and great covers. He’s also an obviously extremely experienced and talented emcee, his stage banter during smoke breaks was hilariously on point throughout the set. The whole thing blew me away.

Firefly Logistics: They have their good points, and their bad ones. I was in carefree camping, which included in and out privileges with our car that was parked about a quarter mile from the camp site (though we did need to explain this to the parking attendants every single day…). On the good side, they book a great lineup, especially at the top, the overall layout of the festival grounds is very nice, and compared to other festivals I’ve been too, it seems like the stages are higher (or maybe placed on a slight downward slope). I feel like I typically have a good view at FF, despite there now being more attendees than at Roo.

As for the evacuation, I thought it was well handled, but this comes from the perspective of a person who left around 10:00 and was home in DC by 1:00 am. Having been to other legendary weather fiasco festivals (Govball 2013 and Hudson Project 2014) evacuation seemed quite smooth and timely. Also, people complained about the mud a lot, but I thought they did a very good job with it overall. For example, the path between the Porch and Backyard they got clean and it stayed that way from Thursday on; it seemed like after Thursday they did a lot of work dumping sand in places and plowing away mud in general.

On the negative side: Obviously, the water situation was abysmal. I’m in a financial situation where blowing $4 on a bottle of cold water isn’t really a big deal, but I know that many many many attendees are not. It’s outrageous and very dangerous to have 3 small camelback stations for 90,000 attendees at an outdoor camping festival in very hot and humid conditions. Shaky Knees had more water stations for 1/3rd of the attendees, literally. There needs to be at least 8 water stations. There wasn’t even one by the main stage! Truly awful, and I’m sure it was a huge contributing factor to the disturbingly high number of (typically very young) attendees that I saw pass out at shows. Shame on Red Frog for this, it was an issue that I saw complained about at length last year (which I didn’t attend) and was addressed loudly on social media before this festival.

Also, the general cluelessness of the staff about basically anything reflects a serious issue with training and compliance. No parking attendants knew where VIP parking was, or what Carefree camping was, I heard nightmare stories about the shuttle service, security at the gate was insanely inconsistent (though very light in general, we were easily able to get a flask in every day). The guy checking people in ate carefree had no clue what he was doing and apparently checked about a hundred people into wrong sized tents. A little training goes a long way. The food is also pretty bottom of the barrel as far as festival food goes these days, but I suppose there aren’t many great food trucks around Dover.

Overall, I had a blast, my spot for Paul was worth the price of admission itself. I’m gonna try to get down to Roo next year (I’ve had to miss the last 2 due to work) but if that doesn’t happen, Firefly will again be on my radar, particularly if they deliver an impressive lineup. I missed Govball for the first time this year, and prefer that as a fest in general for its killer location, tremendous management and good decision making on capacity (Govball never feels overcrowded and I commend them on sticking to their sellout number). I may or may not attend Firefly again, the location is very convenient to me in DC. Time will tell. Very glad I attended this one though!

Proximity to the Jersey Shore is evident.

That's true. I actually really dig Asbury during the off season. And Seaside/Point Pleasant are complete ghost towns. But for 4-5 months out of the year it is nothing but vapid trashy people... It sort of depends where in North Jersey you are talking about. Montclair + Parts of Jersey City are really chill. Hoboken residences are trust fund kids for the most part, but every Friday and Saturday night that town turns into North Seaside.


But yeah, Firefly is lousy.

lol

Overall had a good weekend. VIP was well worth it for the free water alone allowing me to skip the terrible lines and see more music. Saw more half sets than usual using the Lawn/Backyard VIP shortcut which was awesome. My fitbit says I walked 50 miles between Wednesday-Sunday and my feet sure show it as evidenced by my current waddle. The Pavilion stage was a fantastic addition to the festival in my opinion though they do need to time it better with the main stage to avoid noise bleed.

Top sets for me this weekend in no particular order- McCartney, RTJ, Empire of the Sun (big surprise) The Killers, DJ Mustard and Solidisco.

Lastly, I know there's a lot of hate here but with the schedule change I decided to check out Aoki on Sunday and it was actually a pretty fun set and glad I stopped in.

Let's do this.

Got down at about 1 PM Wednesday afternoon, cracked open a beer and began playing the waiting game. Initially, it looked like the workers had no idea what they were doing, but the line going into premier moved pretty quickly and everyone got loaded in a pretty timely manner, I'd say ~1 hour. All 5 of the cars in my group got in and got campsites next to each other easily as well. After that it was a lot of relaxing until the storms hit, which did quite a bit of damage. A lot of the people in my group and camped around me left behind quite a bit of broken equipment by the time the weekend was over (I'm out a canopy and camping chair)

Thursday - Walked into the festival to see that the grounds were in God awful condition following the previous night's monsoon, something that really wouldn't improve over the weekend. The mud situation led to 90,000 people needing new shoes or walking around barefoot. Music wise, I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw Thursday. Kill Them With Colour, Nick Catchdubs, and Tycho all put on solid shows, but Thursday was absolutely ruled by Solidisco. Hard to describe the atmosphere in the tent during that set. The Pavilion was fairly empty when the set started, but by the time it was over there was a huge crowd that was very pleasntly surprised with what they saw.

Friday - Very busy day. Went in early to dance with Styles&Complete and Clean Bandit, both were great for early afternoon slots. Went back to camp to relax for a few hours, and then came what was the longest run of my weekend. Logic was very underwhelming, probably the most disappointing set of the weekend IMO. Poor stage presence, even when he played songs like Under Pressure that everyone knew he fell flat on his face trying to get anything out of the crowd. Went to DJ Mustard after that, and all I have to say is WOW. That was absolutely a set geared for the younger audience, but as a college student who listens to a lot of his music, it was awesome going in with my friends and dancing to hit after hit despite some technical issues. Anyone who enjoys his music absolutely needs to see him, and those who don't enjoy it won't be converted by his set. After that, wandered around aimlessly through acts like Cage the Elephant, Odesza, and Chiddy Bang. Cage had great energy and sounded great, Odesza was filled with the VIBEZ, and Chiddy Bang was average. After grabbing mediocre, overpriced food (huge problem with this fest), went over to catch Run the Jewels and they absolutely blew the roof off the Pavilion. The crowd was small (many people, including my whole group, were at Kygo or Modest Mouse), and there was plenty of room. Seeing them play CYEACTF was fantastic, and even songs that I didn't know were just as enjoyable. After that, Paul. Wow. Everyone on this board was right. Wound up knowing way more songs than I thought, and the crowd was so into it. Hey Jude was the single best song of the festival by far, and his set was simply 2 hours of pure magic. After Hey Jude, I left a bit early as i saw the crowd begin a mass exodus to Zedd. Zedd was a great end to the day, tons of dancing and energy. Also, was really impressed by his new True Colors production, and he brought out the lead singer of Echosmith which was neat. All in all, RTJ - Paul - Zedd was the highlight of my whole weekend.

Saturday - Overall, a dud of a day. Was pretty tired by the afternoon and no one really excited me early in the day, so I hung out until Matt & Kim hit the stage. It was fun, but that was my 3rd time seeing them and I felt like it was their worst effort. Can't tell if they were just off or if their antics are just wearing on me. Ignition Remix cover was pretty cool. Wandered over to Alison Wonderland for a bit, but it wasn't my cup of tea and I left fairly quickly. Came back in for Cudi, only for the evacuation to kill the night. Went back to camp and was stuck sleeping in a car with 3 other people, 99% humidity, and a car full of shit, probably the worst sleep I've ever gotten.

Sunday - Very unexpectedly fun day. Went down with a lot of festival first timers that were ready to throw in the towel, but my crew got a second life when word got around that Aoki and The Chainsmokers. My crew wanted to be in the front for Aoki, so we went o his stage early and caught Max Frost, who actually put on a pretty good show and played some covers that had the small crowd going. After that, it was the moment I've been laughing about for months: Steve Aoki. It was as funny as expected. He spent his time jumping around stage, multiple times stepping out from behind the decks for 5+ minutes. He had not 1, not 2, but SIX cakes, one of which hit me in the arm. Musically, as laughably bad as advertised, but my friends loved it and were so into it that I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun. Aoki just contributed nothing to make it more fun. After that, went and caught Dizzy Wright, who surprised me as well. Great stage presence, and he managed to have the crowd's full attention despite not many people knowing a lot of his songs. Next, Bastille was very mediocre, pretty much what'd you expect out of a mediocre, radio-friendly alt band. Nothing to get excited about. Bailed very early to get a good spot for Snoop, and he absolutely delivered. He masterfully mixed a playlist that covered anything from his radio friendly songs, classics, and covers. Don't think I've ever seen more pot in one location than I did during his set, and the cannon he got from the crowd was a work of art. Ended the weekend by seeing The Killers play Mr. Brightside, then dipped over to snag front row for The Chainsmokers. They played a great set, mixing in all types of music in a set that anyone could get into. Their new production setup, The Full Monte, was very creative and they had by far the best visuals of any set I saw over the weekend. Very good way to end the weekend.

Overall, the fest was fun, but still a very unorganized shitshow. The weather certainly made conditions rough this weekend, but after this year I'm very torn if I'll be back for a 4th year in 2016. If the money situation doesn't work out and my friends want to go down again, I'll probably be back, but I'm shooting for Hangout or Lolla next year over this. At the same time, maybe a full year with Goldenvoice will help them iron out their issues, but as it stands it's hard to take a festival seriously when the workers are as messed up as the festival goers.

Top 10 in order:
1. Paul
2. RTJ
3. Zedd
4. DJ Mustard
5. Snoop
6. The Chainsmokers
7. Solidisco
8. Cage
9. Dizzy Wright
10. Matt & Kim

Think we could get somewhere that we could all compile any media (pictures/videos etc.) taken this weekend? Would love to see people's videos and pictures from all the shows

Great weekend.

The RTJ into Paul into Zedd was great. Caught the first half of RTJ then ran to Paul for a surprisingly good seat. I can now see the hype over RTJ they were great. Paul was #1 of course. Ended up seeing that chick (Jackie?) that got to meet him in my camp site area ha. Props to Sir Paul.

Saturday was a downer, the rain came just as it was getting fun.

Hozier good, Snoop was meh...Anyone else see that kid dancing on the speaker? lol ...Chainsmokers closing the fest was one of the best things to happen this weekend. (especially aoki getting a 2:30 slot so my friends decided to skip him)

I enjoyed everything except the mud and the weather.. Traffic was way more organized. The staff never bugged me. Maybe because i'm younger but i enjoy how laid back the concert and campsite area, i feel very comfortable at firefly.

Morrissey sounded great.  The band was phenomenal, and he still has great pipes.  I think he got his point across with "Meat Is Murder."  The adjoining video was a bit tough to stomach, but my bucket list is one shorter now thanks to seeing him.

Had a great weekend.  Hated that KOL had to cancel, but I now have a big storm festival story to tell the youngsters.

Favorite acts from the weekend:
1)  Macca.  Great as always
2)  Cage The Elephant
3)  Sturgill Simpson
4)  Hozier
5)  Morrissey
6)  Clean Bandit
7)  Gary Clark, Jr.
8)  I had fun at Steve Aoki.  Had never seen his show, but I enjoyed myself.

Festival definitely has a different vibe.  I'm not prepared to say it's just proximity to the shore.  Our neighbors (one side from Jersey) were great. But, there were a few people who made me think of Jersey Shore meets altered states.  The average age of the attendees plays a role, I believe.  But, there is no "art" portion of Firefly.  There are only a few things to make you say, "that's neat or pretty."  I think this give people free license to just trash the place.  After every show, the field at each stage was a crap hole ... and not just due to mud, which made it a crap hole to begin.  Unholy amounts of trash just thrown on the ground.  No recycling.  There just doesn't seem to be an appreciation of "the place," so it feels different.

And, you can go to McDonald's for breakfast.  For the record, my breakfast burritos are better.  I never left the camping area for civilization because that seemed like cheating, but my son did some phone charging at the Home Depot.

I had fun.  But it was a different fun.  I made friends.  I got my own hashtag (#fireflydad).  It was a memorable weekend.

Will try to share some pictures later.