Something in the Water 2022: June 17-19

Sureeee is. Made me miss Bonnaroo ngl. But Anderson Paak sure slapped

I was in that scary almost crowd crush moment at lil uzi vert, funny thing was I wasn’t even trying to see him, we were posted up waiting for Pharrell still towards the back. But my friend needed water so we decided to make the trek and there was no turning back, we had a lil spot that wasn’t too crowded.

The sun stage is a disaster, they should’ve never put the earth stage right next to it. The moon stage is good at least. Also, where is this grass you speak of?

Man, lots of feelings about this one... I'll start with the positive (and most of it is, the negatives are just more interesting).

The Music: It was a pretty phenomenal 3 days of music and as someone who usually travels for music festivals, being able to host friends and be from my house to the gates in 30 minutes was incredible. Artists seemed legitimately excited and in some cases honored to be a part of it -- seemed to mean more than your typical festival and some of the surprises and collaborations were Coachella-levels of special. The Sunday run of Thundercat - Dave Matthews Band - Calvin Harris - J Balvin was about as much fun as I can ask from a festival.

Amenities: The food was generally great, water refill stations were plentiful (you can always have more of course) and $3 for bottled water was reasonable, and I never had to wait in line very long for anything. This is also the first festival I have been to with roaming beverage vendors and now I wish every fest had it. Trains to and from the festival (at least on the Green line) were running frequently and never too full. Medics seemed to be very active and cleared out crowds to get to people in need (which was definitely a concern with the heat and level of crowding).

The Moon Stage: Maybe it was partially due to who they booked here (and what they were competing against) but this stage was great. It seemed to open up more than the Sun Stage and setting the sound board off to the side and having the sponsor riser/video board a lot further back prevented the choke points that plagued the other side of the festival. Never had a bad spot here and saw acts much closer up than I would at other festivals.

Now for the areas of improvement...

Layout: The moment I saw that map for this thing (which they put out about a week ago) I knew it was going to be a mess or they drastically undersold. There just was not enough space and it was far too narrow given what they were trying to pull off. Even without the Earth stage (more to come on that), Having a shoe box shaped footprint with a width of one large city street and stages on either side and vendors and large screens/sponsor areas in the middle was destined to be bad. I am not sure if this was what the city pitched them or if they planned conservatively and then ticket sales spiked late, but it has to change if they do it again next year. No one was happy about it and they were lucky there weren't bigger safety issues that came about as a result.

Sun Stage: Just a whole mess. This was the main stage and someone had the brilliant idea to put it right next to a main entrance to the festival on one side and a side stage which booked acts that had no business being in that space on the other. To add to the fun, they plopped a sponsor hub/video board right in the middle of an already tight space, cutting the entry space down by about half until you got past it. As you can imagine, that led to some dangerously dense crowds that couldn't get in or out for a while. They also put a merch tent, restrooms and water refill stations deep on one side of the stage -- which required you to walk through the left side of the crowd to access. Helpful early in the day and at times between sets, but basically inaccessible otherwise.

Earth Stage: For folks who have been to Lollapalooza, this was essentially a BMI stage that they thought they could casually book TI, Skepta, Ja Rule and Ashanti and others on. It didn't even really work well when the smaller acts would play, but it was a nightmare if anyone of note was on the stage. It also ran so far behind the first day (3 hours by the end) that TI got bumped to be part of Pharrell's set on Saturday. The sound at this stage was also way too blown out and loud (possibly to try and overcome the Sun Stage) and they provided no updates about the schedule between sets (causing a ton of confusion on Friday when they were so behind). I stopped even trying to go here after the first day.

Getting in: I believe the festival started late on Friday, and security lines were a mess at peak times the first two days. They were definitely not ready for the crowd they got at the L'Enfant side on Friday and had a few security staff trying to enforce a zig zagging line to get in line with no barricades. Additionally, if you arrived on that side you were essentially stuck since there was no easy way to cut over to the other set of entrances on the other side without walking about a mile further down or getting back on the train. There were also long lines on the 7th and Jefferson entrance on Saturday, but basically no line at the other entrance at 4th -- but of course, no one was communicating that. Apparently they also turned people away Saturday night because of capacity concerns leading up the Pharrell and Phriends set.

Inconsistent Enforcement: Once you were inside, one of the first things you might notice was how some people seemingly evaded a security check all together. A few dozen people setup in front of a video board with camping chairs (didn't we all go through that metal detector?), some folks with full size umbrellas. It seemed if you managed to get it in, no one was going to take it from you. Made me concerned about the standards at some of the security checks and spoke to the lack of engagement of many security staff once you were in the venue.

Crowd Management: In all honesty, this was probably the most frustrating part of the experience. Because there were no side paths or dedicated stage entry/stage exit lanes, there was one way in and one way out of most areas. That's already a problem, but if you know you're saddled with a poor setup you should at least have a proactive team monitoring the crowd and making adjustments. Yesterday after Denzel Curry, we hit a perfect storm of crowd blockage -- peak entry time pouring people into the stage from one side, Ja Rule and Ashanti campers blocking the other side as people try to snake past in both directions, a line across the width of the festival path for Italian ice (I shit you not, this cart was in the worst place possible and always had the longest line due to the heat) -- all of which essentially created a box, and then a dense collection of people sitting in front of the video board, eliminating any ability to move through the middle. There was no one coming through and asking those people to momentarily stand up, or directing the italian ice cart to move/redirect their line, or creating safe and dedicated lanes for passage. Instead folks had to try and climb over the sitting people, which naturally led to some heated interactions and generally made the whole thing feel like a powder keg. Eventually, two staffers cleared one lane through the sitting folks to allow flow between the Earth stage and the 4th street entrance, but it didn't solve the problem for folks trying to get past that area all together. We would up slipping out through the 4th st exit and just walking around it outside the grounds and coming back in on 7th. Didn't go anywhere back near that side of the festival after that.

Lack of grass and shade: Not much needs to be said here -- concrete and asphalt are just rough on the body and don't help the heat situation. There was really no place to sit and relax or escape the crowds other than the ground in front of you. Not ideal.


2023 - There's clearly an audience for this festival in DC. It felt like it had more excitement and turnout than Landmark (the last real attempt at a mainstream festival here), but if they want to do it again they have to find a better location. The National Mall is the obvious choice, but I know the Parks Service is extremely selective about permitting paid events there. West Potomac park wouldn't be as accessible, but Landmark showed it's a much more natural site for a festival like this. I hate to suggest they move it out of the city, but Merriweather would be another option that helps alleviate some of the logistical lift but introduces a lot more hurdles in terms of access (and further diluting the purpose of relocating to DC in the first place.)

If they can work something out with the Parks Service to secure a better location, I'd definitely go again. If it's back on Independence Ave without a widely expanded footprint, I would really have to think about it.

Rumor I heard was that SITW signed a 8-10 year deal to remain in the city. I really hope they let them use the National Mall.