Two weekends ago was possibly the best weekend of my summer by far 'cause I got to spend it at the first ever Billboard Hot 100 Music Festival FOR FREE with the boyf who just got back from a five week vacation in Greece (yes try and take all of that in)! The free part was just the beginning of what was to be an incredible, chaotic, thrilling, and sweaty? weekend. Before I begin, I just want to make a few small disclaimers. One, I did not see everyone at the festival both days as that would be impossible. Two, this is not a review of the festival as a whole because this is going to be extremely biased. This is simply just a reflection of my experience and more so for my own memory. Third, this post will include moments of fan-girling, complaints, pictures/video that may cause jealousy and other nonsense, so if you cannot handle it, sorry. I do hope you enjoy anyways!
Saturday was the first day of the festival and a good starter day. I felt it was a warm up (literally and figuratively as it was hot as balls) for what was about to happen Sunday, but I'll get to that in a later post. Walking (and even driving) into the festival grounds (Nikon at Jones Beach Theater) you could already hear the music blaring from the Beach stage. The Beach stage consisted of all the semi- big artists over the weekend. Everyone from Christina Millian to Fetty Wap would grace the stage throughout the weekend. While walking through the gates, we heard the Party Thieves (DJ) basically slaying the EDM game. He was dropping the sickest base already so early on in the day, which anyone who knows me could imagine that hyped me like you wouldn't believe. As much as I wanted to check out his full set, we ended up heading over to the Hot 100 stage, which was the main stage, to check out British girl band Little Mix.
If you haven't heard of Little Mix, you're probably not a girl/boy band person or a teenage girl for that matter. With their powerhouse voices, I feel like everyone should know who they are. Whether you like their music or not, theres no denying the raw and beautiful talent these girls have not to mention how drop dead gorgeous they all are. I'm not their biggest fan, but they performed all the songs I know including "Move", "Salute", "DNA", their most popular hit "Wings" and closed with their new single "Black Magic". The one thing I thoroughly enjoyed about their set was they were actually singing and they were actually phenomenal. I was so impressed by their voices and their stage presence, especially considering that they were dancing high energy routines and none of them ever missed a note. I hardly even heard a pant or breath in the mic. For a short day-time set they left a huge impact on my weekend. You go girls!
Next up, Peter (the boyf) and I headed over to the Samsung Level Stage, which was basically for all up and comers. A good friend of ours, Brittany, loves this cute little Canadian called Lights who we saw next. I haven't listened to Lights since my scene kid days, and I must say I'm impressed by how mature her sound has become. I didn't know a single word to a single song she played, but it was still awesome to listen to in between sets. Peter unfortunately wasn't as impressed (I don't think he understood the music), but if you're someone who appreciates a good coming of age song or just that whole real instruments pop/rock type of music I think you could like it. I really just thought Lights was cute in general. She has a cool razor cut hair-cut, the Vans Warped Tour look, and pretty sick tattoos. She had great music and was certainly easy to look at so that's all that mattered to me. All in all great set, but if I wasn't at a festival she was playing I don't think I would see her otherwise.
After Lights, we headed back over to the Hot 100 stage to catch a lively performance from Jason Derulo. Not my favorite vocally, but still entertaining to watch. Again wouldn't purchase tickets for him otherwise. What we were really waiting for was Lil Wayne who came on shortly after. Ever see those posts about white girls who look like they're straight out of the movie "Clueless" but love their gangsta rap? That was me. Wayne went in on everyone's lives rapping all the goods from "A Milli" to "I'm Going In". He even through in all the songs he was featured on in the last couple years like "Loyal" and "Truffle Butter". Again no lip synching which I was pleased with. By the end of his set I was convinced I was the real G 'cause I knew every word he rapped. I was simply waiting for him to invite me on stage. Maybe next time.
As soon as Wayne got off stage we ran over to the Beach stage to catch his girl Christina Millian, who oddly didn't have much of a crowd. I'm not gunna lie to you guys, I went over there to watch her do "Dip It Low" and wanted to get out of there, but surprisingly (but not really) Lil Wayne came out to do a song with her much to the crowd's pleasure. It was at that point we decided to stay 'til the end and catch Trinidad James who was up next. He ended up going on about 25 minutes late and didn't even do any of his hits until later in his set. We decided to leave his set early and as we walked away he started playing "All Gold Everything" (of course). It's fine though 'cause I still got to hear it and made it back to the main stage just in time for Axwell ^ Ingrosso.
Axwell ^ Ingrosso was the EDM show I needed in my life. If you didn't know, Axwell and Ingrosso are two of three former members of Swedish House Mafia. Once we got back to the stage, the duo were just starting to play their hits and some SHM hits as well. Unfortunately there were absolutely no seats to be had in the entire theater and you couldn't even move up or down stairs to find seats as the stairs were flooded with people trying to get a view. It was a mad house. Rightfully so, as Axwell ^ Ingrosso put on a show to remember. Ever just listen to music and just feel so alive, like more alive than usual in that moment? That's how I felt. Every bit of happy emotion in me was filling my entire body and I couldn't help but dance and smile the entire time. It was spectacular. Like living in a dream land for 30 minutes. Not to mention their light show was probably one of the best I've seen ever.
Last, but not least, we saw my baby The Weeknd. Oh god. I prayed for Lord Jesus to just take the wheel during that set, I physically couldn't handle it. What a sexy being. Peter and I actually found seats for his performance thank god cause I couldn't imagine missing this performance or viewing it from stairs. Now I know why he headlined. For those who just listen to his music and haven't seen him live you NEED to see him. Everything is better live. His performance; incredible, his music; too sexual, his voice; so sensual. Certainly not for the young ears. Actually most of the acts weren't for young ears, but this was like music out of "Fifty Shades of Grey". Actually, it was as he played "Earned It", his single for the movie. They wanted him to finish his set after "Can't Feel My Face", but he continued and ended with "The Hills". Great choice because it was my favorite song and performance of the night. I honestly could't believe my ears. Perfect way to end the first day and perfect way to see The Weeknd for the first time live. I'm really not over it and don't plan to be anytime soon.
So that was pretty much the first day in a long-brief nutshell. I intended for this to be much shorter, but I rambled, sorry. I just want to touch on a few unimpressive factors. One, the festival was extremely unorganized. Sets were starting anywhere from 10- 30 minutes late and ending 10-15 minutes early. Acts that were supposed to be on for an hour were only on for 30 minutes and that was extremely disappointing. Two, Nikon at Jones Beach was very unaccommodating for the amount of people that were there. I want a seat to watch the show, not have to view it from overcrowded stairs, which if I recall is a safety hazard. Three, it was like the hottest weekend ever. I really felt like heat rose from the depths of hell that weekend and a lot could've been done to prevent the amount of fainters and heat strokes happening. Like a water refill station and not $8 sodas. Four, security could've been a little tighter. My bag was hardly checked and there were children younger than 17 taking drugs that permanently alter the brain, which I find highly unacceptable. Not to mention every other word most artists were saying was f**k or that infamous "N" word. Perhaps an 18+ show next time. Just a minor suggestion.
Other than that, I quite enjoyed the show and the first day festivities. It only excited me more for day 2! Look out for my post on Sunday's performances very soon! If you were at Billboard Fest this past weekend, leave a comment and give me your thoughts!
-- Samantha Jo XO
