(Photo Credit: Firefly Music Festival Press Release)
For eight years now Firefly Music Festival has captured the hearts of all festival goers that have passed through the woodlands. Each year Firefly has added more to the experience and provided a top notch lineup diverse enough for everyone. This year was no different with almost 4 million dollars of upgrades added throughout the festival and camping grounds. The whole weekend in Dover, DE was packed with special moments including a Thursday throw-down dance party in the rain with Gryffin to kick off the weekend to catching some of our favorite artists and showing some good friends around their first music festival. This huge festival never really felt overcrowded and finding a good spot to watch your favorite band was never hard. Firefly quickly won me over and has now become one of my favorite festival weekends.
From Stage To Stage
The main thing that brings people to the majority of music festivals is obviously the lineup and this years Firefly schedule created a fantastic and diverse weekend of music for everyone. Each of the eight stages here at Firefly brought a unique experience and look that set it apart from the others. The stages ranged in size from massive main stages to smaller stages tucked away in the trees and even some tiny stages meant for a personal musical experience.
Firefly Stage
The Firefly Stage was the main stage for the weekend that hosted the largest crowd numbers and the three headlining acts. Panic At The Disco was the best headliner of the weekend putting on a killer performance on Friday night! Earlier acts on the stage stole the show and deserved headlining spots of their own. On Friday the crowd enjoyed a throwback performance from the best selling women’s group of all time, TLC, followed by a performance from AWOLNATION. Saturday featured a humble and powerful performance from Bishop Briggs. Sunday had the most stacked schedule for the Firefly stage with performances from Lovelytheband, Quinn XCII, and a stellar set from Vampire Weekend.
The Hideaway
Located directly across from the main stage, The Hideaway is a medium sized stage packed with talented bands throughout the day. There was a patch of trees located between the Firefly Stage and The Hideaway that was a perfect place to set up a hammock and lay around in the shade while being able to enjoy the performances on both stages. Just make sure you get there early because the trees go fast! Bands including Caamp, Hippo Campus, Jukebox The Ghost, and Two Feet were just a sample of the great acts to take the stage this weekend at The Hideaway! The Hideaway stage also had one of the coolest designs out of all of the stages here.
The Treehouse
The Treehouse was a perfect escape from the hot summer sun. Tucked away in a small patch of trees, this stage was the perfect place to hang up some hammocks and spread out a couple blankets for a relaxing musical experience in the woods. There were also different art installations set up including a giant wooden wolf and a Jive Joint. Bumpin Uglies kicked off the festival here on Friday and great performance continued through the weekend. SHAED, Ripe, Flora Cash, and Nora En Pure were a few of the performers to take over The Treehouse.
The Lawn
The Lawn was my personal favorite stage this weekend where I witnessed a few of my favorite performances. This stage was nice because it never felt overcrowded and for the most part you could always get a great spot and view of the stage. X Ambassadors put on an emotionally packed performance getting the crowd singing and moving. They were probably my favorite show of the entire weekend weekend but The Lawn Stage also hosted great sets from Young The Giant, AJR, Courtney Barnett, and Sir Sly!
The Prism
The Prism is where the ravers came to get down! This stage hosted all of the EDM acts and brought the party every night when the sun went down. This was another personal favorite of mine because of both the talented artists on stage and the people throughout the crowd. Each night the three closing acts, Zedd, Kygo, and DJ Snake, threw down with a spectacular sets full of lasers and lights. The crowd got into it as well by throwing more glow sticks than I’ve ever seen before throughout the crowd for EVERY DROP. Seriously though, there were glow sticks raining down from every direction. My favorite set that I saw on this stage this weekend had to be the special golden hour performance by the one and only GRiZ on Sunday evening. Other killer performance here came from Alison Wonderland and Louis The Child just to name a couple.
Intimate Experiences
Firefly also provided the festival goers with a chance to experience some shows in a small personal setting. Stages including The Roost, Toyota Music Den, and the Bud Light Dive Bar all provided a small setting for people to check out short performances from some of the bands on the lineup. Lawrence, Flora Cash, Magic Giant, The Main Squeeze, and Ripe were just a few of the bands popping up on these small stages throughout the weekend.
A Walk Through The Woodlands
Firefly Music Festival also offered so much more than just the music this weekend. If you took a stroll around the festival grounds you would discover a number of little hideaways. The Bazaar is where The Roost was located as well as a central market that let festival goers purchase clothing and hand crafted memorabilia that wasn’t from the main Firefly merch booths. You might even stumble upon a private performance in the central market. The Nook was one of my favorite places located in the festival grounds. Tucked away in the trees, The Nook was a perfect escape from the sun and noise of the festival. There were places to sit and relax as well as a butterfly garden that you could walk through and feed the butterflies. On Sunday all of the butterflies were released into the woodlands.
The Thicket was also hidden amongst the trees and played home to this years silent disco that featured a number of great DJs. Throughout the festival you could also find unique artwork and firefly lit walkways connecting different sections of the festival. There was also a special section in the woods to set up your hammock and take a little power nap called the Hammock Hangout. Various food vendors, food trucks, and beverage bars were scattered throughout the festival grounds giving festival goers a variety to choose from. The Dogfish Head Brewery has also returned for the eighth straight year featuring their one and only Firefly Ale. There were also an abundance of clean water refill stations near each stage to keep festival goers hydrated throughout the day. Charging lockers were also a nice addition to the festival grounds.
The Great Atlantic Campout
Firefly Music Festival is the East Coast’s largest music and camping festival and they did a great job accommodating everyone. Split up into multiple sections, festival goers had different options of where to camp. Infield camping was located inside the Dover Speedway for festival goers that did not want to purchase a car camping pass.There were also preset up camps that were available along with a RV lot. The most popular and easiest option was to purchase a car camping pass in either the North or South camping lots. At each of these lots there were hubs for the campers to have access to food trucks, water and charging stations, showers, and bathrooms. Each hub also had stages featuring special shows from artists including Gryffin, Louis The Child, Ripe, Lawrence, and much more. Different CHATS, sporting events, and classes were also scheduled at the hubs throughout the weekend. The South Hub was located at the Dover Speedway and the North Hub had a special beach stage located in it.
SEE YOU ALL IN THE WOODLANDS NEXT YEAR!