The Meadows Experience
With two days full of craziness, crowds, Chance, and cancellations, the Meadows Music and Arts Festival was one to go down in history. Located in Queens, New York, in the transformed parking lot of Citi Field, people came from all over New York and beyond to attend this unique, music festival that had one of best lineups, music and food included, to offer. Put on by Founder Entertainment, the same company that brings the Governors Ball to New York every summer, they pooled together legendary artists such as Kanye West, Chance the Rapper, and J. Cole, and popular groups such as Cage the Elephant, the 1975, and BØRNS, to create a two-day music festival on October 2nd and 3rd for people to enjoy in the fall rather than in the traditional summer music festival season.
Aside from what you’ve probably heard from friends about the festival weekend, or even from the news thanks to Mr. West, here is my personal breakdown of the best and worst of the Meadows 2016:
BEST:
The food: The Meadows hosted a food lineup like no other, selecting the most popular, new, and unique quick service vendors from around New York City to create the ultimate menu to pair with the music. Favorites among the crowds included baked goods from Momofuku Milk Bar, spaghetti in a cone from Spaghetti Incident, Asian style waffles and ice cream from Wowfulls, and of course the oh so famous Ramen Burger. I was able to get my hands on one of these innovative burgers, and it most definitely came up to par with its reviews. The combination of the Temper Traps set and my ramen cheeseburger was clearly a personal highlight of the weekend.
Ideal conditions: Most musical festival goers have grown to expect withstanding long, overheated days in the blaring sun, or even worse, pouring rain conditions leading to mud and wet clothes. Music festivals traditionally take place during the summer, as more people are available to travel to attend, and the warmer weather is better for the outdoor performances, usually in large field areas. The Meadows was unique in that it was an offseason music festival, mainly attracting people from the local area, and didn’t come with the blazing heat that one would experience at a summer festival. And on top of that, the location of the parking lot outside Citi Field led to a lack of dirt, mud, and other messy factors that would come with standing in a field or grassy lot all day. With the combination of the cloudy 60-degree weather and the cement pavement setting, no mud was in sight and no sunscreen was needed.
The app: The Meadows Music Festival app was a blessing to all during this jam packed weekend. With live updates, set times, and maps that showed locations of stages, food vendors, and facilities, this free download was a festival must have. With the ability to find specific spots in correlation with your own location, navigating your way around the lot proved to be simple. And the push notifications kept the audiences informed and entertained. I personally got very hype with the message sent out directly before Kanye’s set, reading “This is a God dream. This will be everything.”
Chance’s performance: I’m a huge Chance the Rapper fan so obviously his performance stood amongst my favorites. His whole set was a production, with different characters, a full band including trumpets, and even some acting from the performer himself. His energy was equivalent with that of his fans, making his set so enjoyable. My absolute favorite moment of the weekend was the confetti shower during Chance’s blending of his songs “How Great” and “Blessings.” The gospel like tunes combined with the energy of the audience was a perfect pairing to the confetti release, right as the sun went down. The instant of looking up and only seeing confetti fill the sky while hearing Chance’s reverential like music was truly magical.
Kanye: Of course by now, everyone’s heard of Kanye’s dramatic exit from the music festival, but the performance of his set that did take place was still worth the entire day ticket itself. Although he didn’t have his floating stage, his iconic Saint Pablo tour beaming lights were still present and his opening of “Father Stretch My Hands” had everyone going crazy. The entirety of the set that took place was a nonstop show, with every song leading into the next, keeping the crowd constantly jumping and still in shock that THE Kanye West was in our presence. And personally, I think being able to say I was at the show where Kanye left the stage is actually pretty darn awesome.
WORST:
Costs: With a whopping price of $230 to attend both festival days, many hesitated to purchase a ticket as the cost was a turn off, but the lineup almost seemed totally worth it. But when the Meadows released the lineup schedules along with individual day tickets, everyone scrambled to purchase a Sunday pass in order to save money while still seeing Kanye. Along with the ticket price, the amount of money drained out of my pocket through the festival gates was a tragedy. The iconic Saint Pablo merchandise consisted of $90 sweatshirts and $50 shirts that so many people were dropping money on, and although the food lineup was amazing, the individual costs of everything really added up. Seeing some of the bigger acts live was definitely worth the price, but the hole in my pocket really became noticeable throughout the weekend.
The crowds: Obviously a festival with Byrson Tiller, Chance the Rapper, and Kanye West back-to-back on the same stage would draw large crowds, but even the festival officials were not prepared for the tight squeeze that became waiting for each performance at the main stage. I claimed by spot right before Bryson Tiller’s set and ultimately ended up staying there through the end of the night to Kanye’s departure. A total of six hours standing in the same spot, touching at least seven different people at once, being overheated and hungry, and most likely getting second hand high was not ideal for me. But pushing through ended up being worth it as when the sets began, all was forgotten. The only hard parts were during the hour long breaks between sets where all you could do was teeter totter side to side as more people pushed in and simply wait for the time to pass.
The Weeknd bailing: The Weeknd originally stood as the main headliner for Saturday’s lineup, being the main crowd drawer for the day. But as the Weeknd was announced as the musical guest for the premiere of Saturday Night Live on the same day, the Meadows bumped the group’s performance to earlier in the day, adding J. Cole as the alternate headliner. All was fine until the morning of October 2nd, when the festival sent out a notice that the Weeknd would no longer be able to make it at all. I had already seen the Weeknd at a different music festival a few years back, but the disappointment for most others was clear as they were the main headliner and the reason many fans came on Saturday at all.
Kanye again: Even though Mr. West made the best list, he also caused a lot of disappointment to the closing of the Sunday festival day. Although the brief set was life changing, he failed to come out on time, leaving the masses of people crowded and aggravated for an additional thirty minutes. Once he stepped foot on the stage everyone forgave him for his tardiness, but his exiting of the stage in the middle of everyone’s favorite throwback, “Heartless,” left the entire crowd confused and a little hurt. The announcement by a Meadows official that “Kanye West has left site,” started the craziness. Discovering afterwards the circumstances of the situation, his exit became understood, but my main disappointment still stands in that I didn’t get to see “Ultralight Beam” performed live with both Kanye and Chance the Rapper.
If you missed out on the Meadows you may have to wait until Governors Ball 2017 to hit festival season again, but in the meantime, there are plenty of concert opportunities to fill up the rest of the semester. iHeart Radio Jingle Ball at Madison Square Garden will be the night of nights this December with a lineup full of pop music icons for everyone, and if you’re looking for some more inexpensive and low key performances, Terminal 5 in Hell’s Kitchen has a jam packed schedule with artists ranging from M83 to Mac Miller.