Long-awaited Beyoncé headlines a bigger, better Made in America
Made in America, the Jay Z-curated festival now in its fourth year on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, was bigger than ever. On its first day the festival drew, per police estimates, a record 64,457 fans, making it difficult to move among the five stages once the crowd started swelling by midafternoon. There were also more acts than ever - more than 60 over two days.
All was prologue to Beyoncé.
Made in America, the Jay Z-curated festival now in its fourth year on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, was bigger than ever. On its first day the festival drew, per police estimates, a record 64,457 fans, making it difficult to move among the five stages once the crowd started swelling by midafternoon. There were also more acts than ever - more than 60 over two days.
All, however, was but prologue to headliner Beyoncé, who hit the stage a few minutes after her appointed 10:30 p.m. start time. She was greeted ecstatically by her largely female fan base. The woman standing next to me on Eakins Oval broke into tears when Beyoncé took the stage.
But more than 11 hours of music had taken place before that.
"What up, Made in America?"
With those words, following her first song, "Pull The Trigger," Detroit songwriter and bandleader Mayaeni kicked off the festival.
With the main entrance moved one block east to 21st St., the Skate Stage - where a host of Philadelphia bands played later on Saturday - now confronts festivalgoers on their way in, in full view of Auguste Rodin's The Thinker, who looked to be in deep contemplation of Mayaeni's blustery if not bombastic blues-rock as he looked on from the left of the singer-guitarist, who is signed to Jay Z's Roc Nation label. With a throaty howl and go-go boots accessorized with a long flowing shawl, Mayaeni worked hard to recall soul-rock vocalists like Janis Joplin, though the influence of a fellow Michigander was perhaps more in evidence: Kid Rock.
Overlooking the festival skate zone, Made in America's first local act, Creepoid, took the Skate Stage to set the tone for the Philly artists. Cruising through a short set, the grungy shoe-gaze foursome did their hometown proud in every dissonant chord and sweet harmony.
"We are Creepoid and we're from right here in Philadelphia," drummer Patrick Troxell exclaimed from behind a plume of fog-machine cloud to a small but spirited crowd that braved the afternoon sun.
Another Pennsylvania-bred grunge act, Superheaven, formerly known as Daylight, followed up to prove that while Philly might boast smooth singers, grit and sludge are still alive and well.
Capitalizing on the stage's proximity to the festival entrance and on an accessible '90s grunge aesthetic, Superheaven grabbed showgoers in transit to other destinations, as well as fans of the band's sonic and lyrical straightforwardness.
Never shy, guitarist and singer Taylor Madison blasted the event's lack of rock acts before heading into their set's heaviest tune, "Sponge."
Over at the Liberty stage, the impressive hip-hop MIA card got under way with Thebe Neruda Kgosotsile - the rapper better known as Earl Sweatshirt. Dressed in black shirt and shorts and high white socks, the lyric poet of the now-disbanded Odd Future hip-hop crew was accompanied by a DJ and hype man as he took his time spitting rhymes over loping, pounding beats. The 21-year-old veteran rapper moved from braggadocio to paranoia and anxiety on songs like "Grief," with hard-core heads rapping along in unison as the afternoon crowd thickened in anticipation of the evening headliners.
Chicago rapper Vic Mensa put on a high-energy set on the Rocky Stage that at times burst with raging rock and roll fury - at one point his band burst into Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." At times he slowed it down and crooned sweetly over a mellow house-music groove; at one point he referred to Allen Iverson's infamous "practice" news conference.
Backed by a live band, Mensa got the audience on their feet and gleefully rapping along to on Chance the Rapper's "Cocoa Butter Kisses": "Cigarettes on cigarettes, my momma think I stank!" His ability to mix things up, through EDM dance beats and grunge alike, helped bring an exciting freshness to the afternoon.
Changing the pace, Mensa segued to an onstage jam session set to Nirvana's "Nevermind" before upping the energy once more, most notably on the set closer, "U Mad," which brought down the house.
"Let's just all enjoy imagining where Beyoncé might be right now," Frances Quinlan of Philadelphia's Hop Along said midway through the band's dazzling set at the Skate Stage. "Maybe she's over by one of the food trucks. Or maybe she's up by the Billy Penn statue on City Hall, waiting to get picked up by a helicopter."
If the star of the show at Made in America 2015 was roaming the crowd incognito in hopes of finding the most exciting bands at the festival, she would have done well to catch Hop Along, a vise-tight four-piece whose unique attribute is Quinlan's superbly deployed abrasive-when-she-wants-it-to-be voice, coupled with her dramatic, narratively complex songs. While also touting the other Philly area bands sharing the Saturday Skate Stage, Hop Along drew from this year's superb Painted Shut, building to a raucous finish with "Sister Cities," that album's cathartic closing track.
The old-school hip-hop slot at this year's MIA went to De La Soul, the trio of New York "Daisy Age" rappers who helped stretch the boundaries of the music in the late 1980s and early 1990s heyday by mixing playfully psychedelic pop with light-stepping funk collages. As the late afternoon sun started to descend on the red- white-and-blue crowd, and traversing the increasingly crowded festival grounds began to get daunting, the band served up a most welcome laid-back vibe on classics like "Me Myself & I" and "Stakes Is High." They also did their best to direct security to deliver water to fans crammed into the area in front of the Rocky Stage, who still had a long time to wait for Beyoncé.
"We don't have a set list. We're going rogue tonight," Katie Crutchfield said as Waxahatchee began their Skate Stage set with "Under A Rock," off of her fantastic third LP, Ivy Tripp.
Rocking a full band, flanked by twin sister Allison of Swearin' on guitar and backing vocals, Philly's Waxahatchee charmed with emotional, detail-ridden tunes, seldom clocking in at more than three minutes. It's part of what makes Crutchfield so alluring: her ability to outline moments of angst succinctly.
Despite the casual air, there was never a moment of hesitation or trepidation. The fivesome were sharp and tight. But as compelling as the full-band selections were, there's nothing quite like Crutchfield, her guitar, and a microphone. And with her sister's supplemental vocals, these quiet moments became the gems of the set.
Watch out, world - Nick Jonas is all grown up.
The former boy-band star traded in his brotherly past for a sexy new look and sound - and the changes definitely suit him. Playing the front man we knew he could be, Jonas swanked and swaggered across the Liberty Stage as he crooned through songs from his debut under his own name.
At points, the set felt a little too perfectly coiffed - the guy's had years of band and Broadway experience, after all. But Jonas added a little texture with covers of Outkast's "Roses"; "I Can't Feel My Face," a tune by Sunday night's closing act, The Weeknd; and Bell Biv Devoe's "Poison."
The new Nick Jonas is soulful and dance-y, with a bit of R&B. That mix attracts both fans of his squeaky-clean past and new listeners. The crowd gave out high-pitched squeals and fist pumps. But when he slid into his falsetto, forget it: girlish screams all around.
Strand of Oaks know how to jam. The musical project of Timothy Showalter came out of the gates hard on the Skate Stage. As cathartic as HEAL, the last Strand of Oaks record, was, live is where Showalter lets his demons out. When he sings, "I spent two long years losing my mind," on the album's title track, you see his purpose and pain. They resonate in his vocals and body language.
Technical difficulties threatened to derail the show; Showalter filled the silence with a playful rap, as in "Yo, my name's Tim and I like to cry." But once past that, Strand of Oaks came back triumphantly and never slowed. "JM," the searing, eight-plus minute set closer, was a highlight for both songwriter and audience.
In a difficult time slot (6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.), Showalter and company managed to attract a sizable crowd despite playing simultaneously with Tanlines, DJ Mustard, and North Philly's Meek Mill.
After this Labor Day weekend, summer is unofficially over, and it seems the Meek Mill-Drake rap feud is finished, too. On the Rocky Stage on Saturday night, North Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill came out with the bearing of a fighter, wearing a yellow Arsenal soccer jersey and barking out rhymes with trademark fierceness. He had plenty of praise for his hometown - "One thing I know about Philly, they always show me love." He told gritty tales of his roughneck beginnings while pledging to stay true to the streets: "Anybody who knew me when I had nothing and knows me now that I have all this money knows I remain the same." But he never mentioned the name of his Canadian rival.
It was just as well: Who needs Drake, when you've got Nicki Minaj? Meek was fiery and entertaining throughout his set, and he charmed the crowd by bringing his son, whom he introduced as Papi, out to dance to Silento's hit "Watch Me." And he worked the crowd into a frenzy, closing with his best song, the majestic "Dreams More than Nightmares."
But who cares about all that? All that really mattered was that, after reading the crowd by playing snippets of her songs, he brought his girlfriend Nicki Minaj out, in the flesh. They did the tepid duet "All Eyes On You" from his chart-topping album Dreams Worth More than Money. But before they did that, Minaj gave a shout-out to people who are still in school, and people who pay their own bills. Then she said that "everybody got love for my baby Daddy!" What? OMG, is she pregnant with Meek Mill's child? Feel free to start obsessing over that question, Internet.
Despite their fearsome name, Death Cab For Cutie might have been the softest act booked into a major slot at this year's MIA, which is filled with tough-guy rappers and one fierce female headliner. But while the Ben Gibbard-fronted Seattle singer-songwriter band were far from a natural fit, the mellow vibes they put forth as darkness fell on the Liberty Stage worked well with a crowd ready to chill out (if not slump to the ground) after an all-day diet of 20-ounce Budweisers.
Death Cab opened with "The New Year," from the 2003 album Transatlanticism and closed with the title cut from that album. While the young, hip-hop friendly and eager-for-Beyoncé crowd didn't seem familiar with Gibbard's well-wrought, earnest plaints, those still standing bopped amiably along nonetheless, and on the more energetic songs, you might have mistaken Death Cab for a dance band.
Hitting the stage just two hours before headliner Beyoncé, British house DJ Duke Dumont skated smoothly between his own Caribbean disco-inspired tracks like the Jax Jones-featuring "I Got U," remixes like a pounding treatment of Destiny's Child's "Lose My Breath," and instrumental mixes.
Nestled high above the stage in a DJ booth, the performance played more as a packed dance party than as a show of Dumont's artistry. Beach balls flew over the crowd, flags billowed, and smoke rose. It was hard to tell what was more prominent, the smell of marijuana or the blistering bass - though the two seem to go hand in hand.
Don't let the hair fool you: Bassnectar is no metal guitarist (though he used to be). The long-locked DJ was the final performance before Beyoncé's main stage show.
Not as glamorous as previous Duke Dumont, Bassnectar harped on his hip-hop influences. Perhaps most surprising were his samples of both James Brown and Nirvana. But the crowd favorite was the surprise appearance of Dead Prez. Performer and audience connected at times, but the allure of the night's finale proved almost insurmountable. Fulfilling for those in need of a heavy dose of earth-shaking mixes, Bassnectar's show served as little more than fill music for a crowd swiftly draining toward the other B-named star.
Beyoncé took the stage a few minutes after her appointed 10:30 start time, rising up on a center-stage platform and opening with the slowed, remixed version of her 2003 hit "Crazy In Love" that she re-recorded for this year's 50 Shades Of Grey sound track.
Playing her first headline show in over a year, on the day after her 34th birthday, Beyoncé moved on with a staccato take on "711" from her self-titled 2013 album, and then moved into a feminist segment, with a quote from female fighter Ronda Rousey (about not being raised to be a "do-nothing bitch") leading into "Diva" and the Destiny's Child song "Survivor."
With no new album to push, the headlining set worked as an extension of last year's tour for Beyoncé, blended in with a career's worth of great hits, all honed into a hyperkinetic stage show that conveyed an image of not-to-be-messed-with female strength and sexuality. Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's spoken definition of "feminist" ("a person who believes in the social, economic and political equality of the sexes") gave way to "Flawless," which in turn flowed into "Say My Name," Destiny's Child's demand for respect.
Needless to say, Beyoncé put these themes across while delivering vocals gale-force and gyrating like nobody's business in a succession of skin-tight body suits. After donning a sparkly red Sixers jersey mid-set, she slowed down for a power-ballad segment with "XO," followed by a few words thanking loyal fans before a soaring "Halo" and the rococo vocal curlicues of "1 + 1."
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