It’s cold and dreary outside as I head to Queens for the inaugural Meadows Festival at Flushing Meadow Park. While the weather is not ideal for an outdoor festival, my spirits are high, as the forecasted rain seems to have decided to not show up. When I arrive to the festival grounds, I go explore before the first act of the day, LOLAWOLF, takes the stage. There are four stages set up: Shea, Linden Blvd, Queens Blvd, and The Meadows stage. The Meadows stage is the main stage of the day and takes up a whole half of a parking lot, while the other three stages are spread out evenly around the other half of the parking lot. It’s a great set up as all the stages are easily accessible from the others, and it doesn’t take too long to get from one stage to next.
Day one gets off to a crazy start, with Zoë Kravitz of LOLAWOLF drinking a Solo cup filled with vodka at only 1 in the afternoon. I also check out Australian indie rock group, Miami Horror, who completely own the stage. Halfway through their third song, frontman Benjamin Plant climbs up the scaffolding at the side of the stage and does pull-ups hanging over the crowd (see in the gallery below). I also go to see rapper Post Malone, electronic rock group Chromeo, psychedelic rock group Yeasayer, and DJ/EDM artist Zhu. The day is rounded out with an amazing set by Empire Of The Sun, which even includes four really talented dancers decked out in alien-like garb. All that is left to be seen is day one headliner, J. Cole, who hails from New York, so this show is an extra big deal for him. J Cole is an amazing end to a great, albeit cold day; his song “Wet Dreamz” which is about losing his virginity, is a highlight of the night. Day one is a massive success, but day two is stacked and I can’t wait for it to start!
Day two of the Meadows Festival is much less overcast which is a welcome sign. Today starts earlier, and my first act of the day is songstress Zella Day. She owns the stage and gets the crowd excited early on a Sunday morning. The rest of my day is packed with music. I go and catch talented two-some Chairlift, Australian rock group the Temper Trap, one of my personal favorites BØRNS, and female-fronted rock group Metric. One act I need to give props to is Englishman Jack Garratt. He played before Metric, and he’s a one-piece act. He sings and uses electronic music machines as well as a keyboard and drums to perform his music live. He had technical difficulties after his first song, which would lead many a musician to storm off the stage and not finish their set. But not, Jack Garratt; instead he asks his tech to bring him out a guitar. He then proceeds to jam out electric guitar versions of two of his songs while his techs fix the problem. His electronic instruments are finally fixed and he gets to finish his set how he saw fit.
The day is rounded out by sets from Chance The Rapper, and my personal favorite band, Manchester natives the 1975. Most people know that Kanye West closed out the night, having to end his set 20 minutes early due to a “family emergency,” which wound up being his wife, Kim Kardashian, being robbed at gun point in her Paris hotel room.
All in all, the inaugural Meadows Festival was a success. Any kinks were ironed out within the first few hours of the first day, and it was smooth sailing from there. We are so excited to make the Meadows Festival part of our yearly routine! View our gallery from the festival below:
ZOE KRAVITZ (LOLAWOLF)
ZELLA DAY
CHAIRLIFT
YEASAYER
MIAMI HORROR
BØRNS
JACK GARRATT
ZHU
POST MALONE
THE TEMPER TRAP
METRIC
J. COLE
CHROMEO
CHANCE THE RAPPER
EMPIRE OF THE SUN
THE 1975
