We had nothing short of a blast this weekend at Budweiser’s Made In America (MIA) Festival in downtown Philadelphia. The colossal 140,000 person gathering which took place over two days and five stages brought together a diverse group of musicians and fan demographics in an unparalleled homage to American music and beer. As far as music festivals go, Made In America was peculiar – but that’s because it wasn’t a music festival at all.
In an article from the Huffington Post titled “The Commercialization of Music Festivals and the Rise of Super Concerts“, author Peter Mason makes the case that many events which people wish to call music festivals are actually super concerts. A super concert lacks the grassroots history of a music festival, and the presentation it makes to fans is entirely commercial. “As commercialization increases, Super Concerts are labeled as music festivals and made to be a hot ticket of the summer. This is not the natural progression for the thriving music festivals in America and around the world, but a bastardization and redefinition of the concept of a festival,” says Mason.
#thisbudsforyou
Don’t get me wrong. As an event, Made In America was a massive success. DJs Duke Dumont, Botnek, Claude Von Stroke and more maintained a steady dance party all weekend at the Freedom Stage despite the lack of traffic to that stage, a fact which speaks to the composition of the crowd at MIA. More important to most attendees was the opportunity to catch hip-hop heavyweights like J. Cole, Earl Sweatshirt and De La Soul who dropped knowledge on Philly like a ton of bricks. Add to this a pair of absolutely enchanting performances from Bassnectar and Beyonce and you have one hell of a weekend in music.
Rocky Stage
Freedom Stage
Yet any claim MIA makes to being a music festival is dubious to say the least. Instead of an event centered around music and community, it presented itself as a tribute to commercialism and inebriation. One glance in any direction and your eyes would land on forty Budweiser logos and about thirty underaged inebriates shoving their way past an older, more respectful demographic to get closer to the stage and “the party”.
With approximately 70,000 people packed into the grounds each day, and beer selling for $12 per can, Made In America sacrificed community for currency. They made a killing as they rightfully should, but in doing so created an atmosphere which fostered disrespect and a plethora of potential harms. Bottlenecks between stages forced patrons to disregard civility and push, shove and step over anyone in their way. The diversity of the crowd nearly turned from a blessing to a curse with different demographics (Bassheads, Bey-heads, college students, native Philadelphians) all going out for self to avoid being taken advantage of by others.
MIA bassheads
MIA beyheads
MIA attendees (not musically affiliated)
On a more progressive note, HeadCount.org was on site in full effect, bustling about with clipboards registering America’s youth to vote. Beyonce sent chills throughout the crowd by interpolating quotes from UFC fighter Ronda Rousey and American renaissance woman Maya Angelou to empower the women watching her performance. She also dug deep into the catalogue of Destiny’s Child, performing timeless hits like “Survivor” and “Bootylicious” for an enormous and faithful crowd. Bassnectar brought out the duo Dead Prez for a live performance of the track “Hip-Hop“. Activist in nature, the song suggests record labels “slang our [artists] tapes like dope”, and asked if you would rather have “a Lexus or justice, a dream or some substance, a Beamer a necklace or freedom”. It appeared both of these headliners saw fit to use their stage for something more than entertainment. Regardless of any qualms we had with Made In America as a whole, this resonated with us deeply.
As we already noted, the weekend was a smashing success. Even the progenitor of Made In America, Jay Z, was spotted getting loose in the crowd during Bassnectar. MIA and events like it are opportunities to experience a wide swath of spectacular popular music and party one’s ass off. As participants in the rapidly expanding electronic music scene, we thought it right to reinforce the distinction between a music festival, which has a vibrant and empowering sense of community, and a super concert, which replaces this vibe with one of intense commercialism. Given this, Made In America is the perfect title for Philly’s super concert.
Connect with Made In America:
https://www.facebook.com/MadeInAmericaFest
https://twitter.com/miafestival
http://a.madeinamericafest.com
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