By: Zack, Jr. Reporter
Hello my name is Zack. I’m writing this special edition article because of an awesome concert I got the chance to go to, the Made in America Festival in Philly. I first heard about the Made in America Festival when I was listening to Juice WRLD on YouTube. I’ve been listening to Rap music for a little over a year now and Lil Skies and Juice WRLD are my favorite artists, and after I checked out the Made in America Festival I saw they were BOTH going to be there. I couldn’t believe they were both coming to PA, I just knew I had to go! I asked Mom if I could go, and told her that it would be the best birthday present EVER. I really wanted me and my friend Jake to go alone, but Mom said No.
She sneakily reached out to the promoters of the festival and to my HUGE surprise, they sent us an email and said we could come to the festival, me as a Junior Reporter, and Mom as my photographer. I’m extremely thankful to the Mitch Schneider Organization (MSO) for this amazing opportunity. Not only did I get to go to the festival, but we also had our own special entrance, and we had special access to the stage areas too. It is definitely a day I will never forget.
We only got to go to one day of the festival, unfortunately Lil Skies played the 2nd day so I didn’t get to see him perform, but I did get to see quite a few artists. Altogether they had at least 71 different artists perform over two days and four stages. It was so cool how they had the four stages and music was playing somewhere all day long. When we got there we headed to the Liberty Stage to see 6lack. Even though it was one of the smaller stages it was crazy to see how the sea of people went on forever. 6lack did not disappoint. It was cool to see everyone singing along to the lyrics and enjoying the music. I couldn’t believe how great the sound was at every stage. Everything was top notch! I couldn’t wait to check out the main stage later!
After 6lack it was time for Juice WRLD!! Juice WRLD released a big hit, “Lucid Dreams” back in May and since then his career has rocketed. They had him on one of the smallest stages, the Tidal Stage, and we were all squished in there as tight as we could be. It wasn’t really a bad thing, it was actually a lot of fun. I never experienced so many people loving the same music. I was singing along and recording as many videos on my phone as possible. He played “Black and White” and “Lean Wit Me” (which was the first song I ever liked of his, so that was extra cool.) He obviously played “Lucid Dreams” and of course the crowd went crazy! That song has had over 166 Million views since May! I really don’t think they thought Juice WRLD had such a following, hopefully next year he’ll be on a bigger stage so even more people can enjoy the show!
The next artist and our first experience on the main stage, was Meek Mill. Meek Mill is from Northern Philly, so he had the home court advantage. Meek Mill is one of my brother’s favorite artists, so I took some special videos for him to watch later. It was cool to see Meek Mill share the stage with some other up and coming Philly artists, giving them their time to shine. Meek Mill put on a great show and had me even more excited to see Post Malone later in the night.
After Meek Mill we went walking through the festival and got some food and took a break back in the media tent. I was impressed with how everything was so organized. Even though there was a ton of people there, we had no problems getting food, etc. The free water stations were very cool, and I especially liked the charging lockers. What a cool idea. A place where you could lock your phone that had charger ports to charge your phone at the same time. When you are taking so many pictures and videos your phone dies quickly, so that was cool. I couldn’t believe the festival was big enough to have a Ferris Wheel, a huge swing, and some other crazy rides.
After a little break, it was time to head back to the main stage for the headliner of the day, Post Malone. He definitely had the biggest and coolest entrance of the day! It was completely black, and then BOOM! The lights went up and there he was, coming out of the smoke, signing “Go Flex”, and the crowd just went crazy and never stopped for the rest of the night! I couldn’t believe that he played for well over an hour. Mom made me start leaving before the show was completely over, but we could still hear the music even when we were walking down the street. Right after we walked out I heard him playing one of my favorites “Candy Paint” and I was like REALLY?!? It was a cool experience to see so many people sitting outside of the fence listening to the music and still having a great time.
After our short walk back to the car, I still didn’t have a voice, but Mom said my smile spoke 1,000 words! I definitely had a day I’ll never forget. I’m extremely thankful again to MSO for this amazing opportunity. I sure hope they find a place just as cool to have the Made in America Festival next year.