As if day one of Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware wasn’t exciting enough, day two was everything one could expect and more. The festival continued with musical acts like Bob Dylan and His Band, Galantis, The Naked and Famous, Capital Cities, The Weeknd, T-Pain and Chance the Rapper. Aside from music, day two was filled with good vibes and tons of fun. From Kesha’s tear-inducing performance to The Weeknd’s fire set, the second chapter of Firefly had everything. It was also all about reliving the glory days, with musicians like DJ Jazzy Jeff laying down remixes of summer hits of the past. Meanwhile, a lot of smaller indie artists — like Philadelphia native rapper Chill Moody — previewed new music for their fans.
Firefly was stacked with local Philadelphia artists from every genre of music. Early in the morning, Philly-based DJ Shizz Lo got the crowd bumping with some insane tracks. As the day progressed, the music changed, setting the tone for the rest of the afternoon. Chill Moody rocked the house at The Hub before people headed into The Woodlands. Another Philadelphia native band, Cold Roses, took their time in the spotlight, carefully playing some of their hits before heading off.
After performing at the Coffeehouse, indie band Magic Giant took their spot at the Lawn stage. The band opened up their afternoon set with hits like “Set on Fire” from their debut album, In The Wind. They continued their set well into the late afternoon, performing sweet tunes as they went. DJ Steve James was next up at The Pavilion stage. Known for co-producing Justin Bieber’s album, Purpose, James now had the spotlight on him. He kept the crowd dancing, even under the dark clouds. Not playing anything in particular, James remixed a variety of hit pop songs like “That’s What I Like” by Bruno Mars and “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran.
Day two consisted of more than just DJs and EDM. One of the highlights was T-Pain, taking everyone back to the early 2000s on the main stage. Almost instantly, crowds of people flooded the central area near the stage, showing the significant impact of T-Pain’s career. He performed hits like “Buy You A Drink,” “Bartender,” “Can’t Believe It” and “I’m So Hood.” Both the crowd and T-Pain were so into the performance that everyone broke into dance. The rapper is known for using Auto-Tune, which he brought back, if only for a day.
As the day switched to night, the headliners prepared to take the stage. First up was the legendary Bob Dylan and His Band. As the sun began to set, Dylan played host to the night with hits like “Highway 61,” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and “I Could Have Told You.” His music kept the crowd hanging on his every tune. Later on, he switched gears, playing tunes from his new album, Triplicate, which was released earlier this year. For an hour and 45 minutes, Bob Dylan and His Band performed in front of the whole festival. Pop singer Kesha was also seen attending, singing along with the folk legend without skipping a beat — before leaving to get ready for her own set.
After the soulful performance of Bob Dylan, festival-goers rushed over to the Lawn stage to see the enigmatic pop singer Kesha, live. She provided the biggest highlight of the night as she performed all her career hits. The set started off with “We R Who We R,” setting the tone for the evening. Before starting the next song, Kesha took time to talk about her now infamous court case against producer Dr. Luke. She let her fans know that she has a load of music for them to hear, but couldn’t say any more. The whole theme of the night for Kesha was “Fuck the World,” as a sign that hung behind her throughout her set prominently displayed. She encouraged everyone to just live in the now and not worry about the problems waiting back at home.
The night ended with both Chance the Rapper and The Weeknd performing their chart-topping hits. The Weeknd started with singles like “Tell Your Friends About It,” “Starboy,” “Lowlife” and many others. On the screen behind him, visual effects rounded out the show with an array of colors and lights. The Weeknd’s act ended with a large display of fireworks over the main stage, as people went to attend the last show of the night, Chance the Rapper, who dazzled the crowd with gospel-inspired songs from his widely popular mixtape, Coloring Book. Chance performed the popular remix to Francis and the Lights’ “May I Have This Dance” with Francis projected on a big screen next to the stage. With Chance the Rapper and The Weeknd closing out the night, it will be hard to top this during Sunday night’s finale.
Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat
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