Made in America

I love you JBud but NO NO NO.
YOU CAN DO BETTER.
1. I got an infection BC of the amount of dust and crap that was in my lungs. Sneezed ever 5 mins with BLACK crap coming out every time. It was DISGUSTING.
What pissed me off most is the WORKERS had masks on… SO YOU KNEW THIS PRIOR. SHAME ON YOU!!!
–what would have been genius since you had tidal everywhere (towels, stickers etc) was MASKS with the tidal logo **genius**
Would have looked awesome in pics since at raves people DO wear masks.
I’M SUING IF SOMEONE STEALS THIS IDEA.
2. TOO many people. I am the QUEEN of getting to the front but it wasn’t even worth it BC you prob would get smashed or take an additional 30 mins to get out.
3. WHO TF TAKES NAPS AT FESTIVALS??? As a raver, this isn’t allowed people this is how bad things happen. It literally looked like death row with row and rows of people sleeping.
4. You were SO wrong for that BS small stage for the edm people. It was the most live and it was shoved in the corner with the worse dust knowing people dance most to that music.
I never hated a festival so much, I was SO sick after shaking and crap. Just INCONSIDERATE and wrong to KNOW how gross of an venue you guys chose and treat people like you don’t care and only protect YOUR people. WE MADE THIS POSSIBLE, treat us the same.
Done with this festival unless major changes but I’m not your people, highly doubt you will care.

I had some fun share of moments at this festival like during DJ mustard and seeing The Weekend live was everythingg! But seriously this was the most poorly run and chaotic festival I’ve ever been to! The whole place was severely dusty everywhere from the chalky dirt from the ground. We even had to go to the medical tent to grab a face mask. The first day when we got home we had black snots all night it was disgusting. The stages as well we’re quite small and poorly set up on the fields especially for the amount of people they had at this festival. There were random picnic benches in the middle of nowhere which the crowd would bum rush you into and your legs would get bruised up, random rails and ramps on the floor that myself and so many others almost sprained our ankles from, and let alone the crowd and vibe of this festival was awful. Fights breaking out left and right, angry disgusting rude people pushing and shoving left and right and argueing, screaming everywhere I went… I’ve been to many festivals and use to the pushing and crowd but this was on another level… ESPECIALLY DURING FUTURE… Everyone in this festival were a bunch of angry douche bags. Festival is definitely ratchet x1000.
Whoever below said this was not chaotic must be on some drugs in their own world. Trust me, I’m all about a good time and turning up, and usually don’t mind some bad encounters but this festival was poor. If it wasn’t for the smooth fun blast of time during DJ Mustard and The Weekend highlighting my experience, Made in Ameica would’ve received 0 stars from me.

I attended the 2015 festival and I will start off with saying the line up was great. They definitely got some great artists to come out. I will say Sunday’s lineup was better than Saturday’s (even though Beyoncé was headlining on Saturday). I think modest mouse and death cab for cutie didn’t really fit with the festival and there were periods of time on Saturday where there weren’t any artists performing that I wanted to see. However Sunday’s lineup gets the review up to 4 stars.
Now I’ll comment on why I gave it an overall 2 star rating. The venue is too small for the number of people they have. Five stages crammed into the parkway up until 21^st street just isn’t enough space. Even if I showed up early to an artist’s set I was still at the back of a crowd with people trying to push past me to walk around the stage. Second, the venue is dusty, like dust bowl dusty. All that dust cannot be good for the lungs. Third, they didn’t empty the portapotties ONCE during the day on Saturday. MIA planners we commend you on having free water available but honestly when the portapotties are filled to the brim at 8pm and your headliner doesn’t come on until 10:30pm we have a problem. Fourth, noise between the stages! I felt like the stages were so crammed together that you couldn’t separate sets if they overlapped each other. All these put together, I give the festival a one star rating. Average two stars.

Best Music festival I’ve attended thus far!!! For 140 000 tickets sold, I anticipated chaos.
It’s so hard to go into detail when all goes well.
Thanks for the app budweiser, it provided us with updates about entry lines, weather, etc.
Tidal streamed the festival so I got to watch one performer via mobile as I was arriving to the fest.
Thank you forever for BEYONCE! Her performance was amazeballs.
The lineup was great. Entry and exit was what I expected. I was a bit dirty leaving the fest both days but what can you do.
CON: I suspected a lot of underage drinking going on. But Budweiser nor Jay Z can do anything about that.

This entire festival valued quantity over quality. and it really showed.
I am not a concert newbie, I understand there are crowds, and filth but good lord… where do I even begin. Let just say there was not one touch of cleanliness through out this entire event. No clean porta-​potties, no hand sanitizer, no soap, no toilet paper, the list goes on. Not nearly enough trash cans. By Day 2, the festival resembled a slum. Not only where no there areas to sit, but you couldn’t sit on the ground because of the massive amounts of garbage.
$ 12 for a Budweiser. I’m not even gonna get into that. The fact that someone in charge of this whole production OK’ed that decision should consider a career change because you clearly don’t know anything. Everyone knows Budweiser sucks.
Not enough food trucks, or any other beverages besides Budweiser, not enough space in general for the event. Trying to get out of the crowds was terrifying. And I work/​stay in NYC through out the week and am in crowds everyday and I honestly am fine in them, but this was not just a crowd, it was dangerous how many people were sandwiched together. Also, there were hardly any police/​medics for how many people there were.
I’m in my young twenties so I consider myself young but when I tell you there were young people there… I’m talking middle schoolers getting wasted wearing high ride shorts with their butts hanging out, and bra tops. Everywhere. Barely anyone older than 19. When I was that age, we were not this expressive… everyone seemed to be trying really hard. Either that or they were rude, hostile and some-​what violent. (My friend had someone dig nails into her arm for just trying to leave the crowd, not the actual venue’s fault but wow everyone needed to calm the f* down.)
The fact that you can’t come and go as you please is so transparent and greedy of Budweiser and Made In America that I will be cautious about attending their future events. They keep you there all day so you can spend money on overpriced water and big pretzels. Oh and you can’t bring your own food or fold up chair. This is what $ 200 a day got us.
With that said… I saw BEYONCÉ! So that pretty much makes up for everything. And I went with my bff and we ventured to Philly and it was fun because we had each other. But we probably will just stick to concerts in NYC near us ;-)

After this i realized im a concert person. I need an assigned seat and some personal space
Lets get this out of the way the line up was great. beyonce killed it. Yea she did the same songs i saw at the on the run tour but the mixed, costumes, and choreography was fresh so it felt brand new. I got to see some old favs like Fabolous who brought out young gunz and freeway! And was introduced to some new acts like saint motel.
The music acts are awesome of course but as the day wore on the sheer amount of ppl was overwhelming, especially close to the main stages I couldn’t even get to see big sean after Future preformed because the crowd was literally sandwiched together and trying to move at one time. They really over sold those tickets and it ruined the end of the event.
Also I get bud sponsored that event but geez $ 11 for a beer? I dont even like beer but i guess that worked out in my favor because being out in the sun and heat for over 7 hours drinking wouldn’t have been the best deal. But taxing ppl for water is ridiculous and that free refill station was a joke the lines were ridiculous just like at the charging stations.
Also no re entry is ridiculous its not like there were handy seating areas anywhere… ppl were just supposed to flop down in the dirt. And you couldnt bring in chairs.
Having the event in the middle of Philly was an awesome idea. Seeing all that architecture and the monuments in and around the festival was a great touch.
I wouldn’t come back to this festival unless they didnt over sell the tickets which probably wont happen. Id rather see artists in concert where i know i wont be trampled trying to walk around and i can guarantee i will actually see and enjoy the show.

This is the music festival for people who want to go to a music festival but not to an actual camping out in the middle of bumbleville-​festival.
This festival is acceptable to attend if you live nearby, but definitely not worth traveling from afar and/​or paying to stay in crazy inflated priced hotels.
Cons: disgusting porta-​potties, $ 12 for a warm Budweiser, hour long lines for overpriced food, nowhere to sit and enjoy said food, you have to sit in the street amidst all the kicked-​up dirt-​filled air around, some stages are spaced very inefficiently and too close to one another, thus mass crowding. Sunday evening’s spacing between the huge names was TERRIBLE.
The free water stations have ridiculously long lines, there are nowhere near enough garbages, either. More cooling stations/​solutions should have been implemented. Speakers sometime could not handle loud volumes that instrumentals from Axwell & Ingrosso’s and The Weeknd’s sets contained.
Pros: A great line up with something for anyone, with a variety of genres covered. The artists really performed at a high level and kept the crowd entertained, if they weren’t waiting in bathroom, food, and water lines, that is. Beyoncé killed it. The Weeknd killed it, as well. Glad to see Meek Mill isn’t suffering from PTSD.
Jay-​Z: if you’re reading this, I still think you’re great and a global business icon, but this festival was surprisingly poorly planned and executed. According to the MIA website and articles, you had a large say over the planning of the festival, but I really hope you take the time to consider your fans’ feedback. Please somehow get in touch with me, I’d love to provide some constructive criticism from the viewpoint of someone who has attended MIA 2 years running.

I attended the 2015 MIA in Philly and let’s just say I won’t be going back. Definitely expect more from a Jay Z event.
PROS:
Line up was amazing
Good location, I really enjoyed Philly
CONS:
WAY OVER CAPACITY, I mean extremely. It was impossible to get around or get anywhere near the stage. I pretty much paid to watch the performances on a giant tv screen with 40,000 people. I would say the venue should hold half that many people. This pretty much ruined the experience for me.
A friend I brought with me was on the verge of passing out (from dehydration we think), and when we asked for a medic the only thing he did for us was suggest water and give us a cool rag. If my friend wouldn’t have recovered after 20 minutes and we would have needed more assistance, I really don’t believe they would have done much for us. VERY UNSAFE.
Food wasn’t very good, and definitely overpriced. And my expectations weren’t very high.
WON’T BE BACK, which is really sad because this has so much potential.

Well, I’ve attended this festival every year they’ve been here and yup, 2 stars is all this fest gets
Why come back every year if it’s so underwhelming and I give it 2 stars? Well there are a few positives and I’ll start there (also. it’s in my hometown so it’s like going to a festival in your backyard, good music will bring me there).
The good —
MUSIC — I’ve been happy with the music selection. This year specifically hats off to Jay-​Z for bringing BASSNECTAR here — that made me insanely happy. Atrak, GTA, DeLaSoul were some other awesome highlights along with Claude von Stroke and Duke Dumont. Tech isn’t that big in Philly, but us music beatheads appreciate the good music selection.
Also, water situation this year was much better
And. that ends the good
The bad
1) This year was stupid over-​crowded. Blatantly oversold and overcapacity. Such a bottleneck effect getting from one stage to another. Really a joke
2) To that effect, because of the overcapacity issue you understand that your limited food truck selections lead to a VERY LONG food truck line and also very long drink lines. let’s move on to the drinks
3) $ 12 for a pounder Budweiser is also a joke. Yay it’s a pounder, great. except that this is sponsored by Budweiser so you really can’t go lower than $ 12 for a pounder? That’s a joke if I ever heard one
4) TRAIN YOUR STAFF. Trust me. I go to enough concerts, shows, festivals to know that staff is usually outsourced to an event company/​security company but fine — make sure they’re TRAINED CORRECTLY. And try to be polite, we’re your customers that may never return again. Example — I brought my hula-​hoop day 1 with no issues at all — great, wonderful. Guess what, I even screenshot your FAQ on your website for this specific possible issue which claimed no issues to hula hoops I read it 10 times over. Day 2 staff member says «you can’t bring those in.» Me: I brought them yesterday with no issues, you want to look at the FAQ I screenshot there is no indication. Staff: you can’t bring them in. Me: Let me see your supervisor Staff: hey mikey can she bring them in? «Mikey»: Yeah that’s not a problem. Me: That’s what I thought *keeps walking*. Idiot staff: hey i’m just trying to do my job Me: Trying, but not succeeding very well. «Mikey»: Lose your attitude. Since this is Unilocal,I will abstain from the obscenities I am currently saying in my head right now but that’s no way to treat a customer you ***************. Consistency. Train your staff to the SAME standards or same rules. Somehow these incompetent folks have a paid job???
I’ll end it there. Good luck to anyone that goes

i attended the 2015 MIA festival. The music was absolutely awesome. The festival had a really useful app with the schedule and map of the grounds. The app also had the option to save your personal lineup. This fest was completely sold out and was a bit of a shit show. After after 20 minutes in one of the MANY lines for beer, they ran out and were waiting on more to come, i had to go to a different line and wait all over again. I was not carded for any alcohol that i bought at that festival, and was not given a «21 and up bracelet», which was a bit disturbing because there was tons of little drunk kids everywhere. The food was outrageously pricey which sucks because the tickets alone were super expensive. It was $ 15 for 3 meatballs. Youre not allowed to bring in any food or drink besides an unopened water bottle. Also not allowed to bring in a fold up chair. They offer a couple free hydration stations but the lines were jammed of course. A camelbak is highly recommended. A lot of the stages were located on dirt areas. These areas filled with so much dirt in the air that you could barely see. people wrapped shirts and bandanas around their face just to breath. My snots were black the next day from breathing it in. Overall, the performers were amazing, but it felt like the place was way over its capacity.

Jeez Jay Z, get your sh** together! This music fest is not deserving of your reputation and brand!
Disclaimer: I went in 2013 so things might have changed since then. But my experience was not the best that I have not thought to give it another shot yet.
Ok, let’s start out with the positives before my actual rant begins…
** Great lineup — When your wife is Beyonce and you’re a well-​known rap artist with monumental influence in the music biz, I’m sure it’s pretty easy to get a good lineup for the music fest that you endorse. Some big artists that performed in 2013 were my girl Bey, DeadMaus, Calvin Harris, Kendrick and more
** Great marketing — again as a rap mogul who has launched a ton of businesses, I’m sure Jay Z has got the marketing thing down pat
Now that the pleasantries are out of the way. Let me get started. Firstly, what’s up with those ridiculous lines for water? It was 4x easier to get alcohol than water at the music fest. Which is sooo dangerous especially since the music fest is out in the sun where people are dancing or on their feet for hours on end. There was only 1 water refill station for a music fest that let in hundreds of people. So of course, the wait for it was approx 1 hour which means your missing out on listening to the artists that you paid to see. So if you then decided to try and BUY water, oh well sorry but they ran out!
Also when you’ve spent a full day camped out listening to artists sometimes all you want to do is sit down. Unfortunately the area where the music fest is held isn’t large enough to always find a place to plop your bum down. During the day, its much easier. But at night, forget it! There is no place to sit. I’m not talking about those in the front who camp out for hours just to see the headliners perform. I’m talking about anywhere within the bounds of the music fest.
Lastly, what was the deal with the crap food and only Budweiser sold there? If I’m paying an arm and a leg for a meal, at least let it be a halfway decent meal. Gov Ball has a phenomenal selection of food in comparison. Sorry but I am a bit of a NYC food snob when it comes to it and I had a hard time paying for a limited selection of crap. It was especially terrible because a friend of mine can only eat chicken (no beef) and their menu consisted of burgers, fries and chicken tenders. When she went to order chicken tenders (after waiting in line for 45 min) she found out that the were all out of chicken tenders. She ended up eating fries for each meal.

Good lord, I somehow had a great time at MIA but by most measures it shoulda been a horrible experience, so I dunno.
First, the good. The music was FANTASTIC and everyone seemed to be having a blast. The beer was just Bud (couldn’t even find Bud Light)– and it was like $ 11 but really for two beers so i didn’t think that was bad at all. And yes there were a ton of obnoxious teenagers and it was crowded. But it’s a music festival, after all.
However, it would be much more fun if we could come and go. I’d definitely have come for some of the earlier bands if I knew I weren’t trapped there, but instead I just came late.
There was a huge storm in the middle of the day so they kicked everyone out– I guess they had to, but that was a shit show. I asked some people working the event how we would know when it started back up and no one could tell me. So we missed a few acts we really wanted to see. That sucked.
But the truly disgusting part of this thing was the porta potties. They weren’t just gross, they were actually totally and completely unacceptable. It HAD to have been a health code violation. Toilet paper was obviously not a thing, and they were so full they were OVERFLOWING with filth. I am not exaggerating. It was messed up. And reading old reviews informs me that this was also an issue last year, which makes me mad. FIX THE PROBLEMS!

Okay, I know I’m over a month late in reviewing this, but MIA just left me with such a strong, lasting impression.
I HAVE been to other music festivals, so I know what they come with — hot weather, sweat, huge crowds, horrible bathroom options, sweat, overpriced drinks and food, intoxicated drunkards/​druggies.
But MIA takes the cake. I honestly would have rated MIA 1 star (as Unilocal puts it, Eek! Methinks not!), were it not for the great choice of artists that led me to buy the $ 100 early bird ticket in the first place. But that’s pretty much the only great thing about MIA, that I took away at least.
I am not normally a claustrophobic individual, but I was in serious fear of my bodily health more than once at this festival. The stages/​layout of the festival is extremely poorly thought out. Especially with the way the artists were lined up — people were rushing from one stage to another, so there was really no clear walkway, no area to rest, no nothing. Just pure chaos. And because of the volume of people that were there, calling and texting failed 90% of the time. I have never been to a concert where I was never able to see a single artist at all. I never was able to get a clear view of ANY stage, no matter how much I weaseled my way through the crowd. Even standing at the edge of the crowd to make sure I had enough space for myself to breathe comfortably was impossible — because the crowd just kept growing and growing and growing.
On Sunday, the second day, I realized that there were empty portapotties at the edges of the entire venue, but walking there from where ever your friends are waiting takes at least 20 minutes because of the throng of people EVERYWHERE. Water filling station was impossible, so I just forked over 4 $ a bottle at the nearest vendor (which eventually sold out of water…).
Bottom line: WAY too many people.
I will never go to MIA again unless it is for certain that they reduced the amount of admissions by at least like 50%. There was just that many people there. Granted, Beyonce, Deadmau5, Calvin Harris, Wolfgang, Phoenix, 9IN, Kendrick, etc. were all there, and it was at one of the most beautiful spots in Philadelphia. But what good is it if I can barely see them, can only hear them through speakers that are being muddled out by the stage right next to it, am surrounded by strangers that have the potential to crush me to death, have to spend half an hour for each bathroom/​water bottle run, and can’t contact my friends let alone meet up with them in the giant amalgamation that was MIA? No thank you.
Seriously, Eek! Methinks not.

I’m tempted to rate the Made in America Festival with an extra star, solely because of Beyonce’s presence. But alas, I need to be fair and give the festival what it deserves: 3 stars.
2013 was my first year at MIA and my first time ever setting foot in Philadelphia. I was excited. The line-​up was fantastic, with such a great range in genres that literally anyone can find a stage that suits their taste (except country, so sorry country fans). For such an incredibly low price (I paid $ 116 for the pre-​sale tickets), it can be worth it for the line-​up alone.
The many downsides to MIA begin with the fact that you can only drink Budweiser. Unless I didn’t explore enough (I’m hoping this is the case), the only libations you can enjoy are Budweiser beer & Budweiser fake-​margarita which are all served in cans. I did love the Budweiser Project 12 tent where you could sample the new brews in the running to be distributed nationally. Fun stuff, especially when you’re on your 12^th illegal sample (you’re really only supposed to try it once…). That was possibly my favorite part about having Budweiser involved in MIA.
The biggest nuisance for me was the crowd. I mean, was every underage college student in America present at MIA? I felt like it. Because the venue was so cramped, each stage gave me the feeling of being stuck in a sardine can. Either the festival needs to increase their stage space, or minimize admission. There really were TOO MANY BODIES. Too many sweaty, smelly, overly ratchet bodies that were really cramping my style. I witnessed 4 fights during the entire weekend. Not ok, frat guys. Not ok.
Now, this is all coming from someone who has been to other festivals and did not find the above problems with any of them. Maybe Coachella has gotten a little too mainstream over the years, but I’d much rather go to Indio than spend another weekend at MIA, no matter how great the line-​up.

Okay, there were some things that could have improved and stuff that just happens at EVERY music fest. You can’t change the drunk obnoxious people, you can’t change the hot weather causing people to sweat, you can’t change rude folks… The list goes on. This was my first time at the MIA fest and I had an awesome time. The lineup for both days… spectacular. The screens to view the performances were decent. Granted, if you were too far back, yes you were kinda screwed but take in consideration the location and trees. I felt like I was at a genuine concert with most of the artist, the stage the lights (Phoenix… amazing lights).
Drinks were pricey but were they any pricier than a club, state fair or concert hall? The food was made for fast grubbing. I hated my veggie nachos since they were cold. I enjoyed the $ 20 unlimited soda truck from Wild Bills. I was fortunate enough to not have to use the bathroom even after drinking 1 liter of water. I did see that the lines were long and TP ran out early.
Things to improve on:
–The water refill station. Why was it at 1 location?
–Bathroom monitoring and cleaning (Best if you bring your own TP)
–Cell phone charging stations. It was so packed on Saturday I did not realize there was an oasis near the main entrance of the festival where you can see vendors, check out Skype interview artists, and buy portable chargers. Cell phone charging stations should be more widespread than two places.
–TRASH! They did try with the recyling program and bins but people were just disrepectful of mother nature.
Would I go back, hell yea. I love music and I love vibing with people that like the same artists. Bring water, bring snacks, bring some tp or travel size wipes, don’t wear sandals unless you want nasty dirty feet, and most of all have fun without being rude.
FYI: I drove up from Bmore and book my hotel almost as soon as I got the tickets for a great price. It was 20 minutes walking from the fest! I recommend you park at an overnight garage (the hotel ones are pricey) and cab it for the weekend. Also, my t-​Mobile service seemed to work fine, my friends with Sprint, nope.

If you live in Philly, you should head to this fest. Don’t live in Philly? Ehhhh. Save your $$ and head to a more established fest elsewhere. The only impressive part of this fest was the EDM stage. If I’m coming away from MIA talking about a Feed Me performance, there’s something wrong (not that Feed Me sucks, but you get the point). Sure, I’m a fest snob, but MIA just doesn’t do it for me. Go casually from 4−9pm or from 6−10pm if you’re gonna go, bc being there all day is nearly impossible. Here’s a rundown of the event…
Pros:
–The place itself is nice. Statues, right in the middle of the city, park grounds, bars outside the venue, great lighting.
–Price is on point. Picked up tix for $ 117 (incl fees) for both days
–Line up is always a B. Not bad, not great.
–Improved EDM stage. The tent last year was atrocious. They constructed a pretty awesome stage this year.
Cons:
–They don’t have headliners playing at the same time. Why is this a con? Bc the crowd is no longer split up. At MIA the ENITRE CROWD races from one stage to the next to see the main acts. In the 20+ festivals I’ve attended, I’ve never seen so many stampedes or have been so squished while in the BACK of a stage.
-$ 11 Buds. BARF. Luckily we found one of the vendors had Black Crown, which is at least drinkable and a step up from Bud heavy.
–No in/​out
–No great views of the stage
–Garbage everywhere
–Portos… were portos… awful
Best way to do this fest? Pick 2 artists per day you love and get to their stage an hour early. Then casually hang around.

A review from a festival virgin.
The Good!
— LOVED the location. Instead of being somewhere out in the burbs, it was smack dab downtown. The mainstage was in front the ‘Rocky’ steps, and there was George Washington on horseback with a spectacular view. As an out of towner who had never been to Philly before, it was two birds with one stone.
— The water stations. I was impressed that we were able to bring in sealed or empty bottles and fill them up. There were two stations, one ‘you fancy’ station of brita filtered water to the right of the Skate stage and one not so fancy to the left of makeshift waterfountains supplied from a hose. Naturally the hose water was not as cold and had that tap water after taste, but it kept us hydrated and was free, free, free.
— The food. Liked that there were options beyond fries, hot dogs and burgers. The food trucks and the stands were a nice touch.
— The music, of course. Highlights of the days for me were Public Enemy (even Flava Flav’s still got it), Imagine Dragons, and the headliner Nine Inch Nails. Loved that all of the acts put on stage productions beyond just the live performance aspect, it was nice touch.
— The Crowd (mostly). I was nervous, as a festival virgin, as to how overwhelming the crowd might be for a 5’3 polite Canadian that won’t say boo if I get jostled or pushed back. However the majority of people were really accomodating, polite, and there for the same reasons — to enjoy music and have a great time. And some even apologized for being tall and standing in front of me — bonus!
— Cab availability at the end of the night. We were really worried about this as we were staying well out of the city near the airport. The cabs were plentiful at the end of the night and we had no problem hailing one. Also, none of them attempted to rob us blind with inflated prices, which was a bonus.
The Bad!
— The Crowd (kinda) I did find there were a number of people who appeared to be at the festival to walk around half-​dressed and mostly hammered, just to scream over the music at their friends while completely ignoring the acts on stage. If you’re going to do this, do it at the back of the venue rather than mid-​crowd distracting all the real fans around you. Or even better, don’t come at all. It’s a lot cheaper to get half naked and drunk in your backyard with a sound system.
— Beer prices. Obvs.
— The porta-​potties. No long lines but ick… if you spinkle, wipe your tinkle, folks.
The Ugly!
— The trash. Hold on to your cans and garbage and chuck em between sets, is it really that tough?
— The Crowd (the few and far between) A few overly drunk patrons puking and stumbling at 3pm. A girl so high her boyfriend was taking her to hospital in a cab, first day at 1pm.
Overall, I had a fantastic time. Loved the music, loved the city and will definitely festival again next summer.

Hmmm. I went to Made in America for free and boy am I glad I didn’t waste money on a ticket.
My major issues:
WATER: As you can imagine if one is spending nearly a full day at an outside venue, hydration is pretty important. I believe there were only TWO water stations where you could refill… and the lines were unbelievably long. So long that I decided to just keep buying Dasani at $ 4 a pop. What a jip.
TRASH: Let’s assume that most people who came to this event don’t have enough common sense/​decency to use one of the plentiful trash cans at their disposal. Perhaps that was the issue at first. Later I noticed people were just leaving shit on the ground because the trash cans were literally overflowing and there was nowhere else to put it. I need for there to be a system to empty the cans throughout the day. Let’s be reasonable now.
SCREENS: I would have preferred that there were screens not just in the actual stage areas, but throughout (similar to 4^th of July). That way you can still enjoy and see the performance even if you don’t want to be in the hustle and bustle of the crowd. During most performances it was like Best Buy giving out 40 inch TVs for free on Black Friday. Completely ridic.
SERVICE: Sure I’m on the shitty Sprint network, but my phone was of no use here AT ALL. I’ve been to the parkway for the 4^th and even during Live 8 and never completely just been out of service. This is an issue for me because in the event that you get seperated/​lost from your crowd you may just be out of luck. I got some bars before coming in, but there’s no reentry so that wouldn’t even be an option in case of emergency which sucks.
SMELL/​CROWD: Two words for you folks: Personal hygiene. While I’m sure sprays/​perfumes aren’t allowed, I can’t imagine that a tiny travel sized deodorant wouldn’t be. I carried a rollerball and security said nothing (not that they searched my bag extensively either). If you’re planning on being in the sun all day sweating and gyrating it’s the least you can do. I mean, it was the end of the night and we’re psyched about Calvin Harris’ performance. We’re in the middle of the crowd… arms go up… wind blows… sweet nothing? More like tart something. I almost passed out trying to hold my breath through every fist pump situation.
SMOKING: They should rename this Budweiser Pot Fest because the majority of people here were high as hell. I’m not knocking anyone’s choices but when you’re in a small crowded space, as a nonsmoker it definitely affects my experience when there are people blazing and blowing shit directly into your face.
OVERALL VALUE: While I did like the actual performances (great lineup for both days), it’s not an experience too much unlike the FREE 4^th of July concert at the parkway. I think I actually prefer that better to be honest. For those who had to pay for tickets, I can’t imagine how they didn’t feel that prices for everything were just ridiculously steep… $ 11 beer/​lime-​a-​ritas (that weren’t even in the largest can), food trucks charging 3x what they do on a regular day, etc. Also, there was a lack of crowd interest as it seemed like most of the people came drunk, then attempted to keep the buzz alive with beer/​pot and as a result of all that were just acting foolish. I was actually surprised I didn’t see more people pass out from dehydration but I guess being damn near naked keeps you a bit cooler even under the influence. I did, however, see what appeared to be an underage girl in a bra and pantie shorts and no shoes being carried out by police. I think my experience would’ve been more enjoyable if there were more adult-​minded people that we’re there to enjoy it for what it was… a MUSIC festival. Tsk. tsk. tsk.

Version 2.0 proved to improve upon some areas and deteriorated in others. Next year, I’m definitely waiting to see what the lineup looks like before purchasing tickets, as I feel that there are other festivals that may deserve the attention over this. I went last year as well, enjoyed myself but acknowledged that there was a fair amount of improvements that needed to be made in order to create a sustainable festival from the vantage point of the festival attendee. It’s a competitive landscape, seems like there’s a festival almost every weekend somewhere across this great land, so if you want to stick around, you have to make it worth someone’s while to spend the time, energy, and money to attend.
I always enjoy visiting Philadelphia, and for me this is a huge draw. It’s a relatively short trip over a three day weekend, and the festival starts late enough in the day that you have a chance to explore the city and/​or recover from the prior night’s fun.
I really want to see this festival succeed, but I am skeptical about being a return attendee in 2014. I left 2013 with the impression that there was not much done to improve the festival experience over 2012.
PROS:
*Relatively strong and diverse lineup (2012 was better than 2013 for me) but it’s definitely a mixed bag of entertainment
—2012 highlights included Jay-​Z, Pearl Jam, The Hives, Gary Clark Jr., and Run DMC
—- 2013 highlights included Beyonce, Miguel, Emili Sande, Macklemore & Lewis, and Public Enemy.
*Capitalizes on a great outdoor space in the heart of the city
*Ample road closures to allow people to meander out
*Good spacing between the stages
*Good timing between the end of one act and the beginning of the next
*Food truck options that didn’t run out of food as quickly as 2012
*Much better cell service than 2012, but still not great. At least I could make a phone call this year.
*Weather both years has been great (warm, but better than rain)
*Roaming vendors selling beer, soda, and water (I give them a ton of props lugging all that stuff around in very warm conditions).
*Price was right. A 2-​day ticket for $ 99 is pretty awesome.
CONS:
*Less water refilling stations with a bigger crowd (2013 vs. 2012) — shame on you.
*Stating you could bring in empty water bottles (non-​Nalgene) and having security stop you during the checkpoint.
*Lax security checkpoints — they barely look at your stuff (perhaps I’m a little sensitive to this as a Bostonion post-​Marathon bombings, but could be buttoned up a little more)
*More attendees that lack general understanding of common courtesy and festival etiquette… do we really need some spoiled brat cutting the water line after a calm crowd had waited 15 minutes to get to the front? NOPE!
*Deplorable conditions of the port-​o-​potties come 8:00 PM. Some of them looked like a nuclear bomb went off inside.
*Trash was being bagged up and left out in the festival grounds.

Texting is nigh impossible when you have a holy clusterfuck of people jammed in one place. If there’s another festival next year, organizing meeting points for everyone is going to be a necessity.
Anyway, I’m pleased the Made in America Festival[1] came back to Philly this year — it might’ve been a traffic nightmare, but business is business, and tourism is always a good thing for the city of brotherly love.
Regarding the lineup, I’m glad Deadmau5 was one of the performers. And damn, Imagine Dragons did a superb job!
THINGS I LIKED
— the music
— good security, lots of support personnel
— who doesn’t like concerts, especially in front of the Art Museum?
— mobile device charging stations
— photo booth!
— the weather.
THINGS THAT WERE… NOT SO GOOD
— as I mentioned: shit-​tastic cell service — at least for AT&T and Verizon
— like beer? because that’s all you’re getting (there’s soda and water, and liquor only comes with the VIP package)
— man, are we rampant litterbugs or what?
— concert staff, please empty the trash bins more often
— a useless map, so you don’t actually know where the charging stations are
— cash-​only (even in 2013)
— this concert was orchestrated by a beer manufacturer, and their branding is everywhere, which seemed at-​odds with the number of under-​21 folks there — yeah, I get it’s a celebration of music, but yeah…
[1] How am I the first to review this?