Photography: Made in America Fest – Day One

Posted: 8th September, 2021 by The Editor

The Made in America festival celebrated a decade of taking over the heart of Philadelphia this Labor Day weekend with a lineup of hip hop heavy hitters including Justin Bieber’s first festival headlining set ever. With support from acts including Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, Young Thug, and many other up-and-coming artists, the festival delivered its 60,000+ audience members a weekend they’ll never forget. Even with the threats of record-setting Hurricane Ida and unprecedented flooding throughout the city days before the fest, nothing stood in the way of Philadelphia’s return to live music. Further ensuring the safety of concertgoers, Made In America required proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative PCR test within 48 hours to enter the grounds.

Immediately upon entry, guests were greeted to the CAUSE Village to promote local activist groups that inform and organize citizens into building a more educated and secure community. Once you made your way through the CAUSE village, rows of local food trucks and beer huts were ready to satiate your festival appetite as you make your way to one of the three stages.

The first stage is the Tidal stage where you can catch what is sure to be the next biggest artist in the hip hop world. We may even see these artists on the big stage in the coming years. For the opening day, we caught Destin Conrad, Pi’erre Bourne, Fivio Foreign, and BIA while they captivated hundreds of audience members throughout the day.

Moving deeper into the village size festival setup made on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, you’ll reach the Liberty Stage next. On the first day, we saw acts like A$AP Ferg, Young Thug, and Kehlani who were hitting some of the highest points in their careers before the pandemic shut the world down. They came out with a year’s worth of built-up energy and crushed it. Along with the previously mentioned acts, we were able to catch Morray and Griselda pull in wonderful moments after the gates opened.

At the farthest point of the festival is the main stage, appropriately named the “Rocky.” It’s directly on the “Rocky Steps” to the Philadelphia Museum of Art where festival-goers spread out around the Washington Monument for the headliners each day. On Saturday, we were beyond excited to catch Latto and Baby Keem as they hyped up the crowd for Lil Baby to come out and close out the first day.