The sun was strong, the beers weren’t cheap and the air was thick with dust this past Saturday at the Virgin Mobile FreeFest in Columbia, Maryland; but that did not hinder more than 30,000 music fans from flocking to Merriweather Post Pavilion to see 21 artists over three different stages for free.
Indie bands, rock stars and rap legends took over the Pavilion Stage and West Stage throughout the 11-hour day, including the incredibly talented Yeasayer who fans were raving about throughout the entire day.
The third stage, the dance forest (literally in a forest), catered to the DJs and the dance music junkies who love them. DJ/producer Wolfgang Gartner performed a huge set early in the day, followed directly after by Neon Indian. As the day went on, the crowd grew thicker and by Chromeo’s set at 6:30, the forest was packed with people all dancing and singing along to old favorites like “Needy Girl” and tracks from the new album, which the duo had not played live before.
Many fans dipped out towards the end of Chromeo’s set to catch Ludacris pull out hit after hit on the West Stage. Fans went wild for songs spanning the past 10 years including “What’s Your Fantasy”, “Blueberry Yum Yum” and everyone’s favorite, “Move Bitch.”
Modeselektor generated an incredible vibe on the dance stage which only grew stronger as Sharam closed out the show, leaving the electronic music fans exhausted, but satisfied, at the end of the night. The same goes for LCD Soundsystem’s incredible performance on the main stage, which attracted the largest crowd full of the most “drunk girls” of the entire day. The only disappointment of the entire FreeFest was M.I.A. who showed up 30 minutes late for her hour-long set and contributed only sloppy, incoherent vocals to the beats, which probably would have sounded the same without her.
Check out the videos below of LCD Soundsystem performing “Dance Yrself Clean” and a short clip of Chromeo performing “Night By Night.”