A little over a week ago I attended the second annual Trillectro music festival in Washington D.C.
A little over a week ago I attended the second annual Trillectro music festival in Washington D.C. The event featured a wide variety of hip hop and electronic music acts, and after taking a look at the final schedule, I decided to spend most of my time at the second stage, since that was where most of the electronic acts would be playing.
RVA natives Gent & Jawns got things going earlier than most of their fans are used to, but overall they laid down a set that got the crowd hyped up. After they finished up, it was DJ Sliink’s turn to come up and keep the energy going. This wasn’t a problem for him, as he is known to throw a damn good party. As the day went on, I started to notice that the DJs were playing a lot of the same songs, but every time, they got the crowd going as if it was their first time hearing all of these tracks.
My decision about where to spend the 5 o’clock hour was difficult. It was a toss up for me, because Nadastrom and Tittsworth, two great artists from the DC area, were up on different stages with overlapping set times. I started out at the main stage, watching Nadastrom kick off their set playing some go-go before gradually moving on to their signature sound, moombahton. A little bit over halfway through their set, they had some technical difficulties, which sent some people, including me, over to the dance stage, where Tittsworth was spinning. As I walked up to the second stage, I heard tunes that I had not heard all day, which was a fresh feeling for everyone. The crowd was reacting strongly to everything Tittsworth was throwing at them.
Tittsworth’s set ended things on the second stage, and it was time to get the party started on the main stage. First up, in what I like to call the “Trill” part of the day, was Travi$ Scott. I had heard about the great show he puts on, and everything I heard was true. The guy has crazy energy and is very hands-on during his performances. Throughout the set, he waved the mic for the crowd to sing along, and did numerous stage dives. Up next was returning artist Casey Veggies, who always lays down a cool and crisp performance with plenty of wavy vibes. He played a variety of songs; most were from his latest project, Life Changes, which has created a lot of buzz for the LA rapper.
Keeping the good vibes going was King Chip, formerly known as Chip The Ripper, who gave a solid performance. This was important, since A$AP Ferg was on deck. When Ferg came out, all hell broke loose at the fairgrounds. Things got crazy as shit during his set, but never more so than when he brought out A$AP Rocky. In my opinion, Ferg and Rocky’s performance was the peak of the whole event. I didn’t think I’d ever see DC to go as hard as they did during that set. Things were almost wrapping up, and it was time to see the “Special Guest” of the night, Wale. It was cool to see one of DC’s biggest artists, but I didn’t enjoy him repeating after every snippet that he could not finish the song due to contract issues. Once that was all said and done, it was Carnage’s turn to go up, but by then most of the crowd was over it, and the energy he brought didn’t match the crowds.
In the end, the show went well, with a lot of great performances and a lot of people having fun inside the fairgrounds. I did talk to a lot of people who waited for hours due to long lines, or didn’t get in at all, and I would have been disappointed as well had that happened to me. But on the whole, I feel like DCtoBC did a great job making things work despite the issues that occurred. They brought us a day filled with good music, art, and food, featuring a bill full of damn good artists! Any issues that happened on Saturday are merely bumps in the road that we can expect Trillectro to fix and come back even stronger in the coming years.
