[On the Scene] Dreamville Festival 2019: 4.5 Out of 5 Stars

“This year gon’ be different, I set my intentions;
I promise to slap all that hate out your voice”  – J.Cole (lyrics from “Middle Child”)

Raleigh, NC – If J. Cole’s intentions were to bring the biggest festival to Raleigh that the capital city has experienced…he definitely, figuratively speaking, slapped the hate out of all our voices! J. Cole (Jermaine Lamar Cole) brought the highly success inaugural Dreamville Festival to Dorothea Dix Park on sunny Saturday April 6th. This Festival was originally set to debut last year in September but was postponed due to the unfortunate timing of Hurricane Florence.

Over 40,000 people of all races and ethnicities experienced great times and even greater vibes, with no major incidents.  It could have been called the “Dirty Shoe Tour” as the grounds were wet and muddy from the downpour of rain from the day prior. Most festival-goers definitely reached all of their Fitbit steps for the week in a single day, as the festival spanned across 306 acres with performances on two stages, the Rise Stage and the Shine Stage. Depending on your interest in music artist determined your pick of stages.. They were at least a five to ten minute walk in between considering who you may have run into that you knew. 

This festival was headlined by North Carolina’s own J.Cole. There were featured artist performances by Big Sean, SZA, Teyana Taylor, Nelly, Big Sean, Rapsody, 6lack, Ari Lennox, J.I.D., Bas, Earthgang, Mez, Cozz, Davido, Saba, Lute, Omen, and 21 Savage, who showcased the first-ever live performance of his song “A Lot” featuring J Cole off the I Am > I Was Album. J. Cole also surprised Dreamville Fest attendees by bringing hip hop artist Meek Mill out on stage. That totaled eighteen acts who performed between the Rise & Shine stages.

Beyond the music, the Park was truly a stage set to serve all things Dreamville and to give an arts experience with an array of artwork that covered the grounds with the festival logo on everything. They had their own Dreamville Beer with an on-location beer garden that was surrounded with sunflower balloon sculptures. There were sand sculptures featuring a replica of the Dreamville Fest logo and the artist roster of Dreamville label mates. And the 3-D replicas of Dreamville and its theme…all made for the perfect selfie backdrops.

There were many activities called activations throughout the park which consisted of artist miniature golf, frisbees, oversized beach balls, and even a Divine 9 activation. This area was dedicated to members of the Black Greek sororities and fraternities to hang out, stroll-off (perform routine with members) and enjoy a full brunch. Murals in tribute to Mac Miller and Los Angeles rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was murdered less than a week ago, were prominently displayed throughout the Park.  Several artists gave video tributes during their performances.

Perhaps for 2019 it would be an option to have a Dreamville Fest mobile app allowing for food orders to be placed and get a notification when ready.

As in any first-time event, there were a few miscalculations, particularly on the amount drink and food vendor options available. Most attendees were at the park for over 8 hours where, in general, you should have had lunch and dinner. With the long waits you had to pick and choose whether you wanted lunch, dinner or drinks. Line waits were over two hours long and no one in line wanted to miss out on all of the activities and/or performances to wait a second time for food. Perhaps for 2019 it would be an option to have a Dreamville Fest mobile app allowing for food orders to be placed and get a notification when ready. The app could handle merchandise orders as well.  If not an app, maybe event ambassadors could work the grounds offering water and samples to those waiting in long lines. Allotting $1 or $2 that went towards Dreamville Fest bottled water couldn’t have hit the fest’s profits, not looking at the ticket prices that started at $119 for general admission.

Transportation in and out was simply a breeze as the festival had taken the proper measures for transportation and parking options prior to the event. Dreamville Fest had ride-sharing partner LYFT on-hand, as well as contracting a multitude of school buses, church buses and charter buses to transport attendees from and to downtown Raleigh. Those taking advantage of the shuttles were whisked away from the throng of people on foot heading towards their vehicles parked on NC State University’s campus.

Dreamville Festival 2019 bought major economic impact to the city of Raleigh. Analyst has shared that this festival is mentioned to be one of the most successful in the City of Raleigh’s history. Visit Raleigh says that more than half of the attendees were from out of state or the country. Final analysis will be available in a few weeks.

To those who have said that people of color cannot come out peacefully and respectfully on a positive note can put that saying to end because the Inaugural Dreamville Festival showed and proved. To Dreamville Festival, we thank you for ‘putting on’ for the city!