Made In America 2018: The Best, The Worst, The Rebellious and The Surprising

Written By: Siena Sohn

There’s nothing quite like transitioning from summer to fall via a local music festival. Digital Noise Mag had the privilege to attend Philadelphia’s annual music festival, Made In America, which was previously held in Los Angeles. As soon as we walked onto the Ben Franklin Parkway at noon on September 1 and 2, the entry lines were filled awaiting the gates to open, that’s exactly when we knew we were in for a great time. This Live Nation event features several stages that continuously host live music from a wide variety of genres. Jam packed with artists ranging from hip-hop to alternative to EDM to spoken word. And they all took the stage this weekend with one purpose, to give everyone a great time at this years festival. Not only was there all genres of music, special guests brought out to the stages for two days back to back but a bunch of local Philly food trucks offering options like spurritos, pizza cones, vegan options, and aiolis of every kind, Made in America was bound to make a phenomenal Labor Day Weekend. Located in a few block stretch in front of the Art Museum, the usually bumper-to-bumper traffic was replaced with swarms of high schoolers, college students, and the occasional older adult, which made for an interesting crowd to say the least. Between the thousands of festival-goers running from stage to stage and trampling whatever was in the way, sat circus rides that gave the festival an extra dazzle of fun. Without further ado, here are the best, the worst, the surprising, and the hilarious sets of Made In America 2018:

HeadLiner Night Two: Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj taking the stage night two as the biggest headliner of the weekend, first time performing some of her new hits in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, she had a wardrobe malfunction throughout her set in which her bare breasts were flashed multiple times to the crowd. But after a weekend of female empowerment speeches from majority of the artists, we praise the queen for joking about the malfunction and we admire her steller vocals and performance for the weekend. As if her set of throwbacks from her mixtape days such as “Itty Bitty Piggy” weren’t enough she came back with her most recent “roast” track. Prior to performing “Barbie Dreams” she asked the audience which rapper they think has the biggest dick, leading into the roast of male rappers including Drake and Meek Mill. Later in the night during her set she brought out to the stage some of her collaborators A$AP Ferg, Lil Uzi Vert, Tekashi 6ix9ine and others.

The Best: Janelle Monáe
Monae gracefully stepped onto the Liberty Stage atop a stairway, decked out in red, black, and white attire. Her set did not miss a beat – it was intricate and well prepared. Monae took the stage with an impactful group of background dancers that stayed in-step with her on every beat. The set was reminiscent of David Byrne’s ‘American Utopia’ tour, it was well practiced and performed, all the way down to her purposeful facial expressions. Monae stood out among the hearty lineup of performers due to the total respect she earned from the audience from her charismatic and political set.

The Rebel: Jessie Reyez
You may be cool, but you will never be as cool as Jessie Reyez rocking a Scarface tee and red solo cup while ironically shouting “suck my dick” in unison with her Made in America audience. From full-body goosebumps every time Reyez threw her head back to powerfully sing into the mic, to sitting down on the edge of the stage to tell her audience about a short story about sexual harassment she endured from a producer earlier in her career, we were hooked for the entirety of it. Next time you have the opportunity to see Reyez live, don’t miss the chance to see this soulful, feminist punch.

The Surprising: Post Malone
When Post Malone’s name is dropped in a crowd, it is usually followed with strong opinions on whether he is liked or disliked. But at Made in America 2018, there was no question on this: the audience was loving him. Emerging from a yellow haze and standing on his own (which was a huge contrast in comparison to the other artists on the main stage, who brought their entourage up with them), Post Malone delivered an impressive show that left us wanting more. His musicality was top notch, emitting glowing vocals throughout the set. Post Malone even played “Deja Vu” off his debut album, which he rarely plays live. With that being said, Post Malone’s performance was the perfect ending to Made In America 2018 Day 1.

The Connected: 6IX9INE
For such an aggressive, screamo version of rap, 6IX9INE truly knows how to get a crowd of over a thousand amped up. Tekashi had us hooked from the second he emerged onto the stage. From screaming audience members to stripping down to just his boxers, the rainbow dread-locked rapper was quite literally singing from the hands of his audience when he jumped into the crowd multiple times throughout his set. Toward the end of his set, 6IX9NINE paid tribute to the recently deceased XXXTencion. Overall, the performance was wild ot say the least, but something we would definitely see again after seeing the great effect the rapper had on his audience.

The Inspirational: Meek Mill
“This is my welcome home party,” said a recently released, North Philly native Meek Mill as he opened up his hometown set in front of thousands. Throughout his performance, Meek Mill flawlessly delivered bars that created a special, emotional connection between the artist and fans from Philadelphia. Towards the latter end of his set, Meek introduced another Philadelphia rapper,Tierra Whack, who he appears mentoring. More impressive than his music was Meek’s conversation with the audience: “I wanna say shout-out to the people who supported me when I was locked up. I know so many boys in the streets who through their life away over dumb s***. Don’t throw your life out over dumb s***.”

The Authentic: Alessia Cara
Cara was at the top of our list the moment we got approved to cover Made In America. As one of the top industry songwriters right now, Cara proved why she should also be considered one of the greatest singers of her generation. Her authenticity as a person and down-to-earth musical style was highly apparent throughout her set. Belting out her most well-known tunes like “Stay”, “Wild Things” and even her version of “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana’s soundtrack, Cara’s performance had us stunned as a stand out act from Made In America lineup.

The One We Wished We Saw: Daniel Caesar
After only seeing his set through passing, we were super bummed we did not put this on our list of must see acts from MIA, but we will be sure to add him to our list next time he comes through town. From soulful and extremely meticulous guitar riffs to impactful vocals, Daniel Caesar embodies full musical package that we look for at live concerts.

The One We Should Have Skipped: Saweetie
This one was truly a disappointment. Saweetie is a hip-hop artist that is passionate about makeup, beauty, and her biracial identity, but definitely not her music. After showing up over twenty minutes late to her set on the Tidal stage, there was no amount of twerking or chair dancing her backup singers could do to distract us from her blatantly obvious lip-syncing. From the moment she hit the stage, she lost her audience to looking down on their phone screens – rightfully so.

The Hilarious: Hobo Johnson
Trudging around a music festival all day and, spending 12 hours straight on your feet can be exhausting, but Hobo Johnson and the Love Maker’s set at the Skate Stage was the perfectly hilarious pick-me-up we needed. Emerging onto the stage via the Six Flags theme song, Hobo Johnson’s set had a smile on every audience member’s face. Johnson’s fangirl base also made an appearance, screaming reassuring response to him, for example, when Hobo Johnson said “I know I can’t really sing,” he was met with a few girls screaming back “Yes you can!” Johnson’s ability to not take himself or his band too seriously made his set a huge contrast to the hip-hop/rap scene of the festival, and was the perfect dose of alt-rock/spoken word that we needed.

The Energetic: Lost Kings
Not a lot of the DJs at Made In America were jumping up on their own table and into the crowd, but Lost Kings was. (Whatever coffee they are drinking, we need some, too!) Mashing together crowd favorites like Post Malone’s “Better Now” with The Killer’s “Mr. Brightside,” lost Kings had their entire audience engaged for their set. The EDM duo was also one of the few DJ sets who actually managed to get a response from their audience when they shouted “Make some noise!”

The Worst: Sabrina Claudio
From the second Claudio took the stage, her pace was set and did not exceed it in anyway afterwards. Her style was sensual and firey, it focused solely on seducing the audience with her jazzy tunes. From the beginning, it became apparent that every song of hers sounded identical, and the only time she switched up from standing stage center at the microphone was to occasionally strut around and slowly move her hips at the audience’s beckoning call. Claudio’s only saving grace was the occasional guitar riff from her backup band.

Other Artists who performed that we had the pleasure of seeing were;

–6lack (Liberty Stage)
–Preme (Liberty Stage)
–Trouble (Rocky Stage)
–Lil Skies (Liberty Stage)
–Juice Wrld (Tidal Stage)
–Rich the Kid(Rocky Stage)

–Orion Sun(Skate Stage)
–Zedd (Liberty Stage)

–Ty Dolla $ign (Liberty Stage)

INTERVIEW DETAILS: Digital Noise had the privilege to talk with EDM band Lost Kings at MIA. The Interview will be posted to youtube and linked on this post momentarily. Thank You for your patience.

Photos were shot by Sabrina Hamiti

**Photos of Nicki Minaj by Rancel Lopez

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