Sweetlife festival offers bigger lineup, better food

Students+get+hyped+to+see+artists+like+Calvin+Harris+and+Kendrick+Lamar+perform+at+Merriweather+Post+Pavillion.

photo courtesy of Creative Commons

Students get hyped to see artists like Calvin Harris and Kendrick Lamar perform at Merriweather Post Pavillion.

By Thomas Atkinson and Isabel Dibble

Sweetlife, the annual music festival hosted by the salad company Sweetgreen, is back on May 30 and 31 at Merriweather Post Pavilion and is going to be bigger than ever, featuring many big names such as Kendrick Lamar and Calvin Harris.

The event started in 2010 with the opening of Sweetgreen’s second location in Dupont Circle and has blossomed into an annual event with over 23,000 attendees.

To add to the excitement, Sweetlife is now a two-day festival, bringing more artists and fans. Sweetlife also posted a promotional code on its Instagram account for fans to use in order to purchase tickets early. Only those with the code were able to pre-order tickets.

“I think Sweetlife being two days this year makes it more of a festival as opposed to an outdoor concert,” sophomore Erica Goldstein said. “It’ll make it into more of an event that people aren’t going to want to miss out on.”

With an additional day, Sweetlife has more artists than in previous years. In 2013, Kendrick Lamar was featured, but he was not as well known as he is today. Calvin Harris and Charli XCX are other big names who will perform this year in the extended concert.

Along with an improved lineup, Sweetlife has a better culinary roster now that it has control over all of the concessions at Merriweather Post Pavilion for the first time.

“The food trucks are definitely the best even though they can be a little pricy and attract longer lines,” senior John Luke Giroux said. “My favorite last year was Pho Wheels.”

If one wishes to stay overnight instead of going home, discounted hotel rooms in Columbia are offered and the profits will be going to the Foundation of Music.

One of the most important features of any music festival is the outfits people wear.

“I am going to be wearing a romper and a statement necklace for one of the days, and shorts and a tank top for the other one, both with brown sandals,” junior Joelle Perlin said.

While figuring out what to wear, dressing accordingly with the weather is important as well. During this time of the year, the possibility of rain is likely to occur, so be sure to come prepared.

“I think the best advice I’ve been given is to bring a rain jacket,” junior Sahara Mokhtari said.

On many occasions, two performances may overlap and one will have to decide which one to attend and which one to miss.

“If that happens, you’re going to have to decide which one means more to you and go to that one first and then leave after a little while and go to the second performance,” junior Jameelah Khadar said. “You’ll have to miss the first half of it, but you’ll definitely still have an amazing time.”

Sweetlife has become a popular music festival filled with different people and activities. However, the main point of Sweetlife is to listen to great music while eating tasty food.

“Try to enjoy the concert in real life instead of seeing everything through a phone screen,” Goldstein said. “Be considerate of other people there, but at the same time [do] not care about what other people are thinking of you and rock out however you normally would.”