Entering the Portal, Florida’s Much-Needed Okeechobee Festival: A Look At Friday
Festival culture in the last couple years has grown into a beautiful and extensive culture that has made a home for itself in different regions of the country. For the most committed of fans, camping festivals offer a perfect getaway with days on end of partying at all hours with no interruption. For a month like March, where most of the country still suffers from the cold and many people are just looking for a getaway from the winter, Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival became that sunny safe haven.
Just wrapping up its second year, the festival was able to grow successfully what it did in its first year, now adding to the madness with more installations, stages, and infrastructure, all of which makes it a leader in festivals that are home to both music and the arts. To those who couldn’t make it, envious of those who were able to spend the start of spring in clear 80-degree weather during the day with chilly nights, it is time to recognize Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival for a destination Florida can call its very own.
Just a short drive from major Florida cities such as Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando, and Miami, this camping festival was exactly what Florida music lovers were looking for, and with the lineup it carried going into its second year, the entire country flocked into Florida for this eclectic collective of artists. While the Florida highway may have had a hard time supporting such a large number of festival-lovers coming into the small town of Okeechobee, the festival team was able to effortlessly organize the thousands into the campgrounds so that attendees to be able to start the party early on Thursday. It started with the grand opening of the ChobeeWobee Village by having dancers flock the village, artists attract fans into the many cozy corners, and tucked in between we saw plenty of vendors, food trucks, and hang, so cool that some don’t make it back to their campsites. The extensive layout of the village made festival-goers never want to head back to their tents, and to some committed listeners many called the AquaChobee beach sand a home away from home at the end of the night.
Friday sunrise peaked over clear Florida skies, festival-goers not knowing just how flawlessly the weekend would turn out; with the opening of the main stages over at The Grove, the festival was really ready to come to life. The first day, although there were some unusual time slot choices, gave the stage to some artists who complemented each other for an ultimate collection of the many kinds of music are out there right now. Friday kicked off with Miami-based band Yardij, which won the OMF organized talent competition for a slot at the festival. All coming together under the mantra of Be Here Now, all three stages hosted a variety of artists which made transitions from brass bands to trap rap like that transition from the Funky Dawgz to Waka Flocka Flame. No matter where you ended up, the festival had something going on for you at all times of the day, to the point where it was so difficult to choose. At one point, we were stuck with our hands tied between the conflicting slots of Logic, BadBadNotGood, Mac Demarco, and Space Jesus.
Right before the closing set of the night, Wiz Khalifa took to the Be Stage for an intimate performance that impressed fans and first-time listeners alike. It was a possibility that his performance could have been rescheduled considering the recent passing of away of his sister. The rapper decided to use this platform to share a message of love to more than ten thousand fans. His act was just the right amount of older songs, new work, and what appeared to be ad-libbed off-the-record rapping. No matter what you feel about this rapper’s music, the closing moment of his hour-long set was a much-needed message for us to carry for the rest of the weekend. The set ended with an intimate performance of “See You Again,” as he smiled and looked to the sky exclaiming that he missed her, a beautiful moment to experience from a rapper who hasn’t entirely shown that side to himself. It was also pretty hilarious to see the inflatable blunts that surfed the crowd to make their way past the cops towards the end of the show.
Later that night, the majority of fans made their way toward the largest platform at the festival, the Be Stage, as world-class electronic producer Flume put on a show similar to his Skin World Tour, this time changing it up with the fresh releases from his latest Skin Companion EP II and bringing it back to some of his classics. The main stage acts always were a sight to witness, especially when Flume painted the sky with lights and mesmerized us all with the visual of what appeared to be snakes in the shape of a brain.
The first regular day became a success no matter where you ended up. With dozens of moments going all at once, the magic of what was possible over the weekend really showed its true colors over the first day, bleeding into Saturday.
Follow along with our Okeechobee coverage with our inside look at Saturday:
http://www.musicfestnews.com/2017/03/15/entering-portal-floridas-long-time-needed-okeechobee-festival-day-2/