Meadows Music & Arts Festival has wrapped up its first day ever. It was a dreary, chilly and cloudy day, but that did not stop the crowds from coming out to see the likes of ZHU, Grimes, J. Cole, Chromeo, Damian Marley and others. The Weeknd eventually canceled for good last night, which put a damper on the proceedings, but Day 1 was a success.
We were there to see the whole thing moment by moment and take a few pictures. Relive the action through our perspective in the Citi Field parking lot below.
2:00 - Boy it is dreary day.
2:30 - Miami Horror are making the day a little brighter with their 80s, synth heavy pop music. Their tracks sound more dynamic live.
2:45 - Bas has Linden Blvd on lockdown, spitting plenty of tracks from his recent album Too High to Riot.
3:30 - Post Malone has the main stage for himself and has been running through the hits, while lesser known tracks don't really make that much of an impact.
3:40 - Frightened Rabbit are doing their thing to a small, but adoring crowd on the Queens Blvd stage.
4:00 - Kamasi Washington brings something quite different to the festival. Other artists have jazz musicians in their band, but he is the lone jazz artist on the bill. Normally it would be odd to see him there, but it works with the chaotic, technically gifted and upbeat style of jazz he brings to the table. There are a lot of solos, including for his dad.
4:15 - Kanye West isn't even at the festival today and he may be the most popular person there. The line to buy his merchandise is stretching a few hundred people long and stays that was until the end of the night.
4:25 - Yeasayer keep things fun with their music until they get political. They tell the crowd to "not f*ck up this election" or do a protest vote. With headcount on the grounds to register people to vote it made sense.
5:00 - Chromeo are just too damn funky. The whole aesthetic of their show is incredible with Dave 1 on vocals and running around with his guitar. P-Thugg is on his analog synth set up and the talk box. They are working on new music now, but had to come out for this show.
5:20: The crowd goes the most bonkers for "Jealous."
5:50 - Damian Marley comes out to a less dubstep-y version of "Make It Bun Dem" with Skrillex. He settles in with plenty more reggae for some island vibes on the cloudy day. His keyboardist lights up a blunt and keeps on playing like a pro. I am impressed.
6:20 - Thomas Jack is the lone DJ on the day's offering and seems a little out of place. People are grooving along with him, but just the DJ booth isn't cutting it.
6:45 - Grimes owns the day. She is a beast. She sings, plays guitar, keyboards and dances. She does it all. The production on the main stage has come to life now that it is the night and Grimes brings some extra flair to her show. She goes through Art Angels with ease, adding some extra live edits to some of the tracks. Janelle Monae isn't on hand, but "Venus Fly" sounds so much bigger, while others like "Go" and "Flesh without Blood" are even better live.
7:05 - She is singing Aristophanes part of "Scream" in Russian.
7:30 - She ends her set with "Kill V. Maim" and "World Princess Pt. II." There is some serious dancing going on right now.
7:40 - Back to Empire of the Sun who have the stage set up on lock including four dancers. This is a chance to preview a little of their upcoming album Two Vines as they finish their set with "Alive." What a tune.
8:15 - ZHU starts out with some edits of older tracks like Daft Punk "Technologic" before launching into his own discography. The live show has been brought to the festival with a saxophonist and guitar player, who unleashes his own searing solo later on. ZHU sings the various falsettos, which sound even more remarkable after he talks normally on the mic. Almost everything is done with some sort of edit.
8:40 - The festival has put lights in the trees surrounding the area and has spotlights going up into the sky, which really work because of the cloud cover.
9:00 - After a few minutes of chanting his name, J. Cole comes out on the main stage. He opens with "A Tale of 2 Citiez" and sticks to songs from 2014 Forest Hills Drive for the first 15 minutes. They take up most of the set. After about five minutes he sheds his sweatshirt and shows off a Megan Rapinoe jersey.
9:10 - Cole keeps the politics theme going adding a "f*ck Donad Trump" line in the middle of "No Role Modelz."
9:15 - J. Cole's hair looks like what The Weeknd used to have so fits he would be the replacement.
9:25 - He is joined on stage by Bas and he let him take the lead on "Lit" and then another from Too High To Revolt.
9:45 - Pretty Lights have some pretty awesome production. He has a five-piece band along with him including a drummer, guitarist and DJ. They are hidden behind a wall of lasers that shoots horizontally across the stage. Crowd is somewhat small at this point, but they are swaying
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