The two-day music festival that impresses people of all ages finally makes a brilliant comeback.
Philadelphia, home to the Eagles, cheesesteaks, and the Liberty Bell, is also home to the one-of-a-kind music festival known as Made in America. The festival was created nine years ago, in 2012, by the American rapper best known as Jay-Z. The festival made its first appearance on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia on September 1st and 2nd of 2012, having Jay-Z himself as a headliner. The first year alone, the festival brought in almost 80,000 people and an impressive five million dollars from ticket sales alone. This was only the beginning for what would soon become a much-anticipated event in Philadelphia for people of all ages.
Over the nine-year span of Made in America, countless successful artists have been asked to perform. However, there are a few that stand out more than others. Some stand out simply because they were more popular during that specific year while others have been famous for years. For instance, in 2018, Post Malone was named a headliner for the festival. Although he is a major artist, his album, Beerbongs & Bentleys, was named the number one album for 2018, having 47.9 million streams on Spotify alone the day of its release. This is a clear explanation as to why he was chosen as one of the headliners for Made in America 2018. However, coming from the other side of the selection process is Beyoncé. Despite also having successful albums, she had not come out with an album in 2015, the year she was a headliner. This did not matter in the selection process, simply because she is Beyoncé, an iconic music artist whom a lot of people enjoy.
Made in America 2021 was major, not only for being the return of the festival, but also because it was the tenth-year anniversary. Similar to other events during 2020, Made in America 2020 was cancelled because of the safety concerns it would bring during a global pandemic, however, this year still marked a decade of the adored music festival. With the hard work of scientists and workers in the medical field, the festival was able to return in 2022 while implementing all COVID-19 protocols from the CDC and local public health officials. These protocols included showing proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test result from the past forty-eight hours and a mask mandate while on festival grounds.
Some of the most anticipated performers for 2021 were Megan Thee Stallion, Justin Bieber, and Doja Cat. All three did not disappoint, and many describe the performances as “electrifying”. This event, being one of the first musical festivals back after the long hiatus due to COVID-19, supplied the artists with quite an easy job: everyone was ready to have a good time and would likely enjoy themselves no matter what. Nevertheless, this did put a significant amount of pressure on the artists because people had been waiting for live music to come back for almost two years. From what was shown on social media, none of the artists nor the crowds let each other down. As quickly as Made in America returned, it disappeared. Now we wait until next September for the beloved festival on Benjamin Franklin Parkway to return.
SOURCES:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_America_Festival
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2018/07/10/the-music-industry-at-2018s-midpoint-post-malones-beerbongs-bentleys-is-the-no-1-album/?sh=674c11637d3e
- https://madeinamericafest.com/faq
