First off, the guy in this video was the most trill dude at Trillectro Festival, at least from what I saw. He mostly danced by himself, and yes, that is a feather duster in his hand. No, I don’t know why he danced with a duster. But he seemed to have a great time, and that’s what any festival is all about.
Now for a confession: I left at about 6 p.m. Saturday, a full five hours before it was supposed to end. Not that it wasn’t an awesome event, but the human body can’t sustain itself on just Izze Sparkling Juice and Red Bull. Sugar rushes (and some late-evening snags) aside, the first ever Trillectro Festival was a great look for the DMV, mostly because the Fairgrounds in Southeast were packed with fans, not just aspiring performers looking to get on stage (there’s already enough of that in the city).
Scores of energetic scenesters flooded the venue in the searing heat to see the daylong concert, hosted by DC to BC bloggers Modele “Modi” Oyewole, Quinn Coleman, and Marcel Marshall.
The idea, Modi told me last month, was to showcase the marriage of hip-hop and electronica. The term “trillectro” was coined by the group to describe that blend.
Tabi Bonney gave a lively performance, despite forgetting the lyrics to “Parachute.” (“I forgot my lyrics, but fuck it, man. I got too excited.”) Oddisee also ripped the stage with his full band. (The guy in the above video was dancing to Odd’s live version of “Another’s Grind.”)
When the locals weren’t performing, out-of-towners like Brooklyn’s Flatbush Zombies and L.A.’s Casey Veggies offered inspired sets. Brooklyn band Phony Ppl began with a nostalgic rendition of go-go legend Chuck Brown‘s “Bustin’ Loose.”
Some more observation, plus photos, from the seven hours I spent at the festival.
1. Food trucks! And a moon bounce!
2. The venue resembled Dekalb Market in Brooklyn with its recycled truck cabins.
3. The scores and scores of accredited press. At the onset, there were more journalists and bloggers there than artists. The media pit was far away from the stage, which was a great place to get away from the action. And there was plenty of it.
4. The middle-aged stage hand climbing the scaffold with the Trillectro banner dangling from his jeans. (He climbed up during the extremely long technical difficulties of Locke‘s set.)
Memorable one-liner from Locke’s set: “Got a girl, but I’ll fuck yours.”
Memorable performance move: Locke walking through the crowd and spouting trap rap in front of a young child. That’s wassup.
5. Asaad performed his set over prerecorded vocals, and that’s never a good idea. “Y’all know the words?!” he asked. Clearly, they didn’t need to.
6. The artist not named Peekaso. He, and his work, bare a striking resemblance to Jean-Michel Basquiat.
7. The FUZE tent. There, patrons could have T-shirts made on the spot. Still kinda mad I didn’t get one designed.
8. The ladies Tabi brought from the crowd onto the stage. As a happily engaged man, that’s all I can say.
9. ODB‘s “Brooklyn Zoo,” Biggie‘s “Notorious Thugs,” and Onyx‘s “Walk In New York” on an open-air sound system.
10. The random dude who sparked the weed on the VIP deck. In broad daylight. Way to stick it to the man.
