Rolling Stone: Made in America a “Smashing Success”

If you stayed in town instead of heading to the shore over the long holiday weekend, you might’ve noticed that traffic in and around the Art Museum district was, in a word, clogged. But that’s only because tens of thousands of hip young things were rocking out at the second annual “Made in America” music festival curated by Jay Z.

Rolling Stone dubbed the event a hit:

From a fan’s perspective, this is one of the aspects that helped Made in America soar so high in only its second year, already emerging as one of the top festivals on an increasingly crowded circuit. Another trait that made this weekend’s festival such a smashing success was the eclecticism of the lineup, concentrated onto those three stages with little to no filler. One could walk from one side of Philly’s Ben Franklin Parkway, where New Jersey’s Gaslight Anthem were tearing it up, to the other side of the fest where L.A.’s Robert DeLong delivered a star-making performance to thousands of face-painted young fans who embraced the young dance singer-songwriter as if he were already a household name.

Even the neighbors enjoyed it more hated it less than they did last year.

Bruce Butler, president of the Fairmount Civic Association, said things were better than last year’s debut festival, but not perfect. He said the sound spilled out of the festival.

“You could hear it, for sure, outside the fenced boundaries,” he said. “Without a doubt.”

The good news is that neighbors, who really weren’t thrilled with the inaugural festival last year, haven’t complained to him so far about the noise.

And Consequence of Sound offers its Top 10 moments from the festival, assessing: “There really was something for everyone on this Labor Day weekend, proving once again that Hova knows how to throw one hell of a party.”