Mixtape Festival – Day 2
Katie Day 2 of Mixtape Festival definitely had the better line up (in my opinion of course – but hey its my blog so everything is my opinion don’t forget!) and I was very, very excited. We decided to sit at the North Stage for almost the whole day and moved to the South Stage only once – for 98 Degrees’ reunion. As soon as we sat down we loaded up on sunscreen – Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration – which I will be reviewing over the weekend so look out for that 😉
First up was The Dan Band – a cover band. We finally figured out during their set that they were actually the wedding band in The Hangover. Apparently they pride themselves on covering mostly female pop songs w/ added swearing. This became obvious quick when he had the crowd shouting the F word back to him. Kind of awkward especially since they were the first act and there were a lot of kids around. But whatever. (I hate when bands use swear words simply to make themselves seem more “cool”)
Then on the South Stage was The Ready Set. Unfortunately with The Wanted coming up on the North stage next, I didn’t pay much attention to The Ready Set, in fact I paid so little attention I completely missed a song on the setlist! It ended and I realized my oops.
Then it was time for The Wanted. I was so, so, so excited. Jay mentioned that everyone should put on sunscreen and he knows from experience because he was very pale. They seemed to just be having a TON of fun on the stage and although I do love boybands that dance, I didn’t really miss it with their performance. (They were all jumping around anyway – I guess that is close enough to dancing) I did feel their set was too short though and wish they just played forever. They were so good and I can’t wait to see it all again on Friday!
Carly Rae was next up on the South Stage and while we weren’t over there, it didn’t seem like anyone was all that in to her. She talked a lot, but we couldn’t really understand her from where we were. She also apparently didn’t warrant the video screens to show her for the first half of her set. Then when the camera did turn on, the sound board tent was blocking her and then they did a different shot of just part of her band, not her. Very strange and Im not sure what happened to the camera they had been using during The Ready Set! She also said she was going to change up her last song – which was obviously going to be Call Me Maybe – but it was funny to see the delayed reaction from the crowd near us because the beginning didn’t sound like what we are used to hearing on the radio.
LL Cool J was up next – we weren’t sure what he was going to do with an hour set and we dubbed this our bathroom and snack break time. (rootbeer float!) The crowd seemed to be into him though. He tried to rip off his shirt at one point and it didn’t rip all the way. I don’t know if he did that on purpose or not. He also gave away a laptop to one of the guys in the audience and was tossing out roses as well.
We left before LL was done and ended up opting to get a spot on the rail for 98 degrees instead of going into the ADA area. So we were “front row” of the Field area at least for their set! (VIP A and B had barricaded areas in front of us so we weren’t really that close) I had never seen 98 Degrees before so I was really excited for their reunion. Unfortunately, one of them seemed to be a bit flat on the singing. We think it was Drew. (I had noticed something being off from the videos from the Today Show but was hoping they’d pull it together for the show) It didn’t really take away from seeing them though. They only had a 45 minute set though, wish it was longer! (if I was in charge I totally would have changed up a few set times – plus if 98 Degrees was on the north stage instead of LL we’d have never had to leave our seats!)
Before 98 degrees was over (they had a song or two left) we went back to the North Stage to get our seats again for NKOTBSB. This would be the last performance of the super group – though they did mention possibly getting together again sometime. For the most part, the set was the same as when I had seen them last year. However, there were a few changes because it was their last show and each band had some tricks up their sleeve. At one point AJ had on an LMFAO jersey, ripped off his pants to have on these tight shorts and next think you know… they’re shufflin’! Brian and AJ came out during Joe’s ending of Please Don’t Go Girl to sing with him, Joe came out during BSB’s set with a phone and was singing with them… just to name a few things (I don’t know if I’m remembering everything – it’s been quite a weekend)
At one point NKOTB was talking about The Wanted and the band started playing Glad You Came, and I thought NKOTB was going to sing it – which would have been cool… but next thing you know, Max is walking up the stairs on to the stage and I completely lost it. (So much so it is now 2 days later as I write this and my throat still is hurting from the scream I let out lol) Also at one point, NKOTB, BSB and 98 Degrees were all on stage together as well. Which was awesome.. but…. made it painfully obvious there was still one boyband missing.. (NSYNC!)
At the end, NKOTB came out wearing BSB shirts and then BSB came out wearing NKOTB shirts. There were lots of hugs – NKOTB announced they’d be working on a new album and a new tour and BSB would of course be having Kevin rejoining the band and doing a new album and tour because they have now been a band for 20 years.
Setlists for most under the cut!