There Must Be Something In The Water

A Weekend To Remember

As some of you may know (those who follow me on social media) I recently had the privilege of attending Pharrell's first and hopefully annual Something in the Water festival. Pharrell originally published the first IG post about the festival March 4th and the event was sold out by March 27th!

Normally, I take my talents to Made in America festival (got to see Beyonce perform) but I feel like the lineup over the last couple of years was not that impressive, needless to say I was looking for a new festival to attend. I originally had my eyes set out on Broccoli City Festival (D.C) which fell on the exact same weekend as Something In The Water! I quickly decided on Pharrell's festival for the experience, plus I've never been to Virginia Beach, and to say I went there the first year! The lineup was the best I've seen this festival season to be honest! Chris Brown was the added bonus to me going cause you know you never see that nigga on nobody festival lineup!! I was able to snag a 3-day GA festival pass (including taxes & fees about $200 USD for early-bird) within 2 hours of the tickets going on sale March 8th! Originally I had plans to go with two of my friends but then some unforeseen events happened for them and I ended up going solo-dolo. I almost sold by wristband and I am so glad that I didn't do that!

I quickly had to find travel and stay accommodations. Luckily for me my sister was taking the girls (little sister and niece) on vacation not to far from the beach so I was able to ride with them. For lodging had to book a room in someones home through Airbnb. **BTW make sure y'all check the house rules my host had a rule that you had to be back in by 1:30 a.m!** But he was cool with me coming in later since I told him before hand 😊. The room situation was scary as fuck at first cause I didn't know what could happen (definitely shared my location with a couple folks lol) but by the grace of Gold my host, his girlfriend, and big ass dog were cool and I even was able to split Uber rides to the festival with the other guest they rented out another room to.

Day 1 was a total washout! The weather was not trying to let us be great AT ALL! However the festival team and the City of Virginia Beach tried there very best keeping us updated and even extending the festival's permit to 1 a.m. but the universe was not in agreeance. But, those who did purchase tickets through the festival site received 33% of the ticket value back due to the cancellation. That night I ended up picking up my ticket for Trap Karaoke (will do a blog post on them by end of the year ), catching the meditation session at the Convention Center, and hitting up this burger bar spot called Barrel 17 (got the bacon double cheeseburger, two white sangria's, and I think the purple haze). I meet a group of cool people at the bar who lived in VA and actually knew Pharrell which was pretty cool!

Day 2 I was back out Virginia Beach (stayed in Chesapeake, VA about a 15-20 min drive) with the roomie this time. I told him how Verizon was giving out fast passes to skip the line so we stopped at the convention center to grab him a wristband. Unfortunately, you could not catch an Uber to the beach front. They did offer shuttle rides (for a cost of course) or you could walk, which was exactly what I did. Along the way we hit up all the wall murals aka street art and even got to go to the Timberland Garden jawn. 

There we got some free stuff and a couple photo ops for the gram. We ended up at the beach stage around 2:30pm ish. **FYI there was only one stage and that shit was on the beach in the sand!!** We ended up getting as close as the crowd would allow us. And if you've been to a festival before you know it was people pushing and arguing. There were some acts that I didn't know like Rosalia, and Mac Demarco. Ferg I've seen already at a festival and concert (hate when he wants to do mosh pits), J Balvin was good, Sza unfortunately for me she was just okay I could pass on seeing her again, Travis Scott WAS LATE AFFFFF!!! I mean like showed up 10 mins before his set was suppose to be over. Pharrell did let him perform his entire set which was pretty good. At this point Pharrell doesn't make it on to the stage until an hour after he was scheduled (10:25pm). So had to make a choice do I stay for Pharrell & Friends or do I leave half way through the set to go to Trap Karaoke? Hmm?! Bish yall know my ass stayed the entire time to the MF'n end!! His set was EVERYYYTHANGG he even brought out Jay-Z and Tyler the Creator who were not listed on the lineup. Crowd went crazyyyyy for Jay, Diddy & Missy was a whole vibe, Timberlands mic was fucking up, Busta and Usher was lit! Needless to say by the time I walked back to the Convention Center it took me an WHOLE HOUR to get an uber back to the Airbnb and the ride back was $80 (rounding to the nearest dollar) 😔😔. Didn't get back until like 3-3:30 a.m.

 Day 3 at this point my body was aching like crazy and I purposely skipped the gym that week to avoid this agony. My plan was to actually get a good seat at the Pop-Up Service (s/o to Pharrell cause pop-up church service was free and open to the public). Yeahhhh about me actually following through with that plan tho lol. The roomie and I first hit up the Sony spot and then went back to the Timberland Garden before heading to the beach. **BTW on this day we weren't allowed to bring the water bottles they gave us into the festival and trust me I tried sneaking it in!** Once I realized that the Gospel acts I wanted to see were later on during the day (Tye Tribbette, Mary Mary (seen them at a different festival bomb performers!), and Kirk Franklin) I opted to go to the main stage.

I didn't go into the crowd on Sunday I decided to actually eat and hydrate myself (didn't eat or drink all day Saturday) plus the sun was beaming, wayyy to hot to be in the crowd so I hung back by the souvenir shop and sat my ass on top of the tables that they had for people to eat on. Leikeli47 set was good, Dram amazing sounds just like his records, Jhene Aiko love her vibes and the Nipsey Tribute, Pusha T is a little arrogant, Teddy Riley set was 90s R&B all the way, from Coko who's apart of SWV to Lil Duval, Charlie was sooo good he had the rain coming down (yes I was soaked smh). I hoped that the rain didn't cancel the rest of the show cause then that would've meant no Chris Breezy! TO GOD BE THE GLORY the show proceeded and Chris was able to perform. At this point it was cold and it started to rain again but he did his thing. Wish he had a head mic and the instrumentals playing versus his actual tracks with him singing but I've seen him in concert a couple of times so I didn't mind.Oh and did I mention that he brought out Trey Songz (who took to twitter later that night about the festival...hopefully he makes the lineup next year!) I do listen here and there to Anderson Paak's music but at that point I was cold, wet, and had the shivers so I took my talents back to the Airbnb.

The atmosphere and people was something you had to experience. You could tell that Virginians were mad supportive of this event because it really seemed like everyone knew each other. People looked out for strangers that were passing out, hell even a couple of the artist would stop performing to get the attention of the security for people who needed medical attention. Sza even stopped her set and did a quick prayer (respect!). I'm glad I got to go the first year and would encourage you all to check it out next year. This festival got it MOSTLY right on the first try with very minor kinks to work out for future years. 

If you actually take my word and go make sure you do the following: PURCHASE VIP TICKETS! GA was nice and all but the crowd was too much at times and that personal space you had in VIP was looking heavenly. BRING SUNSCREEN! Silly me for thinking black people don't get sunburn smh my nose and forehead was definitely peeling days later and these tan lines on my shoulder is something crazzy! (about to cop that Black Girl Sunscreen tho!) BRING A PONCHO AND HOODIE OR LIGHT JACKET! Rain was uncontrollable and the temperature definitely drops at night. BRING A TOWEL OR BLANKET! (self explanatory I hope) PORTABLE CHARGER PEOPLE!! I had two on deck I don't play! Pleaseeee don't be like the one lady who's battery died two hours into the festival on Saturday. They did have a little convenience store at the festival but you know them prices was probably hella high. BE EARLY! especially if you want to be close or to hit the gift shop and all the little photo ops that they had set up. Cause that gift shop line on the last day was probably an hour wait or so.

Click here to check out there official website Something in the Water
Find them on Instagram here Something in the Water  
Twitter here

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Until next time ✌😁