Mixtape Festival 2015
June 27, 2014
Hershey Park Stadium-Hershey, PA
Mixtape Festival started out miserable–fans were about to endure pouring down rain and soppy socks and shoes for the rest of the night with respect to a minor break towards the end. But that didn’t stop em! Fans were everywhere; Pancho’s of all shapes, sizes, and colors filled the stadium. Joey McINTYRE of NKOTB came out decked out in Hershey rain gear in the pouring rain to introduce the show.
It was now time for the show to begin. Salt N Pepa’s performance kicked off the show with a solo male dancer tearin’ up the stage displaying his insane dance moves–with the ladies to follow shortly after. The Stadium rang with ‘Salt N Pepa’s here!’ as the duo took the stage reppin’ their self branded ‘Salt N Pepa’ attire; hot as ever with tracks provided by DJ Spinderella. Later, a second male dancer joined the mix; elevating the hype to another degree. They played tons of familiar fan favorites including Whatta Man and Push It. It was an exciting and long waited moment to see the Duo take the stage and they killed it, through and through.
Along with the rest of the talented band, Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray joins the stage in his classic polo and perfect ever-so-perfect hair continuing the throwback fan favorite trend with, Someday, Every Morning, When Its Over, Blister in the Sun among other great sing-a-long material.
Nelly steals the stage accompanied by his brother +1 other gentleman. The artist came out swingin with his stunna shades, gold chains and a gold microphone. For nearly the complete duration of his set he has the entire stadium singing and rappin’ along. Nelly performs a variety of great material from his earlier records to his latest. A few numbers being, Air Force Ones, E.I., and Grillz. Later, Nelly explains that he wore a bandaid for his little brother; the reason he was on stage. Then he follows with a performance accompanied by his brother —Ride Wit Me. Slows it down with radio hit jam, Cruise.The rapper picks it back up with a remix of a few current radio hits starting with a song of his own, Move That Body flowing into a few others by various artists including Turn Down For What and I Don’t Fuck With You.
Nelly takes a brief break from the music to appreciate and include his fans by bringing 3-4 up on stage. This was shortly after asking where all the single ladies are and genuinely thanking the fans for sticking it out in the awful weather. Since the weather threw off all our plans he explained, ‘let’s have some fun.’ He has the first fan walk across and act like she ‘own the stage’. He’s displeased at her first attempt and has her return back for another try. Once she begins her final attempt, the music kicks in as Nelly follows behind her starting of the song…Walk Away and continues dancing with her throughout the rest of the song. Once the song ends he invites the second fan out to the middle of the stage and begins dancing with her to, Over and Over. Shortly after the song ends, Nelly freestyles to another popular radio hit..The Way I Are leading into Hot In Here in which the crowd goes nuts! The last fan he pulls on stage is a little bit shyer than the others and seemed a little nervous and unsure until Nelly’s Dilemma duet feat. Kelly Rowland started up. With the start of that song her attitude shifted quickly as she began singing along. And she sounded great! Nelly Finished up the rest of the song hugging the fan as he shows her off stage. He has the ladies in the crowd finish out Kelly Rowland’s part of the song. He then progresses into another great song Just A Dream. St. Louis rapper, Nelly, set the bar incredibly high for performing artists of his caliber. To see someone so talented and successful just completely joyful in the moment, having a genuine blast doing what they do.. and loving it–well, that’s an unforgettable experience in itself. His performance was certainly a fan favorite of the night.
A lot of fans were sad to receive the news of TLC’s cancellation due to Festival weather conditions. TLC’s cancellation was rumored to potentially have more to do with ongoing health concerns of a member of the group vs. the weather which is much more understandable. If that’s the case, best wishes to those involved and we hope to see them back at it again soon!
The stage started out dark with a backdrop of their faces stating ‘The Main Event’. The guys graced the stage with a backdrop, sirens and finally a Loud pop. The crowd went wild! Screaming jumping, and probably crying with excitement. Confetti was everywhere! It was time to get the party started!
New Kids On The Block finished out the show with a stellar performance full of a mixture of upbeat material and slower jams. The entire crowd front to back was dancing and singing a long throughout the duration of their set. The lighting was beautiful at times and incredibly tough/dramatic at others. They utilized the catwalk pretty consistently and overall delivered a rather animated and entertaining show. Their entire performance was for the fans which they made rather apparent by the plausible amount of crowd interaction included in their set. Vanilla Ice didn’t perform his own individual set but instead was later invited out on stage during NKOTB’s performance.
New Kids On The Block finished out the night with a solid performance of Hangin’ Tough and the legendary Queen’s, We Will Rock You.
Despite the rainy weather and TLC’s last minute cancellation, the festival was indeed a success. A lot of diehard fans left the Hersheypark stadium with a smile. Mixtape, you did it again!
Review by: Liana Marie
New Kids On The Block
Nelly
Sugar Ray
Salt N’ Peppa
