Photographs and Review by Christa Rae Settle.
Since Mixtape Festival was located at Hershey Stadium, which is a huge part of all of the sweet attractions that Hershey, PA has to offer, the performances on stage were not the only thing thrilling all of the attendees. With the festival starting at 4:55pm sharp, there was ample time for everyone to get more thrills before the last night begun. Conveniently located next door to the infamous Hershey Park, plenty of attendees spent the day riding roller coasters – especially since having a concert ticket got you a pretty nice discount on park admission! And of course, there was delicious chocolate to devour!
For those attendees who were more interested in getting more of a fix of this year’s acts, Mixtape Festival hosted an event at noon at the Giant Center called “Rock N’ Jock Broom Ball” featuring New Kids On The Block, Jonas Brothers, and Hanson. During their set that night, the Jonas Brothers mentioned that the two teams were Nick, Joe, and Kevin Jonas and Taylor, Zac, and Issac Hanson versus New Kids On The Block. Joe stated that New Kids On The Block whooped their butts at broom ball! Who ever thought of putting members of some of the most successful boy bands onto two teams and have them play a ridiculous sport against each other is a genius!
In it’s last night, Mixtape Festival’s lineup was filled with successful boy bands who know how to drive a stadium full of people crazy – New Kids On The Block, Jonas Brothers, Boyz II Men, Emblem3, and MKTO. It also was a monumental night, marking the return of the best selling R&B girl group, TLC. There was a lot of be excited about this night! However, as attendees filled the stadium with excitement, everyone was worried about the storm that was approaching. Throughout the day, the sun was scarce and there was slight drizzling of rain on and off. The sky grew darker and darker, as people’s hopes for the storm to just pass over grew stronger. The rain became a bit heavier just before Emblem3 took the stage and as they were in middle of performing their second song of their set, lightning struck above. After they finished their second song, the members of Emblem3 apologized for stopping the party and told everyone to seek shelter in the inside part of Hershey Stadium below the bleachers. Then, it poured. There was talk that the show may not go on as the radar was showing barely any sign of the thunderstorm clearing. About an hour later, the festival announced that the show would resume where they left off at 7:15pm. Thank goodness THE SHOW WENT ON! What an epic night that would’ve been a tragedy to have cancelled due to weather!
The storm delayed the show by about an hour and a half. Fans were worried that their favorite band would’ve had to cut their set down in order for the show to end on time. No set lengths were affected by the storm! Every band played their full set and had ample time to perform for their fans. Due to the delay, the night’s headliner, New Kids On The Block went on stage at about 10:45pm, just 15 minutes before the festival was originally scheduled to end. The headlining act of the night started strong with hits like “You Got It (The Right Stuff)”, “Block Party” “Step By Step” and “Summertime”. They group started their set dressed in white and black suits, and as the set went on, they gradually removed a couple articles of clothing, as well as a couple of costume changes.
When New Kids On The Block performs, lots of choreographed dancing, thrusting, showing off of abs, sparklers and pyro technics are to be expected! New Kids On The Block, or often shortened as NKOTB consists of Donnie Wahlberg, Jordan Knight, Jon Knight, Danny Wood, and Joe MacIntyre. The group experienced their rise to stardom in the late 1990s as one of the pioneering boy bands. There’s no denying that this group still has the right stuff to top the charts and drive women crazy! A few of the members like Jordan as well as Joey, got down into the first few rows of the crowd to serenade audience members and sing with them. NKOTB was the best band to close the festival out with!
The most anticipated act of the night, TLC, was the second to last act of the night. TLC, which originally consisted of Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, achieved their success in the early 1990s after the release of Ooooooohhh… On the TLC Tip, their debut album. TLC had been ranked by Billboard as one of the greatest music trios and the group went on to receive tons of awards as they quickly climbed to the top of the charts. On VH1’s 2012 list of 100 Greatest Women in Music, TLC ranked 12th as well as ranked the number one all girl group. Many fans in attendance of Mixtape Festival spoke about how TLC were on their mixtapes back in the 90s, as well as one stating that TLC was their first mixtape. Unfortunately at their peek of stardom, Lisa passed in Honduras in a car accident. The group had been working on recording their fourth album 3D. Seven months after Lisa’s passing 3D was released. Since her passing, the group has performed with a variety of ways to preserve Lisa’s presence, including performing with the track of Lisa’s vocals as they did at Mixtape Festival this year. There was a buzz going around the festival that Lil Mama would perform in place of Lisa, and Lil Mama did make an appearance performing near the end of “Scrubs”. But Tionne and Rozonda clairfied the rumor at the end of performing “Scrubs”, stating that they could never replace Lisa, but they will be continuing with making music for their fans because “…she will always be remembered through us, that was our sister – she is our sister,” said Rozonda.
TLC’s performance of their 1993 hit “Waterfalls” was one of the most magical moments of the entire festival. Tionne and Rozonda dedicated their performance of this song to their late member Lisa, stating that this was one of her favorite songs. They requested for everyone in the stadium to put up any light they had in memory of Lisa. The stadium lit up with lights from cell phones, cameras, glow sticks and lighters.
This night of Mixtape Festival was certainly the night of trios! As the third boy band trio to perform of the night, the Jonas Brothers walked on stage, asking for Hershey to scream the loudest they could before starting their set. Then, the familiar tune of “S.O.S” started, one of their band’s first singles that put them on the map in 2007. Jonas Brothers consists of Nick, Joe, and Kevin Jonas. This current tour marks the return of the Jonas Brothers as a band together again. The three haven’t been on tour together since their 2010 World Tour. Between then and now, Kevin got married and has his own reality TV show, Married to Jonas, with his wife Danielle. Joe focused on his solo career and released one album titled FastLife and toured as a solo artist. Nick also focused on a solo career, creating the band Nick Jonas & The Administration, together they released one album titled Who I Am. Nick also returned to his Broadway career to star in the revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Now, three years later the brothers are back to making music and touring together – and their fans couldn’t be happier! While each of them were successful solo, it’s great that they’re back. Jonas Brothers will be releasing this year their fifth studio album titled V. While they have only released two singles from the album, “First Time” and “Pom Poms”, they performed many new songs to be released on V.
It was easy to be see how Nick, Joe, and Kevin have grown; not just individually but as a band as well. The Jonas Brothers are backed on stage by their full band – John Taylor on lead guitar, Greg Garbowsky on bass guitar (and another musician on stage who makes the girl’s melt), Jack Lawless on drums, Ryan Liestman on keyboards, Paris Carney-Garbowsky on backing vocals, Megan Mullins on violin and backing vocals, and Marcus Kincy on keyboards. Most band members have been touring with the brothers since 2005. After the last chord of “S.O.S” was strung, the Jonas Brothers went right into “Pom Poms” and then “Hold On”. Their setlist was full of a mix of songs from the past six years. Joe also performed his hit single “See No More” from his solo album as Nick played drums; every girl loves when Nick plays the drums, it’s always such a treat! Their set also contained a cover of Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin’ Bout You” mixed with “Found”, a song to be released on their upcoming album. During the performance of “The World” another new song to be release on V, the Jonas Brothers tossed several big balloons painted as globes into the crowd in which a few floated throughout the first few sections for the entirety of the song. They ended their set strong with their most popular hit from 2008 “Burnin’ Up”.
R&B vocal trio, Boyz II Men, serenaded the entire crowd as their emotionally beautiful ballads filled the stadium. Rising to fame in the 1990s, Boyz II Men started as a quartet, but health issues caused bass singer Michael McCary to resign in 2003, leaving the current trio Nathan Morris, Shawn Stockman, and Wanya Morris. During the beginning of their set, the rain was still a steady shower. About halfway through the set, the sky cleared and the rain stopped for the remainder of the night.
When Boyz II Men perform, they successfully make every girl feel special, even if there are thousands of them filling Hershey Stadium. During their performance of “I’ll Make Love To You” the trio each had a bouquet of roses and threw each rose individually to select girls in the first few rows. They also often point to certain women in the crowd and will look you straight in the eye as they sing to you.
At approximately 7:15pm, with the rain still pouring, Emblem3 returned to the stage after a rain delay of about an hour and a half. Their fans ran back to their seats screaming as they picked up where they left off in their set. This talented up and coming boy band rose to fame on the second season of The X Factor USA finishing in fourth place. Emblem3 consists of brothers Wesley Stromberg, Keaton Stromberg, and Drew Chadwick. Fans made their own Emblem3 swag to show off their love the band, including shirts that read “I’m a Chloe!”
During the remainder of their set, they performed songs from their debut studio album, Nothing to Lose, just released three days after their performance at Mixtape Festival on July 30, 2013. They also performed covers of “Diamonds” by Rihanna and “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Of course, they finished their set out strong with their two top hits “Sunset Blvd” and “Chloe (You’re the One I Want)”. “Sunset Blvd”, an original piece written by Drew, was the song they bravely performed for their first audition on The X Factor USA that made judges Simon Cowell, Demi Lovato, Britney Spears and L.A. Reid fall in love with them. To quote Simon, “…I predict big things for you.” There’s no doubt that this pop rock boy band is currently skyrocketing to success!
Mixtape Festival is one of the best summer festivals to add to the mix, varying drastically from festivals like Warped Tour, Firefly and Bonnaroo drastically. With one stage instead of the multi-stages like most festivals, this year at Mixtape Festival allowed for the audience to enjoy each act without having to deal with going back and forth between stages and overlapping set times. Each person had the comfort of having a seat to sit in between sets, whether they were on the floor level or in the bleachers. With so much to do around this location in the heart of Hershey, PA, there was never a dull moment when the festival wasn’t going on, and it allowed for everyone to venture out in the area on their own than staying within a venue or wooded area. The crowd at this festival varied in age, making it a great festival for all ages! This festival is only going to get bigger and bigger, so be sure to make it a yearly adventure in your summer schedules! See you next year, Mixtape Festival!
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