By Maddie Bimonte
Marking my first festival, I can’t express the joy I experienced when I received the email saying I was going to Rolling Loud. Especially for free. Tickets for the event are usually astronomical, and I would never think to go, even though the lineup this year was stacked. I honestly did not know what to expect and went in with an open mind. I have always heard rumors about what Rolling Loud is like or any music festival, so I was prepared to handle crowds, pushing, and the potential shove to the ground.
Arriving on the first day, I was immediately met with overpriced merchandise, food, drinks, and some great performances. Lil Uzi Vert had to be one of the highlights of my weekend, solely for the energy he possessed on stage.
But one of my favorite artists was slated to perform that night, Nicki Minaj. A little-known fact about me, I’m a huge barb. Getting the opportunity to see Minaj for free was a dream come true. What I didn’t know was how painful it would be standing in the cold for 45 minutes waiting for her to go on stage. This marked one of Rolling Loud’s biggest flaws: timing. Almost every single artist was late to their call time on stage all weekend. I get it, we’re all human, and we’re all going to be late sometimes. However, when you’re given an hour-long set and miss 45 minutes, I will be slightly upset by it.
Controversially, I chose to skip Saturday, mainly because I did not want to be freezing cold. While I enjoy A$AP Rocky’s music, it wasn’t enough to persuade me. I planned to return to the festival on Sunday to see Future and 21 Savage. Excitement was high; however, the weather forecast looked bleak. I geared up in all my waterproof clothes to ignore the fact it would rain during the festival.
But boy, I was unprepared for the weather I was about to experience.
The start of the night was great, while 21 Savage canceled his set after I waited 15-20 minutes for him, I was already prepared to see Soulja Boy. Credit to Soulja Boy for being the only performer all weekend who was on time and ready to go at the listed set time.
Soulja Boy did all his hits and more and quickly became one of my favorite sets all weekend. “Rick and Morty” and “Kiss Me Through The Phone” had to be my favorites, and he combined all his greatest hits in a cohesive set.
When Future’s set rolled around, I again waited 20-25 minutes for the set to start. So far, the rain had held off, leaving me nice and dry for the set. However, once the action started, rain immediately began pouring. Future’s set was only made better by the rain, in my opinion; there is nothing like hearing “Jumpman,” “Bad and Boujee,” and “Stick Talk” in the pouring rain while jumping around.
The rain, however, progressed into an absolute downpour, forcing the concert to end early. Much to the dismay of concertgoers and Future, he kept pleading on stage for one more song. Alas, the rain was so bad that sirens sounded, and everyone was forced to evacuate.
Regardless of all the negatives that weekend, it was absolutely amazing I was able to attend the concert because of Fordham. While I may never do this again, it was certainly a memory I will never forget.
