So not only did I survive Florida, but Paul took me to Philadelphia for the Made in America Festival the very next weekend. But this was no bae-cation. This weekend I was with my woe. No romance. Straight, road-trippin’, cheesesteakin’, and live performances with the homie.

The Made in America Festival is an annual, Labor Day weekend, collaboration between Budweiser and Jay-Z on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The way Paul described it on day one of the music festival was “the 1995 Source Awards meets Woodstock”. LOL! That was pretty accurate. The moment we got there, some guy put his face on my shoulder trying to get in my selfie, and Paul had to push him off of me and have some words with his four other buddies that tried to come to his rescue. Let’s just say that didn’t work out too well for them. People were sneaking in (successfully), fights broke out, people were laid out everywhere drunk and high on hardcore stuff, the lines for seriously over-priced food & beverages were ridiculous, and your middle-aged auntie would have fit right in with the security. This scene was not for us. Plus, the stage was level with the crowd so it was so hard to see it from anywhere. When we finally did find an ‘ok’ spot, we saw the first big name performer of the day, Meek Mill, and he sucked (boooo!). There was no way we were going to make it 3 whole hours to Beyoncé’s slayage (good job organizers); and Beyoncé is my whole life. She could throw Blue Ivy in the ocean and I’d be like “yaaasss toss that baby Bey-sus”; so for me to be over it, it was that bad.

Food made everything right with the world again and we just had fun strolling the city for hours. I thought I was going to be OK about the whole Beyoncé-thing because I had amazing seats for the On the Run Tour, but I died a little inside when I saw the clips of her serving in glittery costumes and that Remy-just-a-blowin’ on social media. I was ready for bed. Paul continued his night on the town alone and came back in the middle of the night; I swear that man is the Energizer Bunny.

Lesson learned: Paul filled-up Day 2 with afternoon activities so we could get to the festival right when our favorite artists were going on… already fed, and mentally prepared.

Day 2 was 1000 times better! I think it had a lot to do with the performances being closer together and more big names in one day to keep attendees engaged. People do crazy things when they’re bored and need to entertain themselves. Also, we found a barricade to sit on, so we had a decent view of the stage. Big Sean and J. Cole both killed their sets. I just went to the 2014 Forest Hills Drive Tour a few weeks ago and it was amazing, but it was a completely different experience; it was intimate. They were turned all the way up for Made in America and totally saved the festival for us. Paul and I are huge J. Cole fans and we went crazy, lol. You can see us rapping to each other and more pictures and clips from our weekend in Philly by following me on Instagram @1st.noelle.

No tears or blood to report on this trip. Thank you for reading (next post: Follow me to|The 48th Annual Maryland Seafood Festival).

~1st Noëlle