Last summer me and the squad went on a tour where we performed at festivals in and out of town as well as local shows in our hometown, which we called Respect The Summer. The entire experience was amazing but I enjoyed one show the most. It was The DreamOn Festival, which is a 2 day music, ice cream and arts event on August 5th-6th in Market Square, Pittsburgh, PA. There's a couple of reasons as to why this gig was my favorite.
So we arrived in Pittsburgh on Friday evening and the city was beautiful. The buildings surrounding Market Square were interesting because none of the architecture matched. Each building had its own unique, creative structure, giving it a very artsy scenery. After checking in to the hotel, we headed back to Market Square to check out the area and watch some of the performers scheduled for that day.
One of the most awesome things about The Dream On Festival is that it's organized and run primarily by teenagers. The kids, man! From shirt designs, artists booked, customer engagement and so on. I'm proud to experience an event put together by kids that was about community, fun and unity amongst that community. The adults were awesome for nurturing these teenagers ideas and helping them flourish. Mentorship is so important. I cannot stress that enough.
The performance was amazing! We had a 40 minute set and utilized every second of it. Mic Blaque, Lindsay Leelong, Dj Skate Key and I left it all on the stage that day. It felt as if we were on 100%. We had so much fun and the crowd reciprocated that energy. They were so surprisingly receptive(I'm always pleasantly surprised when anyone rocks with me lol). You could see folks really listening to the lyrics of each song, dancing and enjoying themselves.
I haven't performed at too many festivals and I've never performed in Pittsburgh before so rocking at The DreamOn Festival was like killing two birds with one stone. Being able to go OT and spread my music is a blessing so I'm glad I had the opportunity to do so. This particular show gave me the desire to want to do more festivals. It showed me that there's an untapped market that I wasn't exploiting before. Basically, it opened my eyes to more opportunities. It's helped to give me direction. That's why it's my favorite show I've done last year. Hopefully they'll invite us back out this summer. I can't wait.