by Taylor Bruno
I woke up on May 5, 2018 to my phone blowing up with notifications. I quickly got up and checked to see what all the fuss was about. As I opened twitter I read a tweet from @edm that said I had just won two free tickets to Sunset Music Festival in Tampa, Florida. Only 6 hours away from my home, Miami, SMF was a festival I had always wanted to attend and now I finally had the chance. 3 weeks passed by as the excitement built.
The Airbnb had been booked, outfits planned and packed. My rave fam and I left the morning of day one at 3 AM ready for a bass filled weekend. After a long 6 hour drive we arrived to will call to pick up our wristbands and proceeded to our Airbnb, which was only 45 minutes away from Raymond James Stadium, where SMF was taking place. As the squad was getting ready, we discussed who we anticipated to see the most which was K?D, Slander, San Holo, NGHTMRE, Rezz, Hippie Sabotage and Borgore (pretty much everyone playing day 1). As we left the doors of our Airbnb and into the car covered in glitter, jewels and good vibes, we headed out to SMF.
As soon as we got to the venue it was pouring rain but we refused to let that ruin our time. We made it through security and headed straight to the water stations because Life’s a party stay hydrated (; . The line for the water stations were very long, but the very kind workers made up for it. After getting water we used the restrooms and headed to the mainstage to take pictures. Shortly after the first set anticipated set of the day began, K?D, and so did the good times.
Overall Experience of SMF
Seeing as this was my first SMF I was very pleased with day one. The vibes were nothing short of spectacular and so were the people. There were three stages, but I only saw two, which was the Mainstage and The Horizon stage. The structure of the mainstage made the visuals and lights more fascinating and pleasing to the eye. It gave the crowd a sense of enchantment. The only downfalls of SMF were the lack of water stations which caused time consuming lines.
There was a lot of undercover cops and security present throughout the entire festival which was kind of a vibe killer, seeing a lot of fellow ravers getting tackled and arrested. SMF also lacked originality. A lot of their decorations seemed almost as if they were trying to imitate EDC. The festival did have a lot of enormous tent areas, for resting and shelter from the rain which was one of the only unique traits. One of my BIGGEST issues with this festival is how poorly executed day two was. Day two was cancelled due to weather conditions when IT DIDN’T RAIN ALL DAY. I was halfway finished with getting ready with an hour to spare until the gates opened for day two when I got the email that it was being cancelled. The situation was not handled well by the creators AT ALL. SMF then proceeded to promote already SOLD OUT after parties, leaving everyone who didn’t have tickets with nothing to do. They did not try to help out those without tickets and really expected people who paid $170+ for their SMF wristbands to purchase $50+ after party tickets. My squad and I enjoyed the rest of our weekend exploring Tampa and the beaches, which made the bad situation slightly better. Even though I did not pay for SMF wristbands, I still wasted money on the airbnb, day two outfit and gas expenses and so did many other attendees who will never get that money back. I was informed by friends that it took over a month for them to receive their money back from SMF which is also an inconvenient situation.
What I Wore
On day 1, I went for a soft/innocent look with a little bit of fuzz. I found out I was going to SMF last minute so I re-wore my white beaded bra from iHeartRaves with light pink high waisted bottoms from an Etsy shop called Glitter Romance. I accessorized with crystal fishnet stockings from Amazon, fuzzy earrings from another Etsy shop called snakefacejewelry and a choker from Forever 21 with white high top vans. Headbanging with loose earrings was not the most comfortable situation but I did get a lot of compliments on them throughout the night and it was by far my favorite festival outfit.
The Music
SMF definitely did not fail to bring amazing music. Out of all the sets I witnessed it really is hard to say which were my favorites because they were all SO good. It was my fourth time seeing my space mom, Rezz, but she NEVER disappoints. The vibes from her set were next level, everyone around me was almost in a trance when she dropped her new single HEX. Seeing Hippie Sabotage for the very first time was the highlight of my SMF weekend. It was very unfortunate that they played the same time as Rezz, but I made the smart decision of seeing the first half of Rezz and the last of Hippie. The serenity I felt while standing next to my best friends and singing our hearts out to Your Soul was truly indescribable. Some other worthy mentions are Slander & NGHTMRE. Even though I was disappointed to see they weren’t doing Gud Vibrations, but they still killed it on their own. Every time Slander drops his Fall Apart remix I actually fall apart and come back together all at once.
Would I go again?
I personally would not spend my money on SMF again because of the awful situation they put their supporters in. I did really enjoy this festival and was really disappointed in not being able to experience day two. I would consider going again if the line up was as good as this years and day two actually occurs. My advice to anyone interested in going is to be aware of your surroundings, there are a lot of undercovers. Bring a poncho because SMF is known for rainy weather and be aware of the very long water station lines. In my opinion traveling from another state for SMF isn’t really worth it. It is a good festival, but it doesn’t have any unique traits or experiences. Hopefully next year attendees will not experience the same mess this year because SMF truly has so much potential to be bigger and better.
Thank you Taylor for this writing this review! Be sure to follow her on social media: Twitter and Instagram, and SUBSCRIBE to her YouTube channel!!!
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