The Three L’s: 2022 Broccoli City Festival Opening Day Recap

(Broccoli City Festival)

The show must go on! Despite rain falling from the sky, flood warnings and muddy festival grounds, the team at Broccoli City Festival managed to get its 10th annual music celebration off the ground. From Joyce Wrice’s star-making performance through Ari Lennox’s soulful homecoming, day one of the 2022 Broccoli City Festival was everything it hoped to be in the face of Mother Nature. As day two of the festival gets ready to go down at RFK Stadium, let’s look back at what made Saturday so special.

Liked: DJ Malcolm Xavier, DJ Flow Go Head-To-Head

For the first time, Broccoli City Festival has moved to a two-day format. The extension of the festival allows for more performance time for the likes of 21 Savage, Lil’ Durk, Ari Lennox, etc. However, there is still time in between each set as the crew switches over things from one performer to the next. In that time period, fans are often left in awkward positions as they may seek food, take a bathroom break or just stand around as they look through their phone. In an effort to keep attendees’ energy up, DJ Malcolm Xavier and DJ Flow came up with an idea. The two DJs took to the stage to answer one question. What city makes better music, Baltimore or Washington? While some may debate who won, one thing can be agreed upon. It was wildly entertaining. From DJ Flow paying homage to Baltimore, Maryland’s iconic club music to Malcolm Xavier playing the city’s unofficial anthem, “Crew” by Goldlink, it was fun to see the two friends put on for their respective cities.

Loved: Wale Comes Home, Brings Polo G On Stage

Leading up to this year’s festival, there was a bit of confusion as to whether Wale would take the stage. Fortunately, things were sorted out offline and the hometown hero return to the District of Columbia for one of his best performances to date. Not only did he deliver the hit-filled set that headline his most recent tour, but he also brought a few friends along for the ride. Most notably, Polo G followed up his show in College Park, Maryland by performing “Rapstar” in front of thousands of fans. Also, Lil’ Chris of T.O.B and Big Flock shared the stage with Wale. More than a decade after delivering his debut album, Wale continues to prove why he is one of the most influential artists that has ever come through the nation’s capital.

Loved: Broccoli City Festival Staff Pulls Through

Look, the weather was not perfect yesterday. In fact, it was downright awful. At certain points, people could be seen shivering, running for cover and trying to get out of the rain. Not to mention, it was also about 50 F for much of the day. Still, the festival went on. Sure, there were people who complained or just didn’t show up because of the weather. However, it’s not exactly feasible to cancel a festival the day of and reschedule. The show must go on for a number of reasons and that’s exactly what happened. Whether it was production crew members scrambling to keep important equipment away from heavy rain or  the grounds crew trying to keep the grounds as walkable as possible, a number of people worked extremely hard to make Saturday’s performances happen. Shoutout to the Broccoli City Festival and shoutout to the fans who showed up in less than ideal conditions.

 

 

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