*I want to preface this by saying I wasn’t able to stay for the whole festival due to unforseen circumstances outside of the Festival’s control but we’ll get into that.

The first annual Touch Grass music Fest was held at the Orlando Amphitheater in Orlando, Florida and it was a mixed bag of entertainment to say the least. Not to say it was a bad time! But it was definitely a case of first timers finding their footing.

My day started with arriving around 11:15am to pick up my credentials. (This was something I kind of predicted would happen but not to this extent.) Even though me and many others were there, the gates to get to will call to pick up our things didn’t open till almost noon. On top of that, the gates didn’t open up until almost 1pm. Now mind you, the unforeseen circumstances was the heat. So I’m already outside in this heat with my gear for almost 2 hours at this point. Not a great start to the day. Along with the food options, there were water stations by the bathrooms and one by one of the bars. However, there was no signage to mark that the one by the bar existed.

Once inside the grounds, the lack of atmosphere and entertainment was underwhelming to me personally. There were various food trucks with good diverse choices. From your basic hot dogs and hamburgers to an ice cream vendor. In terms of actual vendors though, there were two vendors and a mechanical bull. There was also a video game truck which was dope to see on site as well! In terms of actual “festival” entertainment, there were a couple of seesaws, a swing set gathering, and a few photobooths. That was really it. Granted, I know you’re there for the music primarily, but this left a lot to be desired in such a wide open space. It was very notable that there wasn’t much in between the two stages.

Then I journeyed to the Press Lounge. I’m grateful for this existing because it is very rare for places to have them. While the lounge was an area to conduct interviews and get photos of certain artists if you booked them, they didn’t have any water or snacks available. The reason I bring this up once again, its Florida and you can’t control the weather.

Now for the music, I am not familiar with any of the artists on the card. I am what the kids call an oldhead. First up was DreamCOn winner Zay of the Zoo, opening up on the main stage. His music was very chill and deeper than I expected as someone new to today’s realm of hip hop artists. Hearing something that sounded more grounded was very refreshing considering what a lot of mainstream sounds like to me personally. After his set came DJ Peewee with hers. As she got into her set, I went to check out the smaller stage where I came across a very energetic Cherele, who had me entertained with her flow and energy. The crowd definitely involved! Cherele brought out special guest GatS for one of her songs, an artist i have tremendous respect for, so that was a nice surprise for me!

After her set, we got to hear trap Sushi, who brought the anime and nerd vibes to their set. I’ve heard them before and its always a pleasure whenever I am surrounded by my fellow nerds. The four piece crew gave us something from Game boy Color all the way to Bleach. After jamming out to Trap Sushi, I made my way back to the main stage to pick up the middle of Bizzy Crook’s set, who has some collabs with Leon Thomas as we heard. Following Bizzy Crook, came Tia Corine, who had infectious energy and charisma. She got all the girls up and going with her raunchy electric style and lyrics. Granted she’s not for me but I did dig her style.

Following Tia Corine, we were put into a lightning delay. I personally didn’t know this until another photographer I met came into the press lounge and let me know. Now, Bizzy Crook’s set finished around 3pm, meaning I was out in the heat for about 4-5 hours by this time and still hadn’t eaten properly aside from my breakfast I had that morning. This is where the snacks I mentioned earlier would have come in handy. During the delay, everyone had to seek shelter and I wasn’t able to get any food. On top of that, they stuffed everyone into the VIP Lounge area where a gathering of that many people led to more condensed heat. I had plenty of water throughout the day, but this is where something simple like mixed nuts would greatly benefit people covering the show.

Without proper nourishment, I had to call it quits as the weather delayed the festival almost two hours. If they would’ve communicated that we could possibly bring our own snacks or if, I was able to have my water bottle, I would’ve been way better prepared to go deeper into the night. The music didn’t disappoint but there was definitely a lack of communication to getting the festivities underway properly. I’d definitely say if there’s a round two in the City, maybe adding some misting stations or something like that would be great. The artists that I did see all brought something different and unique. I was able to discover some new sounds that I very much enjoyed.