Photography: Firefly Fest Day 1 and 2

Posted: 29th September, 2021 by The Editor

Firefly Fest returned to the woodlands of Delaware with an explosive lineup, the biggest in the festival’s history. Even though many acts from the 2020 lineup had to drop from the 2021 edition, Firefly was able to grab headlining-commanding artists who were on the rise throughout 2020. The expanded lineup allowed the festival to extend the event into four days instead of the usual three.

Despite threats of severe weather shutting down Thursday entirely, clear skies came to save the day just before sundown as festival goers embraced the muddy grounds to catch their favorite artist later in the night. To kick off the return of Firefly, we had rising acts such as Girl in Red, Del Water Gap, and Tate McRae play as people continued to pour in.

Firefly’s headliners for Thursday weren’t kidding around – Turnstile showcased songs from their newest record, ‘Glow On’ for the eager audience, and the meteoric rise of singer/songwriters Phoebe Bridgers and Billie Eilish seemed to be solidified with the two wowing the (at this point) packed audience to close out the evening.

50,000 attendees navigated the now-dry woodlands Friday morning as we caught a site favorite HUNNY on the main stage. We spent the day stage hopping to take in as much action as possible, picking up sets from Royal and the Serpent, White Reaper, Kennyhoopla, Peach Pit, and Flo Milli as we moved into the evening sets of the fest.

Remembering our festival safety guidelines, we took a quick break to grab some food and hydrate (because you don’t want to be the one who gets carried out by a medic before the headliner!) as the day stretched on. Band of Horses were first up on the main stage as the sun was setting, playing to a crowd of dedicated fans eager to see the Seattle band on the East Coast.

Despite the usually humid temperatures of Delaware, the evening sunset caught us bundling up to catch more sets on the main stage, with Iann Dior, Taking Back Sunday, Cage the Elephant, and Wiz Khalifa all captured from the pit, before we stepped back into the crowd to watch The Killers close out a jam-packed day two.