Thanks to Her Campus we got to spend an entire weekend on the beach enjoying our favorite top 40 artists perform at the first-ever Billboard Hot 100 Fest and let me tell you, it was INSANE.
Nikon at Jones Beach Theater served as the venue for the fest, and it was absolutely gorgeous. From the amphitheater seats you could see the ocean and watch boats going by. There were three stages that had musical acts rotating through them all day long, which reminded me a lot of the Vans Warped Tour — except that this was all mainstream music. At any moment of the day you could walk over to one of the stages and catch a popular artist performing their hits. We got lucky and walked into the general admission standing area in front of the stage at the right time, which allowed us to be super close for acts like Jason Derulo, Halsey and Lil Wayne.
The Hot 100 Fest was literally just two full days of everyone’s faves. At one point during the festival we spotted Parker Kit Hill (known for his hilarious videos on Vine) and internet sensation Doug The Pug — we couldn’t resist saying hey to both and grabbing photos. We even got to meet the band The Maine after their set on Sunday, which was so incredibly cool.
Here are some highlights from our fabulous weekend at the Billboard Hot 100 Festival:
Day 1– Acts we watched: Cruisr, Justin Baron, Little Mix, Jason Derulo, Halsey, Lil Wayne, Axwell & Ingrosso, The Weeknd.- Food we consumed: Chicken tenders and french fries, of course!- Favorite performance of the day: Tie between Little Mix performing “Black Magic” and Halsey doing “New Americana”- Act we didn’t get to see: Very bummed that we missed Lights and Natalie La Rose :(- Most surprising set: Jason Derulo! I knew the words to every song he performed!- People watching: Met really nice people from New Jersey who we shared french fries with and enjoyed seeing the crowd jam out to Axwell & Ingrosso.- The weather? Very, very hot! The sun was shining bright all day.
Day 2– Acts we watched: X-Ambassadors, The Maine, Kygo, Nicki Minaj, Skrillex, Justin Bieber.- Food we consumed: Lemon ice!- Favorite performance of the day: The Maine performing “Growning Up” — danced around like crazy!- Act we didn’t get to see: set times were really conflicting — had to miss MKTO, Fetty Wap, Tori Kelly, and American Authors, ugh.- Most surprising set: Skrillex. His beats are SO fun.- People watching: We ended up at the very top of the amphitheatre for the main stage acts (Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber) and it felt like being at a college football game. Very rowdy.- The weather? Also very hot. A little over cast. But the breeze from the ocean helped and it got cool at night.
Thank you Billboard and Her Campus — can’t wait to see what happens at #Hot100Fest next year!