It was the best of times, it was the most awkward of times. From YG bringing out Stormy Daniels during his song FDT to people booing Drake off the stage, Camp Flog Gnaw 2019 was one for the books.
The festival started off strong on Saturday, with performances from relatively new artists like Dominic Fike and Summer Walker. Juice WRLD and Daniel Caesar were among some of the bigger artists that also performed on Saturday. Tyler the Creator played music from his newest album IGOR and played crowd favorites like “She” and “IFHY” from his earlier albums. Solange ended the night with one of the best live performances I’ve ever seen.
Tyler the Creator on stage at Camp Flog Gnaw 2019. PC: Sofia Santana
Sunday had a lot of big names, from Willow to Blood Orange to Taco and Brockhampton, all 3 stages were packed with fans all throughout the day. Sunday was also the day that many performers brought out special guests with them. During Taco’s DJ set, he brought out Jaden Smith to perform alongside him and the crowd went wild. Taco also decided to play “Chanel” by Frank Ocean to close his set, which fed into the rumors that the mystery guest would be Frank Ocean.
Solange performing at Camp Flog Gnaw 2019. PC: Sofia Santana
YG followed Brockhampton’s insane set, and he did not disappoint with the surprise guests. He brought out the rap group Shoreline Mafia, DJ Mustard, and Tyga, but the guest who received the most buzz was Stormy Daniels, who completely caught the crowd off guard.
As soon as YG was off the stage, people all over the crowd were discussing how likely it would be that Frank Ocean would be the mystery guest. The 30 minute period between YG’s set and the mystery guest announcement finally came to an end when Tyler, the Creator came on to the stage. He didn’t reveal who the mystery guest was, only that he would be bringing out multiple artists to perform. ASAP Rocky was the first to come out and performed a short, but super fun set. Lil Uzi Vert followed and performed a couple of songs before heading out to the middle of the crowd to thank Tyler and the fans for having him.
Drake performing at Camp Flog Gnaw 2019. PC: Sofia Santana
Finally, it was Drake’s turn. He played some of his biggest hits from “Started from the Bottom” to “Headlines.” Most of the crowd was having a blast, singing along to every word, but unfortunately, having one of the biggest artists in the world was not enough for some of the attendees. When Drake asked the audience if he could keep going, he was booed by a group of people in the crowd. After receiving disapproval from the audience, Drake thanked the crowd for having him and cut his set short by 20 minutes. There was about a 15 minute period of confusion before the screens that lined the stage displayed a black screen with the phrase “Thanks for coming. Get home safe” on it.
It was unfortunate that the festival ended the way it did, but overall there were so many great performances throughout the weekend, and besides the last hour of the festival, it was a huge success.