Photo by Joshua Mellin
When it comes to festivals here at CoS, we tend to focus on the here and now – ranking lineups the moment they drop, discussing the relevancy of headliners set to play the summer stages, and traveling hundreds of miles to cover the year’s most anticipated musical gatherings. While that’s all well and good (and super fun), we thought it’d be interesting to take a step back – in time, that is.
Collectively, we’ve seen a lot of festival shows over the years. Spanning coast to coast (and across oceans), our staff is full of veteran festivalgoers who have seen just about everything. And while each season offers a decent number of memorable performances, any fest fanatic knows that there are always a few special ones that leave such an impression that you remember them for years to come.
Maybe it was the Jack White show where you moshed front row during “Seven Nation Army”. The Girl Talk set where you danced onstage next to Gregg Gillis. The Frank Ocean performance that drew tears from your eyes. Those are the moments we, like all festival junkies, live for. Why else would we spend hundreds of dollars to trudge through hoards of people in sweltering temperatures?
Without further ado, join us as we take a nostalgic journey through some of the best festival sets we’ve ever seen. We know our readers have some great stories up their sleeves, too. So, by all means, tell us: What’s the best festival set you ever saw?
–Danielle Janota
Staff Writer
