Lifestyle

What Really Happened at the Sweetlife Music Festival

By Emilie Carinha at American University

If you live anywhere in the DMV you know about sweetgreen and chances are, you love it. For those that are unfortunate enough to not live near one, it’s a fast-casual build-your-own salad restaurant that prides itself on local and organic ingredients.

The first sweetlife festival first started in 2010 to celebrate the opening of the company’s second location in Dupont Circle. With only 500 people in attendance, a couple of local indie bands performed in the parking lot of the new store. Now six years later, the festival has blossomed into the largest regional food and music festival in the DMV and moved from a parking lot in Dupont Circle to Merriweather Post Pavillion, one of the largest music venues in the DMV.

You might be wondering why a restaurant would put on a concert every year, but according to sweetgreen, music has always been apart of its DNA. Sweetgreen believes the intersection of food and music comes together and forms an unforgettable experience. Here’s what happened when two spoonies got a chance to enjoy the sweetlife.

The Food

You would expect a festival put on by a restaurant would have great food, and this was no exception. There were tons of food trucks like The Big Cheese and Pepe Truck and stands from Crepe Love, DGS, Little Sesame, Misfit Juicery, Pops by Haley, Luke’s Lobster, Buredo and of course sweetgreen. In addition, there were regular concession stands and full bars around the entire venue.

We sampled Misfit Juicery, Pepe Truck, Luke’s Lobster, Buredo and sweetgreen and all lived up to our high expectations. We even caught up with a few concert-goers to get their take on the food:

Leslie and Aubrey got the chili dog from DGS.

Leslie and Joy got the grilled corn and steel head bento bowl from sweetgreen.

Kat and John both got the Caprese grilled cheese from Pepe Truck.

Tiffany and Jenny both got a shrimp tempura and a vegan burrito (the last one) from Buredo.

Pro-tip: If the venue allows it, definitely bring a reusable water bottle to fill up as the day goes on to avoid paying $4 a bottle.

The Music

Of course, music was the focal point of the festival. The Headliners were The 1975, Halsey and Flume who all put on great performances. Other acts included Grimes, Eagles of Death Metal, PartyNextDoor, and Shamir.

Minus the technical difficulties Flume had during his set (he walked off stage for a few minutes while the problem was being solved), each performer sounded amazing live, something that’s often few and far between in the era of autotune.

Overall, the sweetlife Festival definitely delivered what it promised. Music and food came together to create an awesome experience to kickoff Summer 2016 (insert Drake reference here). Even better, proceeds from sweetlife will help sweetgreen initiatives support building healthier communities. Good cause? Good food? Good music? Who wouldn’t be down?

Liked this? Read more about music festivals here:

• Which Summer Music Festival Should You Attend Based On The Food?
• 13 Must-Try Music Festival Eats
• 8 Snacks Every Music Festival Fanatic Swears By