Landmark Music Festival in DC

This past weekend was DC’s first Landmark Music Festival, a two-day event with 40+ bands performing on five different stages and a plethora of food stuffs curated by celeb chef Jose Andres.
The weather was dicey all weekend, but the rain mostly held off aside from a two-hour stretch on Saturday night. I had mixed feelings about the event overall, but it was certainly a beautiful location for a festival.
The Saturday lineup didn’t appeal to me quite as much as Sunday’s, so we didn’t spend all day at the festival. We arrived around 2:30 to watch Twin Shadow (very cool show) and eat, of course.
I finally got to try Jose Andres’ new vegetarian fast casual concept, Beefsteak. This beefsteak burger was delicious! I know it just looks like a tomato on a roll, but it was much more than that. First of all, I don’t know where they get their tomatoes, but I had two of these sandwiches over the course of the festival and both tomatoes were perfectly firm and sweet. A mushy tomato on a bun would be terrible, but these stand up like a real meat patty and the caper herb mayo and pickled onions really took the flavor profile over the top. I hope to make it to the storefront soon to try some of the veggie bowls.
As I mentioned, it rained Saturday night, starting during the War on Drugs show (solid, not great) and continuing through Drake (pretty great). It was a gentle, warm rain for the most part, and was actually really pretty when reflected through the stage lights.
The festival had interesting ideas as far as organization. One of the best ideas they had was to give away free t-shirts to anyone who could collect a full trash bag of recycling and other refuse, which kept the grounds much cleaner than you see at a typical festival. Very cool.
The downside was the lines. There were several “bars” located throughout the grounds, which were the only place you could buy beverages, including water and soda. Your Landmark bracelet could be set up as a cashless payment device, which the festival creators assumed would make for quick and easy payment at the bar.
No so much. I should have gotten a photo of the lines, but suffice it to say that they were insane. Although they had a two drink minimum for alcoholic beverages, they wound up selling six packs to people because the lines were so long it would take you at least a full set to get a drink, if not two. From what I can deduce, the hold up had to do with the cashless system not working as well as anticipated, and because they were constantly running out of drinks. It was a mess.
We left halfway through the show because I was so thirsty and didn’t feel like waiting for two hours for a bottle of water. It worked out though, we got to let the dog out, rest our old bones and then return later for the last two shows.
They got the line situation under control by Sunday, which by far turned out to be the more enjoyable day for me. The weather was better, as was the lineup.
My favorite show of the weekend was Dan Deacon, even though I really don’t like EDM music at all, he just has a great way of uniting the crowd and getting people to dance and let go. Fun times.
The best part of the experience, for me, was watching the supermoon and the lunar eclipse on Sunday night. Trippy space eye candy and live music are an awesome combination.
Chvrches put on a great set, as usual. They’re not really a band I like to listen to on the radio, but they’re great live.
My old bones and aching feet started getting the best of me right as the lunar eclipse began. Festivals are a lot of fun, but I couldn’t help but notice how much younger kids look these days, and how old I feel in comparison to their hipster ways. I can’t even count the number of selfies I was captured in, much against my will.
The bros were broing hard and despite the chilly evening temps, very little clothing was worn. I guess I’m officially an old person, more concerned about the young girl next to me inevitably catching cold than I am about how cute I could have looked in cut off, high wasted denim shorts and a crop top (which, spoiler alert, would not at all be cute on this body).
We stuck around for around half of The Strokes set, which was okay, and then hit the road. Another festival in the books and I lived to tell about it. We went home, drank some prune juice and watched the rest of the eclipse through the windows of our apartment.
Despite the line mishap and a less than stellar (in my opinion) lineup, I think this was a great first year for Landmark. I hope this festival will stick around in the future as a DC staple.