Made in America Festival


Made in America Festival is an annual music festival held in Philadelphia and formerly simultaneously held in Los Angeles. Produced by Live Nation, the event features several stages that continuously host live music from a wide range of genres including hip hop, rock, pop, R&B, and EDM.

Background

Made in America Festival was founded in 2012 by American rapper, record producer and business mogul Jay-Z, as a way to bring together music and culture. The inaugural event was held on September 1–2, 2012 on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. It grossed $5 million in ticket sales and attracted nearly 80,000 people. Philadelphia city officials reported that the festival generated at least $10 million in economic impact for the city and covered all municipal costs associated with the event.
In 2012 Pearl Jam were joined onstage by Jay-Z to perform the song "99 Problems". For their appearance at the festival, the band earned $2 million.
As of 2012, the festival features three stages of live music: Rocky Stage, Liberty Stage, and Freedom Tent. The festival also features an array of vendors, food trucks, carnival games, refillable water stations, and portable toilets.
In Budweiser's 'Makers of Tomorrow' ad, which promoted the theme of the festival, Jay-Z narrated, "Through all the lines and things that are put in place to divide each other, all like-minded people gather together. We're more curious than ever. We create music to express ourselves. And when the world relates, ya know, that's beautiful things. We're all trading off each other's culture. So no matter what lines you put—country, indie rock, rap—we're all somehow gonna find a way to come together cause the lines and the titles can never keep us apart. This is what we've been. To put that on display for the world is, is just being honest. That's it, that's what it's all about. We are finally living out our creed."
The festival was the subject of the 2013 documentary Made in America, directed by Ron Howard and produced by Brian Grazer and Jay-Z. In a statement to the press, Howard called the documentary "a reflection of the fabric of what it means to be 'Made in America'—what the festival represents, why Jay is doing it and how he relates to each artist."
On April 16, 2014, Jay-Z and Eric Garcetti held a press conference at Los Angeles City Hall and announced that the Made in America festival would take place not only in Philadelphia, but in Los Angeles as well during the 2014 Labor Day Weekend. The location of the Los Angeles festival would be Grand Park. "On Labor Day weekend we are going to celebrate our golden state of mind right here in LA with a sellout crowd right on the steps of city hall and into Grand Park," Garcetti said. "The 'Made in America Festival' will attract 50,000 fans Saturday and Sunday. Fans who will inject millions of dollars into the LA economy."
On May 19, 2015 it was announced the festival would return to its original format of being solely held in Philadelphia after disappointing ticket sales from last year's LA edition of the festival. In 2015 Budweiser also replaced its Made In America tour with its new Monument Series. The Monument Series which leads up to the main festival took place at both the Statue of Liberty in New York and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California.

Lineups

2018

Made in America 2018 was held on September 1 and 2 in Philadelphia, it was headlined by Nicki Minaj, Kendrick Lamar, and Post Malone and included Gunna, Fat Joe, 6LACK, Lil Skies, and more.

2017

Made in America 2017 was headlined by festival founder Jay-Z, J.Cole and The Chainsmokers.

2016

The 2016 edition held in Philadelphia was headlined by Rihanna and Coldplay. 2016 also included DJ Khaled, Martin Garrix, FKA Twigs, Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz, Edward Sharpe, Jamie xx, Travis Scott, Grimes, Chance the Rapper, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Madeon, Desiigner, Gary Clark, Jr., A$AP Ferg, Bibi Bourelly, Lil Yachty, Bryson Tiller, Sza, and Levi Carter.

2015

The 2015 line-up featured and included Beyoncé, The Weeknd, Bassnectar, Modest Mouse, Axwell and Ingrosso, and J. Cole.
Saturday, September 5
Sunday, September 6
In April 2014, it was announced that the 2014 Made in America festival would take place not only in Philadelphia, but also in Los Angeles. A press conference given by Jay-Z and the mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, explained how the added location was designed to involve both the west and east coasts of the United States in the multi-genre festival. The 2014 festival reportedly delivered "twice the amount of music" as the previous years of the festival, and also benefitted the , United Way of Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, and .
Philadelphia
Saturday, August 30
Sunday, August 31
Los Angeles
Saturday, August 30
Sunday, August 31
Saturday, August 31
Sunday, September 1
Saturday, September 1
Sunday, September 2