The Meadows Music and Arts Festival, taking place from September 15-17, is one of the biggest music festivals on the East Coast, with some of the biggest names in the music industry performing since its creation in 2016. This year, I got the chance to attend the festival on Friday, and reviewed some of the artists. Without further ado, here are three artist reviews from the day:

Before 21 Savage took the stage at around 3:20, the crowd had begun getting rowdy and chanting “twenty-one” so that the rapper would come onstage. After apologizing for being late, the rapper performed hit songs such as “X”, “No Heart”, and “Savage Mode.” Although there was very little room due to so many people crowding the small stage, as well as it being around 90 degrees, no one seemed to care, as everyone jumped around and moshed. He ended his act by performing possibly his most famous song to date, “Bank Account,” off of his new album, ISSA. Before leaving the stage after, he thanked his fans for their loyalty. This was for sure one of the best performances, as the energy in the crowd was electrifying for sure.

The second artist I saw was 22-year-old Brooklyn rapper Joey Bada$$. Since his debut mixtape 1999 over five years ago, this artist has been taking the world by storm, with every album since then growing his popularity all the more. During this set, Bada$$  performed way beyond his years, and was able to seamlessly switch from more laidback songs such as “Waves” to more upbeat songs like “DEVASTATED,” also his most popular hit. The rapper was clearly feeling being back in his home crowd, frequently closing his eyes to block out everything besides the music and the words coming out of his mouth. Performing songs from his new album, All-Amerikkkan Bada$$, he riffed about racism and freedom, proving that his heart still lies with hip-hop’s golden age. All in all, Bada$$ had the crowd hanging on his every word for the entire show, and was without a doubt a performance to remember for all in attendance.

The last performance of the night was JAY-Z. Make no mistake – this was the main event. The stage was definitely original, with a huge balloon animal resembling a dog. The legend began by thanking people for coming and asking if anyone was tired, which the crowd answered with a resounding “no!” His performances were unmatchable. He even brought out Bob Marley’s son, Damian Marley, to perform their song “Bam” from JAY-Z’s new album 4:44. He also gave a tribute to Chester Bennington, the lead singer of Linkin Park who committed suicide earlier this year. He took a moment of silence for the singer and performed a collaboration song from their collab album titled Numb/Encore. During the last song of the night, Forever Young, everyone came together and sang along to the catchy yet meaningful lyrics. The vibes during this song, the entire performance, and the festival as a whole are unmatched anywhere else, and I would definitely recommend this festival to anyone who loves music.