Exceeding other one-day festivals, Agenda Festival intermixes the best of both worlds of music and fashion for a lifestyle experience at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center.
Attendees, who ranged from 10 years old to parents enjoyed the 500-plus pop-up shops and mouthwatering food trucks. With different opportunities to spend your down time in between sets, there was also the convenience of interacting with fashion and music influencers.
For most people, paying $60 (or $35 the day before the festival) was a small price to pay to see the headliners Brockhampton as well as Lil Yachty, Billie Eilish, Yung Lean, Fidlar, Lecrae, Denzel Curry, Na-Kel Smith, Spaghetti Boys, and Blondie Beach.
BEST: Brockhampton swinging casually on stage
After missing Brockhampton at Coachella, I have been eager to see them live. Although my expectations were as high as one would be after taking a few dabs, they did more than exceed them and I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. After creating the whole crowd into one whole mosh pit the band brought an insane amount of energy that the audience matched. They also slowed it down for the crowd by taking a breather by using the swings they set up on stage for some of their slower songs. Considering they haven’t had much practice playing live, they easily converted the girls next to me who were unfamiliar with them at first into die hard fans.
BEST: Lil Yachty creates an ocean of water
Lil Yachty and his crew which included BHAD BHABIE who came out to sing their song “Gucci Flip Flops”, passed out cases of Arrowhead (shoutouts Arrowhead gang) to the crowd- not to drink but to create a water sensation. At the drop of the beat, everyone on stage and in the crowd threw their water in the air and that was the cue of my two homies to dip — but if you weren’t worried about your hair or your shoes it was lit.
WORST: One stage. One entrance, same exit.
As I’ve seen many times before, there is always disorganization when it comes to controlling the crowd. This time, there was one in door to the stage where every performance was held, and while the lights were off, the staff were unable to see the wristband tickets. Additionally, they had closed off sections to get closer to the stage during the set, so you had to pull someone who was working over and argue with them to let you through. Other than Lil Yachty’s performance, I was struggling to find water the whole day, with no water fill up station either. Ya girl was hot and in need of some water.
BEST: Free shit!
Who doesn’t like free goodies? Among many stores such as RIP N DIP, Chinatown Market, Dickies, Wildfox, Levis, and many more booths gave out many free merchandise or had exclusive items to give out. Chinatown Market and Dickies came together to create a unique customization booth. Ranging from Dickies skate pants, sweaters, jumpsuits, and t-shirts, there were an array of bedazzled and stitched patches to choose from.
Leaving the festival on a good note, my friend Verne encouraged me to flick up with Kevin Abstract as he was walking through the festival enjoying the chill and laid-back environment with all the other festival goers- which included doggy friends! If you like shopping, skating, streetwear, yummy food, and music, I would definitely keep my eye out for this festival again next year. The lineup alone was worth the jaunt to Long Beach.
Words by Maya Bachar
Photos courtesy of Agenda Fest
