Our Sun-Splashed Adventure To Pharrell's Something In The Water Fest In VA Beach

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Source: Craig Barritt / GETTY

Bossip Covers Something In The Water Fest

This weekend we headed to the beautiful city of Virginia Beach, Virginia where hometown hero Pharrell Williams held his first inaugural Something In The Water Festival featuring Travis Scott, Anderson Paak, Jhene Aiko and more while also featuring some of Virginia’s hottest artists like Chris Brown, Missy, Timbaland, & Teddy Riley.

Despite some locals’ fears, the festival producers and the city of Virginia Beach did a great job handling the crowd of more than 45,000 people in addition to the HBCU students already attending College Weekend in the Mid-Atlantic area.

This three-day festival, which ended up being two days due to severe thunderstorms Friday, turned out to be an extremely organized, impactful weekend filled with thousands of fans and great music. The mission of the festival was to unite and celebrate diversity in the area and it did just that. Pharrell’s good vibes matched the crowd’s energy.

While artists like The Migos, Gwen Stefani, Dave Matthews Band and more couldn’t perform on that Friday, we were still able to enjoy two full days of shows with performances from noon until midnight.

Source: Brian Ach / GETTY

The packed crowd spanned from 5th street to 10th street on the oceanfront on the beach. With views of the beach to one side and the boardwalk on the other, it was the perfect location for this new festival.

Sponsor Verizon had a special section in VIP near the stage that they gifted to 1,000 Verizon customers courtesy of Verizon Up rewards. This provided the best view at the festival and VA football legend Michael Vick and other athletes were spotted enjoying the fun.

Source: Lexi Felder

Saturday opened with Mac DeMarco, Rosalia, Amber Mark, and Radiant Children. Later in the day, artists Travis Scott, SZA, J Balvin, Ferg and DJ sets by Virgil Abloh and Kaytranada entertained the crowd. Closing out Saturday was the Pharrell & Friends set which included Missy, Timbaland, Magoo, Fam-lay, Snoop, Diddy, N.E.R.D., Busta Rhymes and Usher.

Source: Craig Barritt / GETTY

Source: Brian Ach / GETTY

It was rumored on social media the whole weekend that Jay Z and/or Beyonce were in town and would be making appearances.

The rumors were true. Jay Z popped up Saturday night performing a couple of songs while wife, Beyonce was allegedly backstage supporting her bae. Other surprise guests over the weekend included Virginia’s own Trey Songz, Fabolous, Lil Duval and Tyler The Creator.

Source: Brian Ach- GETTY / Brian Ach

Sunday featured Pharrell’s artist Kap G, John-Robert, Jhene Aiko, & Charlie Wilson with Virginia-bred artists DRAM, Leikeli 47, Pusha T, Teddy Riley, and Chris Brown. Closing out the show was multi-talented Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals.

While the main stage included those artists, sponsor Sony had a stage eight blocks away which featured two days of performances with artists like Lucky Day and VanJess. They had a dope audio sensory experience 360 REALITY AUDIO DOME and a PlayStation activation.

Sony featured the Xperia™ phone and other technology and hosted a party for the upcoming film Men In Black: International. We caught Pharrell enjoying LeiKeli47 with DJ Mad Skillz’ set.

Source: Fallon Holmes

Friday night, FADER FORT went down featuring performances by Melii, Uncle Jxm, Shordie Shordie, and Young Crazy. FADER FORT is one of the largest music showcases highlighting emerging artists.

Source: Terence Daniels / The FADER / Terence Daniels / The FADER

The festival was lit with an engaged crowd of every color and age. Pharrell and organizers excelled at selecting a variety of artists who appealed to a diverse crowd.

If you wanted to vibe out to Jhene Aiko or create a mosh pit while Ferg performed, the festival provided it all.

Source: Craig Barritt / GETTY

The local communities got much more than a dope music festival coming to town. In addition to Verizon hooking up their customers, they have partnered with Pharrell to co-create a tech-infused music curriculum that will be used in Verizon Innovative Learning schools across the US. They will also be building one at Bayside Middle School in Virginia Beach. It will include AR, VR, robotics and more to students and the community. The festival and sponsors have made a huge impact.

Additional sponsor Timberland had a Pop Up Park where you could wind down and refresh featuring a huge Timberland Classic Boot!

With an outdoor setting, they displayed trees native to Virginia Beach that will be donated back to the community. Guests enjoyed freebies and a water station to keep the crowd hydrated. If you pledge to live a greener lifestyle while in attendance, Timberland will plant a traceable tree for you in Haiti.