History of Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival
In sunny Los Angeles, a music festival takes place all weekend once a year. Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival is presented by music artist, producer, and songwriter Tyler, The Creator. This year marked its 10th anniversary since the first Camp Flog Gnaw Festival in 2012 when it was just a tiny block party on Fairfax Avenue. Now, Camp Flog Gnaw takes place at the legendary Dodger Stadium.
Previous acts through the years include Tyler, The Creator, Kanye West & Kid Cudi as KIDS SEE GHOSTS, SZA, Kendrick Lamar & Baby Keem as The Hillbillies, Mac Miller, Kali Uchis, and other household names.
This year’s carnival was headlined by Tyler, The Creator, and Playboi Carti, and had supporting acts such as Daniel Caesar, The Marias, Andre 3000, Faye Webster, etc.
Environment
Stepping onto Dodger Stadium grounds, you can feel the sun beaming down on your skin throughout the day. However, once the sun sets, the weather gets chilly and windy. Attendees run and scramble all over the lot to find their favorite artists take one of the three stages or they scurry off to purchase from the many concessions at the festival.
Concessions range from food items like pizza, sushi, lemonade, burgers, chicken, vegan, ramen noodles, and lots more. Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival strives to cater to all of its attendees. The festival also offers multiple free filtered water refill stations so fans can stay hydrated while being surrounded by thousands of people in the crowds.
Although the concessions are pretty pricy, they will surely keep you satisfied. For example, a lemonade costs about $15 in a large cup.
With many opportunities for photo-ops, fans strike their poses in their best outfits to get their moments posted on their social media.
Of course, fans also have port-a-potties to relieve themselves throughout the day when needed under shaded areas.
Merchandise is also widely sold throughout both days of the festival. Fans could purchase merchandise from their favorite artists, brands such as Converse, who sponsored the show, or merchandise for the festival itself.
What’s a carnival without any attractions? Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival also brings many fun opportunities when attendees arrive. These attractions serve from generic carnival rides and even carnival games where you could win prizes. It is also important to note that you must have a separate wristband to play the carnival games, which will cost you a pretty penny. But have no fear; the only thing rides cost is the waiting times.
Performances
A few notable sets during day one of the festival were hip-hop collective Concrete Boys, Vince Staples, Doechii, Kaytranada, Daniel Ceasar, and the man of the hour, Tyler, The Creator. With many surprise guests throughout these sets, it’s impossible to walk by unnoticed.
Hip-hop artist Lil Yachty showed up to sing a few songs with the Concrete Boys. This performance really set off the tone and energy for the rest of the night.
Vince Staples took time out of his busy schedule to stop by and have a jam-packed set. Staples came from Long Beach and just before showing up had paused filming for season two of his Netflix show, The Vince Staples Show. Later, he showed up to produce The Alchemist’s set that night.
Talented and beautiful singer SZA would also show face during Doechii’s set. Fans came running to the main stage to try and catch a glimpse of them singing their heads off.
During Tyler, The Creator’s set, he brought out his recent collaborators, such as Daniel Caesar, Sexyy Red, and Doechii. Being one of the first performances since his newly released album ‘CHROMAKOPIA’ had released, he made sure to make the night end with a bang. With the crowd chanting the intro to “St. Chroma” to kick it off, fans knew Tyler would not disappoint for the next hour.
Unfortunately, day two would not be filled with much-hyped artists like day one did. This was a resting day, with more popular artists scheduled until later. It would be impossible to skip over Andre 3000’s unusual but exciting set. With the release of his new flute album, ‘New Blue Sun,’ he revealed that everything played during his set was completely improvised and not played from memory or sheet music.
Sexyy Red also showed out, attracting most of the festival to the smaller stage where she was located. She is most known for her viral southern trap rap that has taken over the internet.
The Marias are also a set that was impossible not to take a peek at. The indie pop band also attracted the most attendees. Lead singer María Zardoya’s vocals were made out of heaven. Her band’s live instruments were also a great addition to the atmosphere.
Mustard on the beat! It would only be a DJ Mustard set with acts like California-based rappers YG, Roddy Ricch, and Shoreline Mafia. Mustard played classics that had the crowd jumping and singing along, with his friends coming out and singing their songs to the crowd.
Finally, the man of the night, rapper Playboi Carti, closed out the last day of the weekend. Although he was around twenty minutes late to his set, the energy he provided to his performance made up for it, not to mention bringing out the number one artist in the world. Producer, singer, songwriter, and even actor The Weeknd showed love to Los Angeles and helped Carti sing. They closed out the set with their latest collaboration, “Timeless,” off The Weeknd’s upcoming album, ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow.’ The dark and loud environment they set off in, with The Weeknd’s vocals in the background, makes you levitate in the crowd.
Show’s Over
The draining waits and fun times at the carnival ended on Sunday night. Many surprises took place during the night, and chaos only erupted. With more and more artists gearing up to release their albums over the next year, it makes you wonder if they will be next to attend Camp Flog Gnaw. Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival isn’t going anywhere anytime soon as the massive success is seen all over the internet.
