2024 Charlotteans of the Year: Lovin’ Life Music Fest

The first center-city music festival in two decades didn’t get everything right. But it did enough for Charlotte to holler: More, please

Music festivals can have distinct philosophies. The Ultra Music Festival in Miami specializes in electronic dance music. Big Ears in Knoxville caters to fans of avant-garde sounds. Bonnaroo is for people who love jam bands and patchouli. The inaugural Lovin’ Life Music Fest, in uptown Charlotte over the first weekend of May, had a vibe that could be characterized, depending on your mood, as “random” or “eclectic” or “we booked anyone whose tour bus was pulling into a Waffle House.”

The headliners were Post Malone, Stevie Nicks, and Noah Kahan. Support acts were all over the place, including the pop-EDM Chainsmokers, the indie-rock band Mt. Joy, and the acoustic-emo Dashboard Confessional. Both The Beach Boys and The Fray showed up without their most iconic members. The overall effect was like a whole weekend of listening to a friend’s roommate’s iPod on shuffle.

But here’s the good news: There was a music festival in Charlotte. Given that this city punches way below its weight in booking touring acts, that felt like a small miracle and a chance to catch up on a bunch of acts in one blowout weekend. Here’s the better news: The festival was really well-run.

The First Ward location was convenient and easy to get to via light rail. Drinks weren’t cheap, per se, but they weren’t expensive enough to be insulting. The site had lots of portable toilets, and they were remarkably clean. The lines for food were long, but it was no hassle to leave the festival, grab a quick bite nearby, then come back. 

At its best, a music festival can be a field of dreams where you see five of your favorite bands in one day, get your mind blown by four other acts you’d never heard of before, flirt with the redhead next to you while you’re waiting for a platinum hip-hop act to hit the stage, and meet a guy who quit his job Friday morning because his high school buddy offered him a free ticket to the show. Lovin’ Life isn’t quite there yet, but the people who attended were clearly trying to manifest that state of mind into reality. The crowd was remarkably chill, even when it rained. 

“The overall vibe was happy,” recalls a pal of mine, nostalgic only a few months later. “People got out of your way. If you were sitting on the grass, they didn’t block your view. I talked with this guy for two and a half hours after he lost track of his friends—I think I reminded him of his mom. He told me, ‘I hope I can marry somebody like you someday.’”

Particularly cool: the sets by hometown hero DaBaby and good-as-hometown heroes Petey Pablo and the Avett Brothers. The Avetts have taken a bunch of victory laps in Charlotte over the years, but DaBaby seemed visibly moved to be playing a big Mecklenburg County show. You can travel the world and become a platinum rap star, but what does it all mean unless you can play for a huge crowd within walking distance of ImaginOn?

Suggestions for 2025 for the promoters, Bob Durkin and Rob Pedlow of Southern Entertainment: More water stations. Don’t let the sound from different stages bleed into each other. Set up extra late-night Blue Line trains. Make sure VIP wristbands don’t crowd out the regular folks. Step up your booking game: more awesome, less dartboard. But most of all, keep it going. It’s been 20 years since the much-loved Center City Fest shut down, and Charlotte music fans need this.