Sweetlife Returns May 14 at Merriweather
The seventh annual Sweetlife Festival, presented by Sweetgreen, will be held on Saturday, May 14, at Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia.
The first Sweetlife Festival drew about 500 people to a D.C. parking lot in April 2010. It moved to Merriweather Post Pavilion the following year, where it draws thousands annually. After stretching to days last year, the festival is back to its original one-day format this year.
Two, 12-hour days of taco-eating and concert-gazing “is very tiring,” Sweetgreen co-founder Jonathan Neman told The Washington Post. “We were able to get the Weeknd and Kendrick [Lamar] and Calvin Harris. We were, like, this is worth two days.”
But past attendees said two days was too long. “Some of the feedback we got was, as great as it was with two days, people would get tired,” he said. “Today, people’s time is stretched so much. To commit to something for two days, it’s hard. We wanted to keep it simple.”
This year’s lineup includes The 1975, Halsey, Flume, Grimes, Party Next Door, Blondie and Eagles of Death Metal, which was thrust into the spot light last November when their concert at Le Bataclan in Paris became the site of a terrorist attack that left more than 90 dead. Others include Mac DeMarco, Thundercat, Shamir, Wolf Alice, DIIV and Prinze George. This year’s elevated “concert concessions” include offerings from Spike Gjerde (Woodberry Kitchen), Nick Wiseman (Little Sesame and DGS), Erik Bruner-Yang Toki Underground), Luke Holden (Luke’s Lobster), Jose Andres (Pepe Truck), Takorean, Chaia, Misfit Juicery and Eat Pops.
Tickets are $100 for general admission with access to the lawn and limited pavilion seating; $125 for general admission unassigned pavilion covered seating and front stage standing room area; and $150 for VIP access to private viewing areas for the main and treehouse stages, access to the main stage pit on a first-come, first-served basis, covered pavilion VIP seating, bars with exclusive beverages, access to VIP lounges, and private VIP luxury restrooms.
Ticket presale will start at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 24. The @sweetgreen Instagram account will post a code for followers to gain access to the presale tickets or people can sign up online to have a code emailed to them..
General public tickets will be available on Friday, Feb. 26, starting at 10 a.m. on ticketfly.com. Tickets are also on sale in person at Merriweather Post Pavilion and the 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW, during normal box office hours.
Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.