Superb Festival! Diverse activities! Slightly lacking
by Shaq on 8/11/22Fillmore Campus - PhiladelphiaI’d like to preface this by saying that this was the first ever multi-day, VIP event I’ve attended, so I might over exaggerate on some things. The festival itself I thought was phenomenal! The diverse activities ranging from the indoor/outdoor screenings, to the human claw machine and hotdog buck ride offered novelty fun to the event, the music acts were amazing and highly energetic, and the festival offered performances in various genres, although hip-hop was the clear dominating force with 2 headlining acts Fri and Sat (Run The Jewels and Tierra Whack respectively), and several others throughout the weekend. The comedy acts were also good, although some lineups were better than others. And while I personally don’t drink beer, hosting a beer garden with sports games on TV was also a great display of the variety of activities at the event aside from the venue performances. The Foundry, located right at the entrance to the Fillmore, provided a nice escape from the heat and chaos of the outside festivities, there was never a large crowd inside and the bartender(s) were very courteous and friendly. The VIP weekend pass was truly the best (and most cost efficient) way to experience the festival and all it had to offer! The [relatively] unrestricted freedom to come and go from the venues as I please with the flash of a badge was tremendous, along with access to VIP viewing areas for the music shows; the comedy/panel venue had no VIP/assigned seating as it was first come, first serve, despite this I was still able to get front row seating for most of the shows held at Punch Line. The staff at each venue were all very friendly as well, some even taking the time to recognize me (possibly due to my frequent coming and going lol). Now, here are some of the cons and room for improvements I felt based on my experience: • Some of the events for Saturday and Sunday were overlapped, meaning you were forced to either pick which event to attend or leave midway through a performance to catch another, on two occasions, I had to leave a Fillmore event midway to catch one at Brooklyn Bowl that I didn’t want to miss, which I feel diminished the experience. • The food trucks were scarce, with only 3 being available initially (not including the Wendy’s truck), one of which left after Friday so for the remainder of the event there were only 2 trucks, plus the Wendy’s truck that was serving free French toast sticks, potato wedges, and a promotional Rick & Morty “pickle” flavored frosty. At the very least I would’ve like to have Wendy’s serve value menu items such as Jr burgers and chicken sandwiches/nuggets, in addition to their promotional items. If for no other reason, to supplement the loss of the other food truck. • The lawn games provided in the food truck area could’ve been added onto, Adult Swim events in the past offered various different games for patrons to play such as Connect 4, Ring Toss, etc., only Cornhole was offered. While this may seem like a trivial and even petty con, small additions like that can always make a huge difference. • I would’ve liked to see Brooklyn Bowl offer a complimentary game to VIP Gold pass holders, it would’ve added value to a rather steep price of $600+. • Brooklyn Bowl was also the only venue that seemed to [if only partially] deliver on the advertised promise that VIPs would be provided with free snacks, although there were no drinks. Neither the Fillmore, nor Punch Line offered complimentary refreshments to their VIPs. • Punch Line staff was very adamant about not allowing “outside” drinks into the venue (which could include anything bought within the festival grounds), as well as enforcing their 2 drink minimum rule a little aggressively, to the point, I felt like if I didn’t order anything I’d be asked to leave. •Overall, there were no clear areas in any of the venues that clearly catered to the VIPs, I only discovered the VIP area in Brooklyn Bowl by asking someone who turned out to be the bouncer for the area. Signage should’ve been made for pass holders to follow to designated areas. Despite its small flaws, the Adult Swim Festival was a phenomenal and highly memorable experience for me personally. As a casual concert goer, getting to experience some of my favorite artists (and even new ones I would’ve otherwise missed out on) as a VIP was definitely special and even a little spoiling. I hope Adult Swim continues to host these events (hopefully with the feedback given) well into the future! I’ve never been more proud to be an [adult swim] fan!