1. Like many other festivals, Day N Vegas requires festivalgoers to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test or vaccination via the CLEAR app. My app won’t load due to spotty cell service, and others seem to be having similar issues. “Show us your CLEAR app loading!” a guard instructs. When I tell him it hasn’t, he looks at the initial app screen, asks to see my ID, then lets me in. I notice no one’s vaccination info is being thoroughly checked. On Day 2, security doesn’t even bother with IDs, simply waving us through. My bag, and many others’, aren’t being searched. The carelessness disturbs me.

2. Trash management hasn’t improved much since Day N Vegas’ 2019 debut. At the Las Vegas Festival Grounds' entrance gates, a "beer shrine" of bottles, cans and plastic cups piles up on a concrete platform. I spot only a few individual trash bins—already overflowing with garbage. Lighting also remains sparse on the festival grounds, and I find myself constantly looking down as I navigate the area cautiously. It’s disappointing to see the hip-hop festival carry these issues into Year 2, especially considering AEG and Goldenvoice are such seasoned producers of established, large-scale festivals like Coachella and Stagecoach.

3. Day N Vegas marks the next major hip-hop festival following Houston’s Astroworld, where 10 people died due to a crowd crush during Travis Scott’s set. Day N Vegas’ security seems more concentrated at the front of the stages than anywhere else. And that comes with its own pitfalls.

I run into a crowd safety issue at the Frank Stage, where YG is about to perform. There’s an oddly placed circular steel barrier in the middle of the growing crowd. My guess is that it's meant to break it up. But the situation worsens once YG comes on and festivalgoers beeline toward the front. The random barrier prompts a huge flow of traffic to start navigating around it. It becomes like a caravan of bodies, all funneled into one narrow passageway. People jostle me back and forth for several minutes. I can’t retreat because festivalgoers are pushing through the packed area to avoid the barrier. I ditch the denser crowd as soon as the traffic stops. Thankfully, the people behind me all graciously allow me through.

4.. Some Day N Vegas’ performers took it upon themselves to advocate for safety. Burgeoning rapper BIA stated her intentions as she took the Sammy Stage: “We came to have a good, safe rage.”

During her Sunday set, R&B singer SZA points out a problem in the crowd, asking medical staff and security to check on what's happening. She also helps Day N Vegas’ team relay to the crowd that it needs to take a few steps back from the barriers. Performers such as Lil Uzi Vert seem less concerned. After showing up 30 minutes late, the rapper revs up the crowd. A video posted later on Twitter shows some fans in a dense area complaining that people have been fainting nearby. “I don’t take no breaks,” the rapper says. “If it’s getting bad, leave.” The festival’s tech team turns off Lil Uzi Vert’s microphone. Shortly after, he throws it into the crowd and leaves.

5. Despite that drama, Day N Vegas brought its musical A-game. “I’m not gonna lie, I missed this sh*t so f*cking much,” says YG, who hasn’t performed much this year. Pink-haired pixie Doja Cat wows with her impressive dance moves, never missing a note as she hip-pops with her backup dancers. R&B singer-songwriter Victoria Monet serves up a classy, intimate set in the Dean Tent, where she proclaims, “For the record, R&B is not dead,” before launching into breakout track “Touch Me.” Many of these acts are also backed by live bands, creating a rich take on already catchy music. 

Day N Vegas’ headliners also deliver. After performing an explosive and lengthy set, Kendrick Lamar promises the city he’ll be back “very soon.” Post Malone replaced Travis Scott as Day N Vegas' Saturday closer … to many attendees' apparent discontent. About 40 minutes before his set began, I notice droves of festivalgoers heading for the gates. One man tells me he specifically wanted to see Scott and had no interest in seeing the “Circles” rapper instead. Still, turnout remained strong for Malone, who capped Saturday off with a grand display of fireworks. And no one could have finished the weekend better than Tyler, the Creator, who brought the theatrics, rapping out of a rocking sailboat onstage.

Overall, Day N Vegas had its highs and its lows. But people came to hear quality hip-hop, and they most certainly did.