Like Aaliyah once said, “If at first, you don’t succeed, you can brush it off and try again.” That seems to be the strategy the Lovers And Friends Festival is going with this spring (you just know Aaliyah herself would have been on the lineup), bringing back the nostalgic event for a second attempt at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds on May 6. Today, the fest announced its millennial-baiting lineup, which features TRL faves like Missy Elliott, 50 Cent, Mariah Carey, and of course, the fest’s inspiration, Usher, whose 2004 hit is the festival’s namesake.
Unfortunately, Lovers And Friends Festival has had a bumpy road so far, starting with its first planned iteration in Carson, California in 2020. Numerous artists on the original lineup initially denied their involvement after the show was announced before their respective booking agents let them know they were on the c/o 2000 fever dream lineup. Once they were confirmed, demand for tickets skyrocketed, prompting the organizers to add a second day before the COVID-19 pandemic put the kibosh on the whole event.
However, a revamped version of the festival came back in 2022, moving to Las Vegas and reverting back to a one-day fest. This turned out to be kind of a bad idea, as logistics for the fest were kind of a mess, leaving fans without shade or water in the 100-plus-degree desert heat (which tends to go the other way at night, leaving fans freezing instead). Then, there were reports of gunfire, causing stampedes and thankfully minor injuries.
Hopefully, they can learn from those mistakes as they return this spring and give fans the show they deserve because as an elder millennial (or Xennial or whatever you call us), I for one am extremely tired of having the rug pulled out from under me. Let us have something nice, for once. Please and thanks.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.