Wonder what experts think of Lovin’ Life Music Fest’s lineup? Here’s what four have to say.
Of all the hard truths associated with trying to assemble a killer lineup of artists for a major music festival, perhaps the hardest is this: You’re never going to please everyone.
Still, in its splashy debut last May, Lovin’ Life Music Fest (LLMF) certainly gave Charlotte its best effort.
With Post Malone, Stevie Nicks and Noah Kahan headlining the main stage and artists like The Chainsmokers, Dominic Fike, Young the Giant, DaBaby, The Avett Brothers and Mt. Joy batting cleanup, the bill for the self-proclaimed “multi-genre” festival was indeed reasonably eclectic — and undeniably ambitious.
As a result, LLMF’s sophomore year was always going to have a lot to live up to.
And since last month’s reveal of a 2025 lineup that features Gwen Stefani, Weezer, Dave Matthews Band, Benson Boone, Pitbull, Teddy Swims, The Revivalists and Ludacris, prospective festival-goers have predictably disagreed on whether organizers have succeeded, flooding social media with equal amounts of delight and disappointment.
So, as Lovin’ Life launches single-day ticket sales this week, we decided to do a deeper dive into what’s being offered this coming May 2-4, when the festival returns to uptown Charlotte for Year Two.
What follows is an analysis of LLMF based on separate interviews with four North Carolinians who know a little something about music:
- Courtney Devores (the pragmatist viewpoint), who has contributed stories about the local, regional and national music scenes for The Charlotte Observer for more than 25 years and works part-time at Charlotte-based Lunchbox Records.
- Madison James (the optimist view), who hosts the 3-7 p.m. afternoon-drive show for Charlotte “hot adult contemporary” radio station “MIX107.9.”
- Mark Kemp (the pessimist view), current editor of Greensboro-based Our State magazine and formerly a music editor of Rolling Stone who later served as entertainment editor at The Charlotte Observer.
- Noah Lazes (the realist), who co-promoted and co-produced the legendary CityFest music festival in Charlotte from 1997 to 2004 and co-led the development of the complex originally known as the North Carolina Music Factory on the edge of uptown.
(Individual comments have been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.)
‘It’s kind of a little bit of everything’
James: “The lineup is amazing. When they announced Gwen Stefani — ’cause I got a chance to talk with her earlier in the year, right before she released her album — (I thought) Oh my God, so amazing to grab that artist for Charlotte. ... Teddy Swims, coming off (a Best New Artist) Grammy nomination, coming off one of the hottest songs of the year (“Lose Control”). Benson Boone, who blew up. ...
“Dave Matthews Band? I mean, I’m gonna date myself — still got their CD. But I listen to it now on the phone; I stream it. ... Pitbull, who’s gonna give an amazing show. ... Lola Young, who’s up and coming, with (her song) “Messy.” She’s big over in Britain, but now she’s making waves over here. ... Ludacris — seen him many times throughout my career while working down in Atlanta. And then North Carolina’s own Petey Pablo. ... Switchfoot. ... Like, this is an amazing lineup.”
Devores: “I wouldn’t mind seeing Gwen Stefani. I wouldn’t mind seeing Weezer. But Weezer comes here all the time. There’s plenty of chances to see them. I will say Teddy Swims is huge right now; he’s one that at least our customers would be really excited about, because we’ve sold a ton of his records. Benson Boone, he opened for Taylor Swift, so he’s got some buzz that way. Flipturn I don’t know a lot about, but I’d be curious about them, just because we’ve sold some of their records before, and it’s female-fronted. ... Lola Young, I’ve heard her on the radio, she sounds interesting. (My teenage son) is excited about BigXthaPlug. You’ve got Petey Pablo. I’ve also heard this Dexter and the Moonrocks band on XM — they have a song about Carolina (“Sad in Carolina”) that’s kind of catchy. I’d be curious to catch them, too. ...
“I mean, it’s kind of a little bit of everything. But it’s like a shotgun blast. It’s kind of all over the place — in a way that speaks to Charlotte’s sort of lack of identity.”
Kemp: “I was looking at last year’s Lovin’ Life festival lineup — which I dissed online — but I looked at it and it’s better (than this year). I didn’t think it was good, but at least you got the Avetts. And even though I don’t personally like him, you got Post Malone. You don’t have anything like that this year. ...
“Basically there’s no ‘wow’ factor. There’s nothing at all adventurous or surprising about this festival. You get old, irrelevant rappers. I mean, Ludacris? Really? Come on now. You get safe, legacy rock and pop names — Gwen Stefani, Dave Matthews, Weezer, Third Eye Blind. It’s all lowest-common-denominator pop appeal. I mean, someone obvious like Petey Pablo repping North Carolina hip-hop when you could have a newer, more exciting act like Rapsody or Shirlette Ammons? That’s a shame.”
Lazes: “Would it be nice if we had, you know, a Post Malone (again)? Obviously, he’s another level. But some of that comes down to budget, and routing. And I’m sure they tried to get as many good artists as they possibly could. I think it’s cool to have stuff like Ludacris, and you’ve got some diversity in what’s happening there, and it’s great to have a local stage. …
“(But assembling) the lineup is very, very hard. So, over the years, I’ve found that it’s easy to criticize from the sidelines, but when you’re in there trying to book that stuff — I mean, the competition is immense now.”
‘I’d save money for the real concerts’
Lazes: “I was always critical of my own lineups. I always thought they can be better. Even Jazz Fest (The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival) I’m critical of every year — and then I go every year, and I’m like, ‘Ohhhh, it was great!’ I end up forgetting that I really was hoping that Lenny Kravitz was gonna play on this stage — I’m making an artist up — but he’s not, or I really was wishing Marcus King would be back, but he’s not. And then I get there and I find somebody new who I go, ‘Well, that wasn’t Marcus King, but that was an artist that I actually really loved.’ And I didn’t know who they were until Jazz Fest. ... So the nice thing about a festival is you have the opportunity to learn a bunch of new music that you may fall in love with.”
Kemp: “If I were in Charlotte, I’d save my money for the real concerts that are coming: Kendrick (Lamar, who coincidentally will be performing at Bank of America Stadium on May 3, during Lovin’ Life weekend); SZA (Lamar’s opening act); Tyler, The Creator; Lainey Wilson; Shakira; even the Outlaw Music Festival, which has Willie (Nelson) and (Bob) Dylan. And then there’s Bonnaroo, for instance — and these are reasonable (artists to think you could get), because they’re on the festival circuit — Tyler, The Creator! Olivia Rodrigo! Vampire Weekend! — and they’re exciting. Every single one of them is still making really exciting, interesting music that’s adventurous, and it’s good music. ...
“Hopscotch in Raleigh. I mean, even that festival is not as interesting as it was a decade ago. But in 2024, you still got plenty of adventurous music. You got St. Vincent, you got Waxahatchee, you got MJ Lenderman, and tons of other interesting North Carolina acts. And even the oldies that Hopscotch has booked — The Roots, The Breeders, Digable Planets, Pavement, Kool Keith, Dinosaur Jr. — they’re all good, solid, interesting choices. You get nothing like that (with Lovin’ Life).”
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Devores: “Again, it’s going with that whole, like, wider-swath thing, I think — trying to appeal to a whole lot of people with the bigger acts. They know Dave Matthews Band can sell out PNC, so that’s gonna attract a certain number of people already. And that’s the way for these other smaller bands and local bands to get exposure. ...
“But a lot of the other artists, farther down — after you get through Pitbull and Third Eye Blind — ... a lot of those people, I’m not even sure who they are. We carry a lot of stuff at the store by people I don’t know, (but a lot of these artists) don’t have records that we carry at the store. ... There are artists that just don’t press physical stuff, but they have online popularity. So maybe that’s why I don’t know that many of them. But even the local ones (and — editor’s note — Courtney knows a lot about local music), there’s really only one that I’m really familiar with: Modern Moxie. ...
“I mean, they’re obviously taking some chances on some lesser-known artists, which is cool. When we used to go to Coachella, we would do a deep dive into the smaller artists, so we would know who we wanted to check out. I don’t know if the people that are going to this festival would do that or not.”
James: “I’m just looking at this whole list, and I’m like, if you’re a music lover, there is something for everybody — even up-and-coming artists, bands we’ve got to support. I want to say this: We’ve got to support this so we can get more. That’s why it’s back, because it was such a hit last year. That’s why it’s back.”
‘Easy to criticize from the sidelines’
Lazes: “Again, it’s very easy to criticize from the sidelines. Get in there and try to throw the ball, and I’m gonna tell you, it ain’t easy to throw it a hundred yards every time. Which is what fans are asking for when they’re asking for Post Malone every year. Yes, it was awesome that we got him essentially at the peak of his career — and that will happen again if we support the festival.
“I mean, Benson Boone is at the peak of his career right now. He’s on fire. So I think you’ll end up with more and more of that as the festival gets more legs and more reputation. Because then the artists go, OK, we’re routing right now, we should route through here, here, here and here, and that’s their weekend, so we’ll put it there. You’ll get more and more of it as it gets established. ...
“And as odd as it sounds, I thought Stevie Nicks was a huge showing of good faith. I think Dave Matthews is a huge showing of good faith. I mean, these are artists that don’t need the money. It’s not like you’re doing them a favor by giving them a big check. They can get the big check anywhere they want. So it’s really more them doing you a favor and a tip of the hat to say, ‘We trust you will showcase us properly.’ Because the alternative is they can go play at the arena or the amphitheater and make as much money as they’re gonna make (at Lovin’ Life) — and they know what that already is. They know that’s gonna be presented right. Zero risk. So talking these artists into doing it, the more of them you talk into doing it, the more that you’ll get, and the next time there’ll be more, and the next time there’ll be more. And ultimately, I’m hopeful that it will establish itself as a cornerstone like all the other festivals we talked about.
“I mean, I’m thrilled that Charlotte has a big festival. I’m gonna look at it in a positive light. ... Because as big as we are (as a city), we should have a major music festival. It’s sad that we didn’t until (Lovin’ Life creator) Bob (Durkin) and (his partners) stepped up and did it.
“So I’m just proud that the city has one again.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
