I love Lovin’ Life, but let’s face it: The festival likely needs a new identity

As the last of the fans were vacating the premises on the last day of the 2025 Lovin’ Life Music Fest in uptown Charlotte, organizers sent out the last email blast of the weekend, making it official: Lovin’ Life is returning for a third year in 2026 — on May 1-3.

That means this is official, too: They have 361 days to figure out what went wrong this year.

And very clearly something very big went very wrong.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was not there at all on Day One, because I was returning Friday from a family trip and didn’t get back to Charlotte till late that night.

On Day Two, I showed up at First Ward Park around 4 p.m. in the interest of catching back-to-back sets by rapper Petey Pablo and DJ Jazzy Jeff before heading to Bank of America Stadium for Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s big show ... but then the storm came, and I only got through 18 minutes of show before we were ordered to seek cover; the festival gates still hadn’t re-opened by 6, so at that time I had to bail on LLMF for BofA.

But I was there again at 4 p.m. on Day Three, Sunday, and saw every act on the two main stages up to and including Dave Matthews Band’s weekend-capping performance.

Just as importantly, I was there to see all three nights of Lovin’ Life last year. So I know how densely packed the grounds were last year, especially for headliners Post Malone, Stevie Nicks and (perhaps to a lesser degree) Noah Kahan.

I remember walking the block from the front of the GA section to the back during Postie’s opening-night show, climbing the rear stairs on the hill that rises up to Seventh Street, then from that vantage point looking out at the ocean of people between me and the stage 250 yards away. I remember wondering if I was looking at 30,000 people. I remember thinking that if some authority figure told me I was actually looking at a crowd of 40,000 people, I would have totally believed them.

On Sunday night, however, I made roughly the same walk away from the stage at roughly the same time — 10 p.m., prime time, in this case one hour into a lively set led by a goofy, gregarious Dave Matthews — and ended up atop the same hill.

From there, I saw a much, much different sight.

It wasn’t pretty.

Despite a stellar show by Dave Matthews ...

Yes — that Dave Matthews Band.

The one that is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the one that has legions of fans that follow them everywhere, the one that sells out 20,000 tickets at PNC Music Pavilion on the regular. Of the three 2025 Lovin’ Life headliners (Gwen Stefani and Weezer being the others), Dave seemed up front like he’d be the closest to a sure thing.

Yet from that spot on the hill, between me and the stage 250 yards away, I saw a lot of empty space. There was a big crowd a block away in the VIP section and the front of the GA section, but between Seventh and Eighth streets, it was dead.

I wondered if, all told, I was looking at 10,000 people. If some authority figure told me I was actually looking at 5,000, I would have probably believed them.

Dave, by the way, was great. Dave was on point. It’s widely known that his setlists are always completely different and often light on their biggest hits, but this one was front-loaded with them — 1. “Ants Marching,” 2. a cover of Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer,” 3. “What Would You Say,” 4. “Crash Into Me,” 5. “So Much to Say.” I’ve seen several of his shows now, and this one might have been my favorite.

Dave wasn’t responsible for what was going on here.

So who is?

Lovin’ Life might have a ‘multi-genre’ problem

Also in the interest of full disclosure: I love Lovin’ Life.

I love that there’s a major music festival in Charlotte that can attract major talent. I think the location is brilliant, the layout is smart, the branding is exceptional, the organization and the execution is polished and professional, the production quality is first-rate (including outdoor sound design far superior to BofA’s stadium and PNC’s amphitheater), and the whole event just feels warm, welcoming and safe.

I will champion this thing ’til I’m Carolina-blue in the face. But I also need to say this to the organizers: I think all the criticism of the lineup was at least somewhat justified.

Look, I can appreciate how incredibly difficult it is to book for a festival. Or, I can try to, at least. I can understand the simple concept that there are a million things I will never understand about the complexity and the challenges.

All I can do is offer an opinion. And in my opinion, the approach needs to be reexamined.

I’ve wondered a lot about whether Lovin’ Life would be made better — especially if it truly wants to be a “multi-genre” festival, as it says it does — by diversifying the headliners in its lineup. I’ve wondered whether injecting some color into primetime would help inject some color into the crowd, making it more of a reflection of what Charlotte’s population looks like.

I like the idea of that. I like the idea of a night headlined by a Megan Thee Stallion, or a Travis Scott, or a Lenny Kravitz.

But as I watched a steady stream of (mostly younger) fans heading for the exits on Sunday night even as Dave Matthews Band was just getting warmed up, I started wondering something new.

Maybe the key to real, longlasting success isn’t “multi-genre.” Maybe it isn’t diversity after all.

Maybe it’s to abandon the notion of trying to be lots of different things to lots of different people.

Maybe Lovin’ Life needs to commit to genre and stick with it.

Benson Boone and Gwen Stefani? Pitbull and Weezer?

LLMF’s organizers are doing that, elsewhere.

In Wildwood, N.J., at its Barefoot Country Music Fest (this year: Jason Aldean, Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson). In Myrtle Beach, S.C., at its Carolina Country Music Fest (this year: Kid Rock, Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson).

At those festivals, fans are coming for country, they’re staying for country.

With Lovin’ Life, while Year One sold out by virtue not only of being shiny and new but also netting a pop king (Post Malone) and a living legend (Stevie Nicks), in Year Two it just proved too difficult to try to reel concertgoers in with one thing they like then expect them to stick around for something they perhaps don’t.

That’s why we saw so many high school and college kids and other assorted 20somethings who’d been so jacked up for 32-year-old Teddy Swims turn around and head home when it was time for their parents’ favorite band to take the stage.

I’m trying to be gentle about this.

I do think there’s some logic to saying, Let’s get the biggest names we possibly can — in any major genre — and leverage those names. I just don’t think it’s working. Benson Boone, 22, then Gwen Stefani, 55. Pitbull, a suave Latino hitmaker, then Weezer, a nerdy alt-rock stalwart. Teddy Swims, Dave Matthews.

The longer you stare at all those names together, the more incoherent it seems.

Then look back up at the topliners for those country fests. Boom, boom, boom. Boom, boom, boom.

So what do we do here? Well, last year, to me, Post and Stevie were the game-changers. This year, I really feel like Benson Boone and Teddy Swims were the two biggest deals. (Like I said, I wasn’t at the festival Friday, but everyone I’ve talked to about Boone sounded absolutely blown away.)

I also really feel like young people were setting the tone in the crowd this year, even more so than last. There were little roving crews of high school and college kids and other assorted twentysomethings EVERYWHERE on Sunday.

And as I observed that stream of mostly younger fans heading for the exits during Dave, as I started wondering whether LLMF needs to commit to a genre and stick with it, I started wondering whether young people could be Lovin’ Life’s answer — whether young people could be Lovin’ Life’s savior.

Imagine a more-focused music fest

You’ll have to set aside those real-world complexities and challenges and use your imagination, but imagine this:

Friday: Benson Boone, then Chappell Roan or Sabrina Carpenter.

Saturday: Bring back Dominic Fike or Maggie Rogers or Mt. Joy from last year, then Olivia Rodrigo or Billie Eilish.

Sunday: Teddy Swims, then ... Post Malone is back!

Those would be pie-in-the-sky headliners, of course, but you get the idea. The idea being to concentrate on building momentum and then sustaining it, as opposed to expecting fans of one genre to stick around for a completely different one just because it’s a famous name.

In other words, just figure out who you want to embrace — and embrace them. Again, that idea is working for them at their country music festivals. Big-time.

I mean, maybe country music is the answer here. You can never go wrong with country music in Charlotte. Can you?

But I really, obviously, am no expert.

All I know for sure is I wish only the best for this festival, and that I hope when I’m standing on that hill looking out over the vast space between me and the main stage next year, it’s once again packed full of people.

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This story was originally published May 5, 2025 at 7:04 AM.

Théoden Janes

The Charlotte Observer

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Théoden Janes has spent nearly 20 years covering entertainment and pop culture for the Observer. He also thrives on telling emotive long-form stories about extraordinary Charlotteans and — as a veteran of three dozen marathons and two Ironman triathlons — occasionally writes about endurance and other sports. Support my work with a digital subscription