Fantasia performs during of Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md on Saturday, August 5, 2017. Photos By Anthony Washington
Once again, CDE Enterprises has produced one of the best and most attended festivals in the DMV. Over two days, more than 20,000 people attended the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion to see performances from Kenny ‘Babyface’ Edmonds, Fantasia, De La Soul, Common, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Ro James, EU featuring Sugarbear, Moonchild, Wisdom Speeks, Bell Biv Devoe, SWV, The Internet, Jazmine Sullivan, En Vogue, DJ Kool, Trouble Funk, and Tish Hyman.
With a solid lineup from start to finish, one thing that I really look forward to at the Summer Spirit Festival are the opening acts. CDE Enterprises always does a good job of showcasing up and coming artist. This year, Wisdom Speeks opened on Saturday. This was my first time hearing them live and they played a solid set of Go-Go, Soul, and R&B. On Sunday, Tish Hyman opened up the festival. The Bronx, New York MC, who has written songs for Kanye West, Diddy, and Alicia Keys, was impressive and held her own among the many artists who were to follow her on the bill.
Everyone had their personal favorites and reasons why they came to the Summer Spirit Festival. From a pure performance perspective, and being unbiased, I have to say that En Vogue and Fantasia put on the best performances. Both of their shows were tight and their voices were amazing.
Speaking purely as a fan, my favorite moment of the Summer Spirit Festival was seeing Common and De La Soul performing “The Bizness”. It’s one of my favorite hip hop songs and I’ve never seen them perform it together live.
Enough words. Here are the photo highlights from Summer Spirit Festival 2017:
En Vogue performs during the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md on Sunday, August 6, 2017.
Ro James performs during the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md on Saturday, August 5, 2017.
Jasmine Sullivan performs during the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md on Sunday, August 6, 2017.
Babyface performs during the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md on Saturday, August 5, 2017.
Syd The Kyd of the band The Internet performs during the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md on Sunday, August 6, 2017.
Rickey Bell of the group Bell, Biv, Devoe performs during the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md on Sunday, August 6, 2017.
Coko of SWV performs during the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md on Sunday, August 6, 2017.
Maseo of De La Soul performs during the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md on Saturday, August 5, 2017.
Amber Navran of the band Moonchild performs during the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md on Saturday, August 5, 2017.
Common performs during the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md on Saturday, August 5, 2017.
Tish Hyman performs during the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md on Sumday, August 6, 2017.
Big Tony of Trouble Funk performs during the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md on Sunday, August 6, 2017.
Trombone Shorty performs during the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md on Saturday, August 5, 2017.
Whop of the band Wisdom Speeks performs during the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md on Saturday, August 5, 2017.
DJ Kool performs during the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md on Sunday, August 6, 2017.
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