Firefly Music Festival unveils full schedule

If you've been singing Bob Dylan's 1997 song "Can't Wait" in anticipation of Firefly Music Festival's set times -- "I don’t know how much longer I can wait" -- well, it's time to change your tune.

Firefly organizers unveiled the festival's full 140-act schedule Thursday, sending the expected crowd of 90,000 to frantically search the list for any conflicts that would keep them from seeing one of their favorite bands.

While there were no earth-shattering conflicts with major acts, the schedule finally reveals how exactly the festival will handle its first year with five headliners.

The answer is by having one of them -- the reigning winner of the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, Chance the Rapper -- start at 12:30 a.m. early Sunday morning for a 75-minute set that will wrap up under the moonlight at 1:45 a.m.

It's a page out of last year's playbook when deadmau5 -- one of four official headliners -- played from 12:45 a.m to 2 a.m. on a Saturday night into early Sunday.

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Another lesson learned last year -- this one by accident -- played into this year's four-day fest, says Jonathan Wayland, Firefly Music Festival's director of talent.

When rapper/actor Ludacris had a last-minute delay last year and was forced to push his set from Friday night to Sunday at 12:45 p.m. due to filming "The Fate of the Furious," the result was a first for Firefly -- a massive early Sunday crowd.

It proved that a well-known act could draw groggy Fireflyers out from their tents, producing a throng of fans instead of the open fields that normally greet the day's first acts.

In that spirit, veteran hip-hop artist Busta Rhymes will perform at 1 p.m. on the main stage on Sunday, June 18, serving up "dilly yos" to go along with fans' late morning Eggos.

"We had fans clamoring to get into the gates Sunday morning at 11 and we thought, 'OK, there might be something to this. How do we get people jump-started again for the final day of the festival, get into the grounds and get excited?' We're going to try and replicate that," says Wayland, who has been the talent buyer for the festival since its inception. "You try to plan things and they never work out, but sometimes things just fall into your lap. "

The heavily anticipated schedule announcement came a day later than planned, due to Monday's terrorist attack at Ariana Grande's concert in Manchester, England, officials said.

This year's festival runs from June 15 to 18 in The Woodlands at Dover, across Del. 1 from the Dover International Speedway.

Four-day passes and single-day passes are on sale now for the festival. General admission single-day passes are $89 for Thursday. General admission and VIP single-day passes are $119/$249 each for Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Four-day general admission and VIP passes cost $309/$699. (Super VIP four-day passes with on-stage viewing, open bar and access to artist lounges are $2,499.) 

This year's festival features eight main stages and two stages in camping areas, putting the festival total to 10 stages for the first time. The camping stages kick off Wednesday night for early arrivals and will feature live music from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday through Saturday instead of last year's 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. schedule.

Also new is the addition of the Toyota-sponsored Music Den Stage to the main schedule, giving 14 up-and-coming artists a shot at the six-year-old music and camping festival.

As for the remainder of Firefly's headliners for 2017, none will perform on Thursday. Wayland says the festival is not yet prepared to put a headliner on Thursday, since attendance is not as strong and many fans would miss the performance.

Twenty One Pilots will unload a 90-minute set Friday starting at 10:45 p.m., taking over the stage from alternative rockers Weezer, who play the same stage from 8:15 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

On Saturday -- the festival's biggest day -- rock legend Bob Dylan's 75-minute set kicks off at 8:30 p.m. followed by The Weeknd, who will play from 11 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Also of note: Bear resident DJ Jazzy Jeff will perform an hour-long DJ set in the Pavilion Stage from 5:15 p.m.

Muse will be the thunderous festival closer Sunday with a set that stretches from 9:15 p.m. to 10:45 p.m.

Other set times of note: Franz Ferdinand (Friday, 6:15 p.m.), Flume (Friday, 12:15 a.m.), T-Pain (Saturday, 2:30 p.m.), Kesha (Saturday, 9:45 p.m.), Thirty Seconds to Mars (Sunday, 6:45 p.m.), and The Shins  (8 p.m.).

Wayland, who is based in Nashville, has one of the trickiest jobs with Red Frog Events, the Chicago-based event company that puts on Firefly with Goldenvoice, a division of concert giant AEG.

He is the one who sits with an empty grid and schedules which acts play when.

It's his job to find the right balance that makes fans and artists happy, navigating a minefield to avoid major conflicts for fans, while respecting contractual obligations and the wishes of the talent.

"It's very difficult. It's a bit of a puzzle," Wayland says. "We don't book based on slot like some festivals. I prefer to get all the acts that I want and then try to massage them into a schedule that makes the most sense for everybody."

Go to fireflyfestival.com to purchases passes and see the complete schedule.

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).

FIREFLY MUSIC FESTIVAL MAIN STAGE SCHEDULE

Friday: Judah & the Lion (2:15 p.m.), AFI (4 p.m.), Franz Ferdinand (6:15 p.m.), Weezer (8:15 p.m.) and Twenty One Pilots (10:45 p.m.)

Saturday: T-Pain (2:30 p.m.), Bishop Briggs (4:15 p.m.), Capital Cities (6:15 p.m.), Bob Dylan (8:30 p.m.), The Weeknd (11 p.m.)

Sunday: Busta Rhymes (1 p.m.), The Strumbellas (2:45 p.m.), Bleachers (4:45 p.m.), Thirty Seconds to Mars (6:45 p.m.) and Muse (9:15 p.m.)