Firefly bounces back with big crowd thanks to buzzworthy headliners, nice weather

"Guess who's back, back again?"

With Eminem expected to rap those lines at Firefly Music Festival late Saturday night, he isn't going to just deliver one of his biggest hits ("Without Me"), but he could have also been summarizing the festival's 2018 edition.

After crowds were noticeably thinner last year, you could hear whispers about whether Firefly would get its buzz back as it has faced additional competition in recent years.

Firefly officials declined to be interviewed and would not comment about attendance, but the 2018 crowd seemed to be larger than last summer. And some of the festival's vendors said the same.

While this weekend hasn't reached past soaring highs, such as the years with Paul McCartney and Foo Fighters, there is still no question that Firefly is still Delaware's biggest, wildest annual party.

So if you're a cranky Dover local hoping Firefly would go away or just a hater of large-scale, corporatized festivals, sorry, but it doesn't seem like Firefly is going anywhere soon. 

Veteran Firefly attendee Christina Ballas, of Wilmington, gave Firefly No. 7 two thumbs up after attending every fest but one over the years.

"They really hit a home run," says Ballas, owner of the Talleyville-based Christina's Unique Accessories & More, who upgraded to the RV camping lot for the first time. "I don't think they've lost their mojo whatsoever. They keep bringing amazing bands, everyone has a great experience and tells their friends."

Vendors such as Dogfish Head and NKS Distributors, which sells Budweiser, Bud Light and Red Bull, reported that they believe this year's festival will outdraw last year's. That line-up included five headliners for the first time, but no major, must-see bookings like Eminem's Delaware debut or Kendrick Lamar's hotly-anticipated Firefly return this year.

After a solid crowd Thursday for the opening night and many more on site for Friday to see Arctic Monkeys headline, Dogfish Head workers were already making a trip back down to its Milton Brewery Friday afternoon to get more beer and gin.

"We were trending like we were going to run out. The beers and the kegs are flying," said Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione. "You know it's a good sign when we have to go back on the second day."

Calagione estimated sales were up about 25 percent over last year and Dogfish Head's Neal Stewart, vice president of marketing, added that the number could jump as high as 35 percent more considering the high hopes for Saturday and Sunday.

"I think it's really going to really accelerate tonight," Stewart said late Saturday afternoon. "I hope it's like when the Foo Fighters played and it was wall to wall people," 

Saturday is traditionally Firefly's busiest day each year and it will probably hold true again this year, seemingly buoyed by a spike in Saturday single-day passes judging from the crowd size.

NKS President Paul Ruggiero reported that he had heard that Firefly had sold more than 15,000 single-day passes just for Saturday — a festival record.

Ruggiero said Firefly organizers Red Frog Events and Goldenvoice do not provide him beer sales numbers until the end of the weekend, but from his perspective, there are more people for 2018 than 2017.

"I would suggest it's already better than last year," he said Saturday afternoon from his room at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino as he watched a steady stream of day-trippers arriving.

The festival is the biggest Delaware annual event in terms of beer sales for NKS, dwarfing other massive sellers such as Memorial Day weekend in Dewey Beach. 

It shouldn't come as a surprise since Saturday's line-up was stacked not only with Eminem's performance, but also an early headlining set by Las Vegas glam-pop crowdpleasers The Killers. Other acts included rapper Lil Wayne, Dutch electronic DJ Martin Garrix, British rock duo Royal Blood and rock band Portugal. The Man.

Calagione, who has attended all seven Firefly fests with his family, pointed not only to buzzworthy headliners such as Eminem and Lamar for the 2018 Firefly "surge," as he called it, but also the weather.

With highs hovering around 80 with clear blue skies and single-day passes available all weekend, he thinks many last minute decisions were made to visit Firefly.

"I just talked to a couple of people who saw that it was going to be awesome outside festival weather and thought, 'This is going to be epic,' and came for three days," Calagione said.

Sunday's forecast calls for some real heat with a high of 86 with partly cloudy skies. But by the time hip-hop heavyweight and Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar appears on the main stage at 9:15 p.m. to help close out the festival — arguably the most anticipated Sunday set in Firefly history — it should be a more comfortable 75 degrees.

After some campers were turned off by security confiscating all glass, including beer bottles and liquor bottles, as well as Thursday's long will-call lines, the festival quickly took a silly turn Friday morning for a group shower.

A big group shower. A Guinness World Record was set when 396 people squeezed into a custom shower for an Irish Spring promotion, breaking the record of 331 people. "The Bachelorette" winner Shawn Booth was there shirtless to add to the spectacle.

Inside the festival, actor Terry Crews was spotted.as fans munched on everything from grilled cheese and Kobe hot dogs to steak sandwiches and Jamaican jerk ribs. Some just had to stop at Eminem's customized Mom's Spaghetti eatery, named after a lyric from his song "Lose Yourself." Cups of spaghetti cost $9 and spaghetti sandwiches were $12.

And just like last year, the festival is still drawing a younger crowd with the grounds sometimes resembling a June Bug invasion, brought on by the pop, hip-hop and EDM-heavy line-up.

Wilmington's Maria Romano, 19, is attending her fifth straight Firefly and enjoys the turn toward her generation. It gives them an over-sized playground, which is especially tempting for local teens and college students looking for a big-time experience in their own backyard. 

"The crowd is definitely younger and the line-up has a lot to do with that. Every year, it seems younger kids are here," Romano said. "And I like it younger — it feels safer."

At The Brewery, Newark's Rainbow Records had a pop-up shop at the festival for the first time. Co-owner Todd Brewer set up a listening station, so people could check out an album before buying.

Soon, the age of the crowd struck him. He was not only dealing with young music fans who are already into vinyl like at his shop. Instead, he was teaching teens how to use a turntable.

"We were blown away when we told them to check out a record and they were like, 'Uh, what do we do?'" he said. "So we ended up doing tutorials, but that's a good learning experience."

Dover's Skylar Speed and Newark's Matthew Conrad, both 24, still marvel that Firefly is in the heart of Delaware, even though it was first held back in 2012 when Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" dominated the charts.

"It's hard to stay away when these bands are five minutes from your house," says Speed, who has attended four Firefly festivals. "It's the best thing ever. It hasn't worn off."

Conrad was especially happy to see Rainbow Records, his hometown record store, in the air conditioned Brewery tent with Dogfish Head. It was there where Conrad spotted Rainbow co-owner Brewer DJing.

He has a typical record store relationship with him. Conrad doesn't know Brewer's name and Brewer knows Conrad only as "the Iron Maiden guy" because he swoops in any time Rainbow gets new vinyl from the English heavy metal band.

"I'm so happy they are the ones here representing independent record shops," Conrad said, sitting at a picnic table under a sparkling sun and clear blue skies. "It's cool that they're adding to the Delaware vibe, it's something to be real proud of."

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).