And just like that, FYF 2016 is already over. Here's a recap of some of our favorites from a pretty solid Sunday.
The Best
The Sexagenarians
Photograph: Jakob N. Layman
We can only hope that we'll have half as much creativity and energy as Charles Bradley and Grace Jones do when we're pushing 70. His face puckered with emotion, the soulful singer commanded the crowd at the Lawn Stage on Sunday afternoon. In the evening, it was Jones' turn to captivate the (disappointingly thin) crowd over at the Main Stage. The post-disco diva spent much of her set mostly naked, with her husky voice carrying the set and covering up costume changes. Naked hula hooping? Check. Literally shaking her tail? Yup. Pole dancing while singing into a drumstick before transitioning into "Amazing Grace"? You go, Grace Jones.
The Special Guests
It's no Coachella when it comes to guest appearances, but FYF had a few surprise appearances on Sunday. Kool Keith joined Banks & Steelz (Interpol's Paul Banks and Wu-Tang's RZA). Robyn stopped by the Woods while the Black Madonna was spinning. But it was Blood Orange who almost single-handedly raised the surprise appearance bar with Zuri Marley, Empress Of, Carly Rae Jepsen, Sky Ferreira and Nelly Furtado.
The Brass and Woodwinds
Photograph: Courtesy Jose Negrete for FYF
What can we say, we're a sucker for big brassy sounds at music festivals. Banks & Steelz gave a beat to a trumpet solo, Blood Orange sexed up some sax and Charles Bradley had no shortage of brass during his soulful set.
The Bubble Machine
Photograph: Jakob N. Layman
Festivalgoers' musical tastes may differ, but there's one thing everyone loves: bubbles. Nope, that's not some new buzz band, we literally mean the soapy balls of air, like the ones blasting from the twin bubble machines stationed outside of a Perrier activation. It's the little things that make us happy.
The Questionable
The Dance Moves
Photograph: Jakob N. Layman
Dev Hynes of Blood Orange, now there's a dude who knows how to dance. And Grace Jones—there's a fierce woman who can work a wholesome pole dance into her set. But then there's Father John Misty, a man with a perfect set of pipes to carry across the crowd but dances moves that, uh—let's just say that J. Tillman's slinky, chest-out writhing could use a little bit of work.
The Inflatable, Excitable Emoji
Photograph: Jakob N. Layman
On Saturday, it seemed as though FYF had ditched its inflatable emoji, a fixture outside of its stages for the last couple of years. So it was a welcome surprise on Sunday when the inflatable ghost and eggplant popped up outside of the Club—and we literally mean popped with the eggplant, er, provocatively positioned next to the ghost. And so ensued a full day of photo ops with people straddling the eggplant.
The Most Improved
The Line
Photograph: Michael Juliano
We're sure Sunday's less-than-sold-out crowd had something to do with it, but the entry process was much smoother than the previous day's hour-plus lines. The same can be said for navigating between stages, with some narrow cut-throughs sealed off to help manage the flow of traffic.
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