RALEIGH, N.C. — Organizers say it's the world’s largest artist-led music festival. Dreamville returns to the Triangle for the fourth year with a lineup featuring J Cole, 50 Cent, SZA and more.
What You Need To Know
- Dreamville Festival is returning to Dix Park in Raleigh for the fourth time on April 6 and 7
- Organizers expected the festival to match last year's attendance of over 100,000 people over the two days
- New improvements to the event include flushable toilets, more EMS and police offiers and new weekday events
- A new report found that last year's festival contributed $145.9 million to the Raleigh economy
Trey Hicks, PR Director for the festival, said that the goal is to improve the event year over year. Some of this year’s improvements include the return of flushable toilets (which means no more porta potties), more resources for food and more transportation options.
Earlier this week, festival organizers and city officials held a press conference in the run up to this weekend.
Weekday Events
Tickets for Dreamville were sold out, but organizers said that a small allotment of new tickets were released this week. Even if you aren’t planning on going to the festival, Dreamville is putting on events around Raleigh before Dreamville takes place at Dix Park on April 6 and 7.
Thursday, April 4:
Dreamville Pop-up Shop, 207 S. West St., noon to 7 p.m.
Omen's Game Get Together, Kings and Neptunes, 6 to 9 p.m.
Friday, April 5:
"Up" w Olu X 4th Qtr Performance Presented by Compxss, N.C. State campus, 10 a.m. to noon
Amazon Music Presents: Dreamville Public Access, CAM Raleigh, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Dreamville Pop-up Shop, 207 S. West St., Raleigh, noon to 7 p.m.
Amazon Music Presidents: Gold Mouf Garage with Lute, South Harrington Street (next to CAM Raleigh), 1 to 8 p.m.
Everybody Fiends with Bas, South Harrington Street (next to CAM Raleigh), 3 to 8 p.m.
Lineup
It came as a shock to many fans when Dreamville announced on Monday headliner Chris Brown would not be performing this year, and would instead be replaced by rap legend 50 Cent. Hicks said that they learned that Chris Brown would not be able to perform very recently, and had to pivot quickly, but that Dreamville is excited to have 50 Cent perform.
He also emphasized many of this year’s performers are playing the festival for the first time. SZA and 50 Cent are headlining Saturday, followed by Nicki Minaj and J Cole on Sunday. Artists from J Cole’s Dreamville label, including J.I.D., EARTHGANG, Bas, and Lute, are performing. Other artists performing this year include up-and-comers, like Hunxho and Luh Tyler.
Where to stay and how to get there
Dreamville Festival brings some of the biggest artists to Raleigh, but it also brings traffic and a lot of people.
Loren Gold, executive vice president at Visit Raleigh, said that the city expects to match last year’s number of more than 100,000 people over the two-day festival.
Gold said that tickets have been sold to people from all 50 states and more than 20 countries.
Eighty percent of ticket holders are either overnight travelers or day trippers. According to Gold, 94% of Wake County’s more than 16,000 hotel rooms were filled last year during the festival. The number of rooms sold was an 11% increase over the previous year on Sunday, meaning that more people are making the trip an extended stay.
Dreamville Festival President Adam Roy said they are partnering with hotels and airlines to help fans, including services that allow fans to book their hotels early at favorable rates. Gold said the average price for a hotel stay during last year’s event was $192, which is about $55 more than the normal average.
Dedric Bond, who is working on public safety for the festival, said that there will be more shuttles this year to bring fans from external parking lots to the festival. There will also be more officers to handle the increased traffic, according to Raleigh Police Captain Jon Wood.
Bond also said that the festival has been working with residents in the area. The festival held a public forum where they discussed how to work through some issues and street closures during the event.
“Ultimately, our end goal is to be good neighbors,” Bond said.
Any residents with issues can contact the festival at info@dreamvillefest.com or call the community hotline at (919) 295-6275, which will be monitored Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m..
Safety at the event
Event organizers went into further detail on how they will be keeping event goers safe this weekend during Tuesday’s press conference.
There will be medical tents and emergency personnel on site that can help with any medical emergency or other issue. Wood said that there will be more EMS personnel and police officers at this year’s festival.
As with any festival, event goers should stay hydrated, come prepared, always be aware of your surroundings, and bring a friend you can rely on, organizers said. Event goers may also want to set a specific meeting point before going to the festival in case people get separated. Phone service is often spotty at large events like this, so it may be hard to contact people during the festival.
Dreamville and the local economy
Tuesday’s press conference came shortly after an economic impact report on 2023’s festival came out. The report, created by AngelouEconomics, found that the 2023 festival contributed $145.9 million to the Raleigh economy, the equivalent of 1,327 full time jobs.
The biggest sectors impacted by the festival were hotel, food and beverage and ground passenger transportation. Almost 300 jobs in ground passenger transportation were created or sustained, over 200 in food and beverage and 178 in hotels. More than $51.7 million in labor incomes were paid to Raleigh employees.
Over $24 million in economic impact came from festival operations, equivalent to 164 full time jobs created or sustained, according to the study. The other $121 million came from attendee expenditures, which includes spending both on and off site.
This year’s festival will once again feature local food vendors, murals from artists from across North Carolina, a performance from N.C. Central University’s marching band, and of course, J Cole’s return just an hour away from where he was born and raised.
“The type of numbers and visitors you’re seeing this year is the culmination of what has been an active year for Dreamville as a brand, an active year for Cole as an artist as well,” Roy said. “I think people are excited to see what’s coming to the festival.”