What’s a music lover to do? Live concert streams! There is something for everyone, from national acts playing for charity to local faves trying to earn a living.

Check out our roundup of options below and offer tips by emailing rkessler@wtop.com.

Jan. 7

9 p.m. – Mandolin presents Béla Fleck: My Bluegrass Heart, featuring Fleck and his bluegrass supergroup including Sam Bush, Michael Cleveland, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Sierra Hull, Edgar Meyer, Justin Moses, Mark Schatz, Billy Strings, Bryan Sutton, Chris Thile, Molly Tuttle, and more.  Watch the stream live from their sold out show at the Ryman in Nashville.  Tickets are $22, and you can buy them 

Jan. 8

8 p.m. – Mandolin presents Joey’s Song: Fighting Epilepsy with Music, a benefit concert live from The Sylvee Theater in Madison, WI.  The house band will be the Know-It-All Boyfriends, featuring Butch Vig and Duke Erikson from Garbage along with Freedy Johnson and others.  Special guest performers include Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum), Chris Collingwood (Fountains of Wayne), Tonya Donelly and Gail Greenwood (Belly), Kay Hanley (Letters to Cleo), Laura Jane Grace (Against Me), and more.  Tickets are $15, and you can buy them

9 p.m. – Rolling Live Studios and Mike Garson present A Bowie Celebration featuring performances from Def Leppard, Noel Gallagher, Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon and John Taylor, Living Colour, Evan Rachel Wood, Rob Thomas, Gary Oldman, Walk The Moon, and more.  The 2nd annual livestream is on what would have been Bowie’s 75th birthday and benefits Save The Children. Tickets start at $25, and you can buy them

Feb. 1

8:30 p.m. – veeps presents Geoff Tate (formerly of Queensryche), Kurt Keimer, and Mark Daly & The Ravens live at High Dive in Gainesville, FL.  Tickets start at $15, and you can buy them 

Feb. 20

8:30 p.m. – Mandolin presents Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band for the Trouble Is… 25th Anniversary Celebration.  Tickets start at $20, and you can buy them 

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U.S. Park Police said they responded to a car crash at Lincoln Park on Capitol Hill that sent the occupants of the vehicle to a hospital in what they described as “serious condition.” One of the occupants had to be freed from the wreckage by members of D.C. Fire and EMS.

The ������Ƶapp Traffic Center first reported the rollover crash at about 5:40 a.m.

The car struck the also known as Freedman’s Memorial, a statue that portrays President Abraham Lincoln standing over a freed slave. The statue received renewed scrutiny over the summer.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, and no information was immediately available on the damage done to the statue.

A map of the scene is below.

������Ƶapp’s Luke Garrett contributed to this report.

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Festival season is in full swing, and while many such as Lollapalooza, Coachella and Bonnaroo require a lot of time and travel to get there, the D.C. area is lucky to have the only a short car trip away in Dover, Delaware.

In its eighth year, Firefly is considered one of the bigger music festivals in the country attracting top acts, including this year’s headliners Panic at the Disco (Friday, June 21), Travis Scott (Saturday, June 22) and Post Malone (Sunday, June 23), plus the return of indie darlings Vampire Weekend.

However, the music fest has undergone major change since last year. Started by Red Frog Events in 2012, Firefly eventually partnered with Coachella founders Goldenvoice and AEG Presents in 2014.

After holding a majority stake in the fest since then AEG acquired the remaining shares from Red Frog after Firefly 2018, becoming the sole owner and taking over the promotion and production duties as well.

But don’t write off Firefly as just the East Coast Coachella. It remains to be seen how AEG’s ownership will change the festival.

The 2019 edition of Firefly could be a completely new experience, not only for festival newbies, but for Firefly veterans as well.

For starters, it’s been scaled back from a four-fest to three days. However, it does include a Thursday night pre-party at the camping hubs that all wristband holders can attend.

In addition, the music gets going a little later in the day, leaving room for late-night sets from acts like Passion Pit, Zedd and Kygo.

Other new additions include The Bazaar, which houses both the Central Market for vendors to sell their wares, and The Roost for all things music, comedy and karaoke.

Foodies can even purchase passes to the Woodlands Supper Club, which features a gourmet tasting menu by Philadelphia chef Alex Garfinkel.

Check out all the fun things you can see and do this weekend, including the full lineup and ticket prices, at .

If you’ll be there, see you at The Woodlands! And if you can’t make it, follow my adventures on Twitter, , and Instagram,

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No, not in the music. Rock still rules the weekend with an emphasis on the glam metal that ruled the late ’80s. Instead, they’ve pulled out all the stops for the 11^th year and added another day.

In the past, the Sunday of the festival weekend was reserved for a southern rock lineup. However, 2019 will see an extra day of M3 for a full weekend of fun from May 3-5.

Friday remains the “KIX-off” party with the Maryland band headlining the night.

Saturday and Sunday are full days of music with back to back metal bands, including Whitesnake, Warrant, Extreme, Skid Row and Vince Neil of Motley Crue fame.

When asked why the extra day now, people associated with the fest say the thirst for metal led to the Sunday lineup with even more bands for the weekend expected to be added later.

Three-day passes for M3, ranging from $875 for Rockstar VIP to $75 for lawn seats, go on sale May 19, but don’t go to Ticketfly looking for your tickets as in the past. Merriweather now uses Ticketmaster for its shows and tickets for M3 can be found

See the poster below:

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WASHINGTON — When someone says hair metal, it brings to mind the late ’80s, when the boys wore as much — if not more — makeup than the girls. Everyone’s hair routine included enough hair spray to rip a hole in the ozone layer, Spandex wasn’t just for the gym and bands like Warrant, Skid Row and Cinderella ruled the airwaves on both the radio and MTV.

While grunge music burst the glam metal bubble, there are still plenty from this area who remember when Baltimore’s Hammerjacks was the largest rock ‘n’ roll bar on the East Coast.

This nostalgia is what first brought the to Merriweather Post Pavilion in 2009, and what allows it to keep going strong for its tenth anniversary this weekend on May 4-6.

“We just had an inkling that there was a market that wasn’t being served for ’80s hair metal,” said Brad Canfield, vice president of operations and co-producer of M3. “These bands played smaller clubs, but there was no real festival anywhere on the East Coast that was playing all of them in one place. … We decided to give it a whirl … and have been doing it ever since.”

This year’s festival is particularly important, marking Merriweather’s first event since the much publicized storm damage back in January, as high winds collapsed the iconic pavilion roof.

“I woke up one morning and there was an email … saying, ‘The roof collapsed,'” said IMP chairman Seth Hurwitz, who also runs The Anthem, 9:30 Club and Lincoln Theater in D.C. “I said, ‘What do you mean collapsed?’ He said, ‘Like done, like flat on the ground.'”

What caused the roof to collapse under high winds?

“We’ve been renovating Merriweather in big phases and one of the big phases was raising the roof,” Hurwitz said. “Everything had been taken out of the roof anyway, so it was just the shell left. … [When the damage happened], it was on jacks that were lifting it up before, which is why it fell, so it’s now on permanent [support]. So, there’s no chance of it falling.”

Hurwitz says it was actually a blessing in disguise.

“That roof was going to get renovated anyway,” Hurwitz said. “If you’ve ever done any kind of renovation or remodeling, you know that it’s actually easier just to start over, so it kind of did the demo work for us. We salvaged most of the material and were able to rebuild the Frank Gehry [design], that iconic roof, that trapezoid that floats over the seats.”

Hurwitz and Canfield are confident the venue will be ready for the onslaught of rockers who attend M3 this weekend. As fans safely return to the venue, wearing their best ’80s hair-metal garb, why does the music genre continue to be so popular 30 years after its heyday?

“It’s created its own community,” Canfield said. “[Our area] had a rich tradition of this style of music, but the festival is actually attended by people … all over the world. … We’ve had people from every continent except Antarctica. A couple came from Australia and got married!”

Expect another possible wedding this weekend, along with a lineup Canfield calls the “all stars of M3,” all playing longer sets than in the past. Regular M3 attendees will also recognize author Eddie Trunk as host, as well as Maryland favorites KIX on the Friday bill, although not in their typical closing spot. Instead, co-headliner Tom Keifer of Cinderella will end the night.

Saturday’s lineup includes M3 first-timer Ace Frehley, best known as an original member of KISS, along with Warrant, Night Ranger, Stryper and Slaughter. Sunday shifts to a southern rock theme with Pure Prairie League, the Georgia Satellites and the Marshall Tucker Band.

Two-day passes and single-day tickets for M3 are still available on the 

Don’t forget, you now need parking passes, available for free on the same website.

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But before you rock out Thursday night, a soft opening Sunday gave a sneak peak of the stage and its many offerings at The Wharf destination, as part of D.C.’s new Southwest Waterfront development.

See photos from Sunday’s soft opening at The Anthem.

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Now in its ninth year, M3 brings not only the ’80s glam and metal bands it’s known for, but a first time appearance by Canadian rockers Loverboy and a third day of southern rock to round out the event.

The fun kicks off Friday afternoon with Station, or, if you’re lucky enough to be a VIP ticket holder, a special acoustic performance by Lita Ford. Loverboy is just one of the bands to warm up the crowd for local Maryland favorites KIX, who will headline what is known as the M3 Kix Off Party on Friday.

Saturday brings a full day of metal mayhem featuring classic acts such as Autograph, Warrant, Vixen, Dokken, Cinderella’s Tom Keifer and RATT. The return of RATT to M3 brings back their classic lineup of Stephen Pearcy, Juan Croucier and Warren DeMartini, while still embroiled in a prolonged legal battle with their former drummer Bobby Blotzer over the use of the RATT name.

If southern rock is more your thing, Molly Hatchet, Charlie Daniels and Lynyrd Skynyrd are just three of the seven bands set to take the stage Sunday for a show billed as the M3 Southern Rock Classic.

TV and radio personality Eddie Truck returns to M3 after a year off to tie everything together as the festival host. One schedule change of note: Japanese heavy metal band Loudness had to cancel their appearance at M3 after being denied entry into the U.S. after visa issues.

Aside from the music, the M3 festival will include the many changes at Merriweather for the 2017 concert season. The addition of new food offerings and a Tiki Bar will help keep bellies full, while cashless and touchless payment methods are now available to help speed up purchases — and hopefully reduce lines — at any of the main concession locations around the venue.

Meanwhile, a new, permanent second stage, The Chrysalis, has been added in the Symphony Woods area, meant to be used not only during music festivals, but also community and cultural arts events.  

The most important change is the parking situation. In the past, concertgoers were funneled into free lots around the venue by parking attendants, basing your parking spot on when you arrived to the show. Now, with all the development surrounding Merriweather, there is new onsite parking with additional nearby lots as well. This brings ticketed parking, but be sure to read the fine print.

Parking remains free but now all ticket holders need to pre-select parking after purchasing tickets to a show. The hope is for this to improve traffic flow into the venue by allowing vehicles to head straight to the designated parking area on their ticket. A parking ticket is needed to enter the lots but same day ticket buyers will have the option to follow signs for same-day ticket parking.

Click for more info on the parking update. 

Click for tickets, which are still available with single-day, two-day and three-day passes.

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Conceived in 1991 by Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell as a traveling festival/farewell tour for his band, Lolla has taken on a life of its own — but not without its ups and downs.

The festival ceased to exist between 1998 and 2002. It came back to life in 2003, but suffered a setback in 2004 when, due to lack of ticket sales, all tour dates were canceled. Farrell then joined forces with Capital Sports Entertainment (now C3 Presents, the group also behind Austin City Limits Festival) and set up home in Chicago where the fun remains to this day.

Lolla has also gone international with festivals popping up in Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Germany. To celebrate this notable anniversary, let’s look back on some festival highlights from the past 25 years.

To follow along with the celebration in real time, ������Ƶapp’s Reada Kessler will be live at this year’s festival live — on Twitter (@������ƵappReada) and Instagram (@luvlyreada) — throughout the weekend.

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Brought to you by local culinary lifestyle brand , the music festival includes performances from an array of acts, including the 1975, Halsey, Grimes, Blondie and Eagles of Death Metal, the band that was playing the Bataclan in Paris during last year’s terrorist attacks.

In addition to the music, Sweetlife brings together some of the best in local food trucks and eateries, including Misfit Juicery, Pepe by celebrity chef Jose Andres, Buredo and of course sweetgreen.

The festival has been downsized to just one day this year compared to the two-day event in 2015.

Why the change?

“Our goal with the Sweetlife Festival is to provide attendees with the best experience possible, and for Sweetlife Festival 2015 that meant two days of artists, food and community. Given the feedback we received from our festival fans, we realized that sometimes less is more,” sweetgreen co-founder Jonathan Neman said.

According to the organizers, proceeds for the all-day event will support building healthier communities, starting with food education and access.

General admission lawn and pavilion tickets are still available and can be found at  or .

Even if you can’t attend, ������Ƶapp’s Reada Kessler will be providing updates from the festival.

Follow the liveblog with ������Ƶapp’s Reada Kessler below starting at 10 a.m. Saturday:

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WASHINGTON — Tickets went quick to the World’s Fair anniversary celebration, even after extra free tickets were made available for the event Tuesday-Saturday.

But if you’d like to join the celebration, you can still grab tickets to the closing night party, just announced with a special guest DJ Bob Mould. Tickets cost $9.30. How fitting.

The event marks a double anniversary: 35 years in D.C. and 20 years at its current location.

The original 9:30 Club opened in May of 1980 at 930 F Street NW — hence the name.

The current location opened at 815 V St. in January of 1996.

Realizing it had a double anniversary on its hands, the club decided to celebrate museum style.

“When I was a kid, I used to go to the World’s Fair. I went to New York and Montreal and it was always exciting. You’d go in these buildings and you’d get sent through these pathways and different audio and visual things at each turn. … I wanted to try to do that for people and have them learn about the history of the club and have fun while they’re doing it and surprise them,” Hurwitz says.

So, Hurwitz and company created an immersive experience.

“I thought of like a fun house, a walk-through of someone’s nightmare version of the club. Just kind of a fantasy, a labyrinth. You won’t recognize the club. You get sent at the bottom and up and down the stairs, and it tells the story of the old club and how it turned into the new club and moved,” he says.

The event is truly interactive with backstage tours of the dressing room and the stage itself.

“One of the things I saw last night that people seemed really excited about was going in the dressing room and checking that out. We put out the hair dryer we had to get for James Brown,” he says.

You can even get a free 9:30 Club tattoo by a real tattoo artist.

“If you would like to have the 9:30 Club on yourself permanently, we’d like to give it to you.”

There is also a special “Hall of Records” of all of the acts to play there over the decades — displayed in chronological order. That includes some of Herwitz’s favorites, from global icons like Bob Dylan and Deep Purple, to local favorites like Trouble Funk and Thievery Corporation.

“It was created for the World’s Fair, but we’re going to keep it as a permanent exhibition,” he says.

You can also grab the commemorative book “9:30 — A Time and a Place,” a must-have for those who remember the club in its earliest years. The book even devotes a section to the signature smell the old club was known for. It is also a great read for any music lover and casual fan of either venue.

“The idea was a coffee-table book, but I wanted a book that people would actually read and not just flip through it and put it on their table there. So we really went through every page and tried to make it entertaining and interesting and have funny and unusual stories and cool pictures,” he says.

Written from the point of view of those that were there, it’s more like a scrapbook, chock full of never-seen-before pictures and memorabilia, plus an oral history from current and former staff, local and national musicians who frequented the club, and notable fans from the D.C. area.

It can be hard to understand how universally loved a venue is when it’s in your own city and easily accessible. However, by thumbing through the book, one can see just how important the 9:30 Club is to not only the D.C. music scene, but to the national/international music scene as well.

 Clinton Yates writes in the book: “The national attention is an interesting thing because I grew up here and was lucky enough to go to the club on F Street. When that Rolling Stone story came out, naming it the ‘best big room in America,’ I was stunned. Not because I didn’t believe it, but because when a place is in your proverbial backyard, it can be tough to gain perspective.”

Also included is a comprehensive list of every act to ever play the club, as well as a poignant memorial to the man known as That Guy at the 9:30 Club, who passed away in 2013.

“Josh was this huge, scary-looking dude with all kinds of piercings and tattoos and what not, but then when you talked to him, he was the nicest, smartest guy you’ll ever meet. Very calm and sensible. I loved how people totally misjudged him by what he looked like, and then they found out who he was. … He kind of represented us in that he strived to be different … but he retained the best of values.”

“Josh was a great example of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover.'”

Only with this commemorative book — and its 3D cover — we absolutely can.

It’s one-of-a-kind. It’s dripping with memories. And it’s undeniably historic.

Listen below to the full interview with 9:30 Club co-owner Seth Hurwitz:

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In previous years, festival organizers have announced the date around this time of year, but typically waited to reveal the lineup until early in the new year.

This year, they’re changing things up by revealing the lineup just a day after announcing the date.

Merriweather’s concert season will kick off April 29^th and 30^th with a weekend of hair-metal hit makers.

As in years past, local Maryland favorites KIX will headline Friday’s “KIX-off party,” following acts like Enuff Z’nuff, Lynch Mob, Britny Fox and a solo performance by Vince Neil, fresh off Motley Crue’s farewell tour.

Saturday brings a full day of music on two stages, including Faster Pussycat, Firehouse, Quiet Riot, Slaughter, Night Ranger and Cinderella’s Tom Keifer, culminating with Tesla closing the festival.

Don’t worry if you don’t see your favorite headbanging act on the list. More artists will be added to the lineup early next year.

A cool $60 will get you a two-day lawn pass. Those go on sale Friday on .

You can also drop $850 for the full “Rock Star Experience.” Find more info on M3Rockfest.com.

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WASHINGTON — It seems that every time you turn around these days, another music festival is popping up. In a market saturated with festivals, how can you stand out? If you’re the , happening this weekend in West Potomac Park, you team up with the and their Landmark campaign to make the weekend about more than just the music.

The Trust for the National Mall is an official nonprofit partner of the National Park Service. Its mission is to restore, improve and preserve the National Mall, which has gone nearly 40 years since its last major renovation and is well overdue for repairs. This is where the Landmark campaign comes in, bringing awareness to the need for renovation and inspiring others to get involved in raising funds and achieving the goal of making America’s “front yard” look its absolute best.

The Landmark Music Festival is being put on by C3 Presents, the same team behind the Austin City Limits Music Festival and Lollapalooza, as well as the White House Easter Egg Roll. This time, the group is bringing more than 40 bands to five stages over two days in one picturesque setting.

However, there are some things you need to know before attending:

The lineup: Drake headlines the festival on Saturday, while The Strokes headline on Sunday. Other artists include Chvrches, Alt-J, TV on the Radio, Miguel, George Ezra, Manchester Orchestra, Dr. John & The Nite Trippers and Nate Ruess. You can see local favorites Ex Hex and Wale. The entire lineup and schedule can be found .

The food: Labeled D.C. Eats and curated by Washington’s own Jose Andres, there are plenty of dishes by local restaurants, including Amsterdam Falafel Shop, Ben’s Chili Bowl, Toki Underground, Oyamel and Old Ebbitt Grill. All of the delicious offerings can be found .

How to pay: All vendors will accept cash and credit, but Landmark is encouraging festival goers to take advantage of Landmark Cashless, a special way to pay using your festival wristband by linking it to a credit or debit card ahead of time.

Stay hydrated: CamelBak is supplying free, freshly-filtered water at the event, so remember to bring your own reusable, refillable bottle. You are also allowed to bring up to two factory-sealed water bottles (up to 1 liter each) each day of the festival.

How to get there: There will be no vehicle parking offered on site.  Festival organizers encourage you to take Metrobus and Metrorail. The nearest Metro station is the Smithsonian stop about a mile away from the event. Bicycle parking will also be available for cycling enthusiasts.

If you can’t make it Landmark but still want to enjoy the music, Yahoo is presenting a  which you can watch online or through the Yahoo Screen app on your cellphone or other connected devices. The Live Stream schedule is available

Tickets are still , but be sure to buy one before you arrive. No ticket sales will happen on site, but you can buy them online throughout the weekend and pick them up at will call.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEOw1k-LwrI

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WASHINGTON — This weekend marks the arrival of the fourth annual Firefly Music Festival, unfolding June 18 to June 21 at The Woodlands in Dover, Delaware. Plenty of people from the DMV make the trek every summer, considering it’s the closest major festival — about a two-hour trip, depending on traffic.

Whether you’re a Firefly veteran or a first-timer, this year brings many new experiences to The Woodlands. Even if you’re not going, you can still enjoy Firefly from the comfort of your own .

Many of the changes can be linked to a recent partnership between Red Frog Events and Goldenvoice, creators of the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals, to help grow Firefly. And grow it did.

This year marks Firefly’s first sellout with 90,000 music fans coming from all over the world to see acts like Kings of Leon, The Killers, Gary Clark Jr. and its biggest headliner yet, Paul McCartney. In fact, the sellout was anticipated back in March when organizers announced that no single-day tickets would be available.

But if you missed out on tickets, there’s still hope to attend. This year, for the first time, is the Official Fan-to-Fan Ticket Marketplace of Firefly, offering the chance for resale.

“With the sell out and increased demand for Firefly passes this year, the demand for and accessibility of tickets on the secondary ticket market is inevitable,” says Tad Jenkins, vice president of customer experience and marketing at Red Frog Events and Firefly.

“StubHub shares a similar outlook on fan engagement and satisfaction. This partnership will help ensure all Firefly pass holders, whether purchased through FireflyFestival.com or StubHub, have a stellar experience leading up to and at the festival.”

StubHub will have a physical presence at this year’s festival as the presenting sponsor of Firefly’s acoustic stage and café, dubbed “The Coffee House.” This venue will offer the StubHub Music Experience with exclusive, intimate performances from acts such as Manchester Orchestra, Echosmith, Andrew McMahon and Broods.

Also new this year is an alternative option to pay for items purchased at the festival. Red Frog now has a relationship with Square to be the exclusive mobile payment provider for all vendors at both Firefly and Big Barrel, the country-themed festival also being held at The Woodlands a week later. This change will hopefully do away with long waits at festival ATMs and could even encourage festival goers to leave their cash at home.

Other additions inside The Woodlands this year include the Pavilion Stage, Firefly’s first tented stage, and the Treehouse Stage, where the Treehouse Sessions will take place. These sessions will feature artists already playing at the festival. Fans can win their way in via social media or line up for first-come, first-served attendance. Gamers also will enjoy the new amped-up arcade now called The Beercade, featuring a bar within the gaming area to enjoy a cold brew while they play.

For those who can’t attend Firefly, will help you feel like you’re a part of the action — right from the couch. For the first time, the station is including Firefly to the list of festivals it broadcasts. Every act won’t be seen, so if Morrissey and McCartney are on your must-see list, you might want to check out the prices on StubHub. However, a wide variety of artists will be broadcast throughout the weekend, including Modest Mouse, Walk The Moon, Kings of Leon, Bastille and Foster the People.

The AXS TV broadcast schedule can be found .

������Ƶapp’s Reada Kessler is at Firefly all weekend. Follow her live updates below:

Whether you’re packing up to head to Dover or experiencing it at home, you need to be familiar with the bands. Most will know the headliners, but the festival undercard is where you can find hidden gems you didn’t know existed. It can be time consuming to do all the research yourself, but luckily others have done the work for you. If you belong to a streaming service like Spotify, playlists are painstakingly curated to give you a taste of what is to come.

There are  curated by the festival, but the best come custom-made by the fans. Many of these links have been posted to the on Facebook. Former page admin and active member Jesse Berdinka took it a step further, compiling unique playlists for each day of the festival to help fans decide which artists to see:

Thursday:

Friday:

Saturday:

Sunday:

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These days, bands get a lot of free publicity from fan groups called “street teams,” which hand out flyers and stickers, call radio stations to request songs, and flood social media about the band.

The Firefly Music Festival, now in it’s fourth year at The Woodlands in Dover, Delaware, has taken this idea one step further to help promote the festival coming up on June 18-21 by introducing the Firefly Brand Ambassador.

This Brand Ambassador program is a new endeavor by Red Frog Events, the Chicago-based event promotion company behind  Firefly, Warrior Dash and the Big Barrel Music Festival , a country-oriented weekend also held in Dover.

“The program was born out of a desire to empower fans.  The value of social media is apparent, but we wanted to get people out in the fan community. Putting on these events really allows that,” Senior Brand Ambassador for Firefly Michael Greco says.

Area brand ambassadors were chosen during a thorough selection process.

“When we recruited for the program, we gave candidates the chance to really showcase their spirit and tell their Firefly story,” Greco says. “(They) completed an essay questionnaire and were selected on criteria like uniqueness and professionalism.”

Once selected, ambassadors were given a budget to put on events of their own creation.  In return, each ambassador receives a VIP pass and a camping spot to attend Firefly.

Locally, Kristen Mink and Mandi Heesh were the two D.C.-area candidates chosen.  Born and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland, Mink thought the Brand Ambassador position would be a good fit for her because of previous experience throwing buzzworthy events when she was Yelp’s D.C.-area Community Manager. She’s currently a teacher at an alternative middle and high school in D.C,

“I couldn’t resist the pull of the classroom, but getting to throw some events and rally a fun community on the side has been a great opportunity to dip my toes back in those waters,” Mink says.

The event born out of those waters happens Saturday at the Howard Theatre. Branded as a Kickoff Party for Firefly, the event features two of the artists playing Firefly, including the indie pop trio Prinze George, whose name is an homage to the county where the band grew up, Prince George’s.

Also on the bill are self described “Dirty South Hip Hop/Electronic” band Styles & Complete, plus two local DJs: DJ Lightwaves and The Lothario.  Mink planned the event as “a chance for fans … and the artists to get together and get excited for what’s only weeks away and to get down with the bands  in a much more intimate setting.  We’re keeping costs low because it’s really for fans of Firefly….and we’re giving away two VIP passes (to the festival) during the show.”

The Brand Ambassador program isn’t a one-time experiment.

“I’m really happy with some of things (the ambassadors) came up with,” Greco says. “Like any new program, it’s a learning year, but we’re looking forward to the possibilities for next year, as we fully intend on growing the program along with the festival.”

Click for tickets for the Kickoff to Firefly event at the Howard Theatre.

Click for tickets for the Firefly Music Festival.

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WASHINGTON — Get ready to rock in Virginia and roll in Maryland this weekend.

Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Rush hit Jiffy Lube Live! on Saturday in Bristow, Virginia, while the Sweetlife Festival hits Merriweather Post Pavilion Saturday and Sunday in Columbia, Maryland.

Here is a preview of both events for your weekend concert enjoyment.

Sweetlife Festival returns to Merriweather

Now in its sixth year, Sweetlife has expanded from one to two days of music and food.

Sweetlife is put on by local culinary lifestyle brand Sweetgreen, which has expanded nationally with 31 restaurants along the East Coast and California.

Founders Nathanial Ru, Nicolas Jammet and Jonathan Neman first conceived the festival in 2010 as a gathering of 500 friends and family members in the parking lot behind their Dupont Circle store.

Since then, Sweetlife has outgrown its original location and now hosts over 23,000 attendees at Merriweather, featuring bands on two stages over two days.

“We felt expanding to two days allowed us to feature a better range of artists, food, and awesome activities,” the founders say. “We had also received countless requests from our festival fans to expand to two days. We heard them loud and clear and we’re excited to bring them more of what they’ve already come to expect from the Sweetlife Festival. “

The lineup of 30 bands has something for all ages.

Saturday features Misterwives, Bleachers, Tove Lo and Billy Idol.

It all builds up to Kendrick Lamar and The Pixies closing out their respective stages Saturday night.

������Ƶapp’s Marcus Moore recently reviewed Lamar’s second album, “.”

Sunday brings another round of artists such as Charli XCX, Phantogram, Vance Joy, Banks and The Weeknd.

Calvin Harris — chart topper and love interest of Taylor Swift — will close out the festival.

Foodies won’t be left out either.  Food selections are varied, including a Chef’s Corner featuring  offerings from local and national chefs such as Jose Andres and Spike Gjerde, as well as a food truck gathering with Astro Doughnuts, Big Cheese and Takorean, to name a few.

Add in a tavern with local brews and wines, and you have a unique variety of options with the Sweetlife promise of “sustainability, transparent values and, most importantly, community.”

Proceeds will support the educational program Sweetgreen in Schools, created to introduce kids to the benefits of healthy eating and nutrition.

Single day and two-day passes are still available.

Click for ticket information.

Rush at Jiffy Lube Live!

Meanwhile down in Virginia, rock legends Rush will hit Jiffy Lube Live!

Rush is celebrating its 40^th anniversary with the R40 Live tour.

While the band hasn’t labeled it a farewell tour, it may be one of the last tours of this scale.

Only lawn seats remain available for the show.

Click for ticket information.

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