Lansterdam in review: 420 Music Festival

Hazy memories from Lansing’s biggest cannabis festival

Posted

I came. I saw. I got way too stoned and ended up leaving early. 

My throat is still a bit sore from Saturday (April 23) afternoon, but I guess that’s to be expected when you smoke about a dozen joints within a five-hour period. Several trips to the free dab bar may have also played a role. Oh, and the leaf blower filled with several pounds of pot probably didn’t help. 

If this stoner dream sounds at all familiar, then you probably were also among the several thousand people at Adado Riverfront Park on Saturday for the second annual 420 Music Festival. If not, or perhaps you flat-out don’t remember after smoking that much weed, let me explain what you missed — and why I’ll definitely be more prepared for next year’s festivities: 

Common Citizen — the retail partner of LIV Cannabis Co. — has made quite the loud entrance in Lansing this month, especially for still being the youngest pot shop in the city. Organizers estimate that about 8,000 people turned out for the festival on Saturday, with the largest crowds at night to watch the headlining hip-hop and rap performances from Bun B and Curren$y. 

As the official sponsor of the festival, Common Citizen also had a VIP lounge near the stage. I managed to score some free tickets, which would have otherwise been sold for $200 each. 

About 20 cannabis vendors were on site selling a wide assortment of joints, vapes, edibles and other goodies that you could smoke or otherwise consume on site. Several others sold pipes, bongs and other cannabis-related merchandise. Food trucks also lined Capitol Avenue. 

I truly felt like a celebrity when I strolled into the VIP tent at about 1 p.m. with my plastic badge swinging from my neck. Black leather furniture and an array of neon lighting fixtures gave the tent a club-like feel. Servers carried around trays of cannabis-infused mocktails for guests. Bowls of munchies and sweets were constantly refilled. A coffee bar was set up in the corner. 

It was a genuine stoner paradise. I probably would’ve been content staying there all night. 

After retrieving my free goodie bag from the front desk at the tent, I was immediately offered a rather large dab of Common Citizen’s Peach Pie concentrate. And another. And then another. From there, the rest of the unseasonably warm spring afternoon last weekend is all a bit hazy. 

Smoking cannabis has never been much of a social activity for me. My joints tend to be sparked up at the end of the day (usually alone or with just one other person) and used almost exclusively to help me unwind after work, or for the occasional Sunday wake-and-bake. 

I’m also not much of a hip-hop aficionado, so as the dabs started to work their magic inside the VIP tent, I found myself a bit underprepared for the small talk and escaped to find some lunch. 

In addition to the 30 minutes it took to get checked in at the ticket booth, the food service was incredibly slow. As my patience thinned for a $12 plate of nachos and a $7 lemonade, I decided to unzip my goodie bag and suddenly, my frustration was gone: Inside were 42 pre-rolled joints. 

Organizers told me on Monday there must’ve been a mistake at the VIP desk. Other guests received a rolling tray, a grinder, a small bag of weed, a vaporizer cartridge and one pre-rolled joint — not dozens of them. I guess my bag was actually supposed to be handed out to VIP guests as samples at 4:20 p.m. At the time, I just thought: “This is one hell of a goodie bag.” 

After scarfing down the entire platter of nachos, I sparked up one joint after another as I browsed through the different booths and mingled through the three other consumption tents. 

A gymnast with small, pot-leaf pasties over her nipples twirled through the air during a series of stunning aerobatic performances, drawing a small crowd to the side of the park. Leaf blowers filled with Common Citizen bud poured constant clouds of smoke through the crowd. Several dozen people were brave enough to stick their faces right at the business end of the machine. 

After making headlines for brutalizing a passenger on an airplane to Florida last week, boxing legend Mike Tyson also made his first subsequent public appearances at the festival to promote his new cannabis line. I had planned to ask him about the mid-flight altercation, but because I was stoned out of my mind, I just smiled and dumbly nodded my head in his general direction. 

By the time the “local talent” like Dreka Gates and Finessing Flash had finished their performances, I must’ve personally smoked through at least a dozen joints. That much weed mixed with an undetected case of sun poisoning means I don’t remember much of the show. And just as the evening crowds started to pour in, I decided to pack it up and head back home. 

It turns out Common Citizen’s Sour Larry OG strain is some really dank stuff, but perhaps it’s not the best fuel for enduring a full 11-hour festival in the beating hot sun. Lesson learned. 

Kyle Kaminski is City Pulse’s managing editor and a cannabis enthusiast who has been smoking marijuana just about every day for the last decade. Editor & Publisher Magazine has also labeled him as “arguably, the state’s authority on everything you need to know about cannabis.” Have a suggestion for a cannabis product? Email                                  kyle@lansingcitypulse.com. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

I came. I saw. I got way too stoned and ended up leaving early. 

My throat is still a bit sore from Saturday (April 23) afternoon, but I guess that’s to be expected when you smoke about a dozen joints within a five-hour period. Several trips to the free dab bar may have also played a role. Oh, and the leaf blower filled with several pounds of pot probably didn’t help. 

If this stoner dream sounds at all familiar, then you probably were also among the several thousand people at Adado Riverfront Park on Saturday for the second annual 420 Music Festival. If not, or perhaps you flat-out don’t remember after smoking that much weed, let me explain what you missed — and why I’ll definitely be more prepared for next year’s festivities: 

Common Citizen — the retail partner of LIV Cannabis Co. — has made quite the loud entrance in Lansing this month, especially for still being the youngest pot shop in the city. Organizers estimate that about 8,000 people turned out for the festival on Saturday, with the largest crowds at night to watch the headlining hip-hop and rap performances from Bun B and Curren$y. 

As the official sponsor of the festival, Common Citizen also had a VIP lounge near the stage. I managed to score some free tickets, which would have otherwise been sold for $200 each. 

About 20 cannabis vendors were on site selling a wide assortment of joints, vapes, edibles and other goodies that you could smoke or otherwise consume on site. Several others sold pipes, bongs and other cannabis-related merchandise. Food trucks also lined Capitol Avenue. 

I truly felt like a celebrity when I strolled into the VIP tent at about 1 p.m. with my plastic badge swinging from my neck. Black leather furniture and an array of neon lighting fixtures gave the tent a club-like feel. Servers carried around trays of cannabis-infused mocktails for guests. Bowls of munchies and sweets were constantly refilled. A coffee bar was set up in the corner. 

It was a genuine stoner paradise. I probably would’ve been content staying there all night. 

After retrieving my free goodie bag from the front desk at the tent, I was immediately offered a rather large dab of Common Citizen’s Peach Pie concentrate. And another. And then another. From there, the rest of the unseasonably warm spring afternoon last weekend is all a bit hazy. 

Smoking cannabis has never been much of a social activity for me. My joints tend to be sparked up at the end of the day (usually alone or with just one other person) and used almost exclusively to help me unwind after work, or for the occasional Sunday wake-and-bake. 

I’m also not much of a hip-hop aficionado, so as the dabs started to work their magic inside the VIP tent, I found myself a bit underprepared for the small talk and escaped to find some lunch. 

In addition to the 30 minutes it took to get checked in at the ticket booth, the food service was incredibly slow. As my patience thinned for a $12 plate of nachos and a $7 lemonade, I decided to unzip my goodie bag and suddenly, my frustration was gone: Inside were 42 pre-rolled joints. 

Organizers told me on Monday there must’ve been a mistake at the VIP desk. Other guests received a rolling tray, a grinder, a small bag of weed, a vaporizer cartridge and one pre-rolled joint — not dozens of them. I guess my bag was actually supposed to be handed out to VIP guests as samples at 4:20 p.m. At the time, I just thought: “This is one hell of a goodie bag.” 

After scarfing down the entire platter of nachos, I sparked up one joint after another as I browsed through the different booths and mingled through the three other consumption tents. 

A gymnast with small, pot-leaf pasties over her nipples twirled through the air during a series of stunning aerobatic performances, drawing a small crowd to the side of the park. Leaf blowers filled with Common Citizen bud poured constant clouds of smoke through the crowd. Several dozen people were brave enough to stick their faces right at the business end of the machine. 

After making headlines for brutalizing a passenger on an airplane to Florida last week, boxing legend Mike Tyson also made his first subsequent public appearances at the festival to promote his new cannabis line. I had planned to ask him about the mid-flight altercation, but because I was stoned out of my mind, I just smiled and dumbly nodded my head in his general direction. 

By the time the “local talent” like Dreka Gates and Finessing Flash had finished their performances, I must’ve personally smoked through at least a dozen joints. That much weed mixed with an undetected case of sun poisoning means I don’t remember much of the show. And just as the evening crowds started to pour in, I decided to pack it up and head back home. 

It turns out Common Citizen’s Sour Larry OG strain is some really dank stuff, but perhaps it’s not the best fuel for enduring a full 11-hour festival in the beating hot sun. Lesson learned. 

Kyle Kaminski is City Pulse’s managing editor and a cannabis enthusiast who has been smoking marijuana just about every day for the last decade. Editor & Publisher Magazine has also labeled him as “arguably, the state’s authority on everything you need to know about cannabis.” Have a suggestion for a cannabis product? Email                        kyle@lansingcitypulse.com. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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