Forbes' Oct. tech event here lures young music
Next month, Forbes magazine is putting on its first Under 30 Summit in Philadelphia, a confab aimed at young tech entrepreneurs. The event runs Oct. 19 to 22.
Next month, Forbes magazine is putting on its first Under 30 Summit in Philadelphia, a confab aimed at young tech entrepreneurs. The event runs Oct. 19 to 22.
It aims to be a sort of mini-SXSW, with panel discussions, interview sessions, and Shark Tank-style competitions all day long at the Convention Center Oct. 20 and 21.
All manner of boldface names will be in town: Tinder cofounder Sean Rad; Shake Shack restaurateur Danny Meyer; America Online boss Steve Case; supermodel Petra Nemcová; Peter Thiel, cofounder of PayPal; Philadelphia 76ers owner Josh Harris; Nobel Peace Prize-winner Malala Yousafzai; and, for some reason, Monica Lewinsky.
And of course, there's music. On Oct. 19, the event starts off with the Under 30 Music Festival, which is really just a single multi-act show from 4 to 9 p.m. at the Piazza at Schmidts in Northern Liberties. Headliners are Nick van de Wall, the Dutch DJ-producer better known as Afrojack; and Wiz Khalifa, the weed-loving "Black and Yellow" Pittsburgh rapper whose wife of one year, Amber Rose, filed for divorce this week.
Also on the bill: LP, the New York songwriter Laura Pergolizzi, who has written songs for Christina Aguilera and Rihanna; and OCD: Moosh & Twist, the Philadelphia hip-hop duo who recently went over big at the Made in America festival.
The concert is in partnership with the Global Poverty Project, which puts on the humongous Global Citizen Festival Saturday in Central Park in New York. Tickets for the Piazza show are free, but to get a chance to win them you have to take "actions" to end extreme poverty. How? Go to www.globalcitizen.org/nights to find out.
Besides the show, there will be much other music activity. Afrojack will have his own panel at the Convention Center Monday morning. There's a session titled "Music Goes Moneyball," about how Big Data is telling you what to listen to, and a Food Festival cooking competition on Tuesday night. Judges will include Roots drummer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson.
Why Philadelphia? In his Under 30 Summit explainer, Forbes editor Randall Lane cited ease of access, and also said Philadelphia is "a world-class city in every way - great food, history, business vitality, nightlife and culture - as validated this year by everyone from Jay Z to the pope. But most of all, it's America's fastest growing city for millennials."
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