Live updates from Made in America 2013

12:34 -- Getting home

After Made in America wrapped up on the Parkway, a sea of people inundated Suburban Station.

People were sitting everywhere -- on the floor on the benches, on the steps. They were like they were parked there and not moving. The Dunkin Donuts inside the station that was open, there were 20 people lined up waiting to buy baked goods. It was like a New Year's Eve scene with people out everywhere and trying to hail cabs. But all very calm. As I got off the train, I felt like salmon swimming upstream, trying to get to street level. There were so many people."

 -- Lynn Ross

SEPTA officials said the transit agency was adding trains on some regional rail ines and was extending hours on others -- among them, the line to Trenton -- to relieve the crush at Suburban Station, the closest station to Made in America.

-- Mark Fazlollah

12:08 a.m. -- The finale

Twelve hours after doors opened, energized crowds are leaving the Parkway walking over discarded water and beer bottles and golden confetti.Beyonce wowed with hit after hit, close to a dozen outfits, sultry moves, and her all-female brass band and backup singers.

When she started singing Whitney Houston's And I Will Always Love You, a woman sitting next to me threw herself to the ground and exclaimed, "I might die."

Irreplaceable was mostly performed by the crowd when Queen B turned the mic toward the masses.

The only disappointment voiced by some was that Jay-Z didn't join her.

After the end of Halo, the ladies bowed and the screen flashed the word fin across black.

Maybe Jay-Z will make an appearance with Nine inch Nails? Regardless, well done, Mrs. Carter. Philly loves you.

-- Julia Terruso

11:08 p.m. -- Beyond all others, Beyonce

Philly is loving Queen B and Sasha is Fierce.

Three songs and two wardrobe changes in, Beyonce welcomed the 56,000-plus packing the Parkway.

"Right now. you're watching the Mrs. Carter show," she said looking like a sequined cat woman in a black bedazzled leotard and hat.  "Girls, we rule the world" and "If I were A Boy" kicked off the set scheduled to go to midnight.

At least two colleagues spotted Jay Z earlier in the VIP area, expect to see him join her by night's end.

-- Julia Terruso

8:30 p.m. Festival frusrations

By mid-evening, some people's nerves and patience were fraying. One man had gotten a message from his daughter that she was at a medical tent, but she wasn't at the one he went to. The woman at the fence in the tent told the man to try the one near the Rocky stages. He was closer to the Skate Park stage. "I was just there," he said.

Another woman, who would only say her name was Keshia, was at the information tent looking for the charging station for recharging cell phones, that had been advertised as available. Turns out it was only until 7 p.m.

But the biggest complaint into the hot, sticky evening was about vendors running out of bottled water to buy.  That made the line at the Brita Hydration Station about 20 minutes long.

"The line's crazy because at this point, for this late in the game; this is the only place to refill the water bottles in the whole place," said Bridget Reed, 21, who was working at the refill station. "A lot of people were coming up saying there's no place even to buy a water bottle to refill."

Grace Madisett, a 20-year-old Villanova student, was one of those people who couldn't find a vendor who had bottled water to sell.  "We went to three different places. They didn't have any," she said. Finally, they were able to buy a bottle of warm water, which at least gave them a bottle to refill at the Brita station, which had plenty of water.

"They were really unprepared," said a friend of Madisett's who wouldn't give her name.

- Carolyn Davis

7:30 p.m. - Waiting for Beyonce

In the area nearest the Rocky stage, where the big names are performing, the open spaces are packed with people. Kandice Brame, 26, and her friend, Danielle Wooten, 26, have their own strategy. They set out lankets on the grass and are sitting and waiting for Beyonce.

Beyonce is why they each shelled out $106 to get tickets to Saturday's concert. Wooten is the big Beyonce fan. Brame likes her, but also enjoyed listening to 2Chainz.

Then there are the food prices from one of the many vendors in the fenced-in area.

"The prices of the snacks are ridiculous, " Wooten said. "We paid $8 for two pretzels. That's outlandish."

The friends like the outdoor atmosphere. "It's like Woodstock," Brame said.  "It gives you something you can come to for all the tri-state areas, Wooten added.

Being outside makes for an easy venue to meet people even if you are an introvert. The Budweiser taste-testing tents seem to breed camaraderie.

Wooten, a residential coordinator with Drexel University's housing department, thinks the money she spent will be worth it.  "I just wanted to do something for myself for the summer, " she said. "I hadn't gone anywhere, so why not?"

When Beyonce comes out, she said, the blankets will be rolled up and "We'll be on the first train smoking to the stage,

- Carolyn Davis

7:16 p.m. - Hot helmets

Celebrating in front of the Freedom stage as TJR played, were two fans of the performer deadmau5, who's scheduled to play at 9.30. The most devout deadmau5 fans wear helmets. Caesar Andrade, 25, from Karney, N.J, wears a Mario mask while Luigi is his friend Davey Pena, 25, of Monroe N.J. Strangers want to pose with them, not to mention drink the beer that's dripping off his helmet because it's just not easy to drink beer that way. As he talked, another helmet head, this one decorated in Made in America red white and blue, comes over and gives Andrade a high-five.

Andrade said that when you see someone with a helmet, You know how passionate they are about deadmau5. So passionate, that Andrade will keep his Mario helmet on all night. And just how hot is it in there when he has it on his head? "About 100,000 degrees, " Andrade said.

- Carolyn Davis

6:43 p.m. - Just dance

At the Skate Park stage shortly after 6:35, a crowd of around 200 young people listened to a band called the Cloud Nothings. Those closest to the stage were dancing and mouthing the words. The farther away, the greater the chance it seemed that people were just cruising around.

One audience member, asked who was playing, said, "I don't know."

- Carolyn Davis

6:07 p.m. - Water shortage

Forget about Port-o-potty lines. The wait time for water is about 40 minutes.

Thirsty, sweaty lines of people waiting for the two hydration stations and even the fountains wind around food trucks and tents.

The two Brita hydration stations ran out of free water bottles at 1:30 but continues to refill bottles.

Still, demand is so high one volunteer said two people have passed out waiting for water. Staff hooked extra hose lines up to the stations so people could fill up directly from the hose.

"We've had to come back three times," said Kevin brown, 18, of Ridley waiting in line for a fountain.  "It's too hot not to."

In line for a water refill at the Brita station, Aneesha Fraiser held an empty Fuiji bottle and chatted with friends she'd made while waiting. "We've learned a lot about each other," she said.

Fraiser, 19, a freshman at St. Joe's originally from Oxford England said she'd be willing to buy the water ($4 each) but those lines are also about 20 minutes.

"There's definitely more people this year," she said. "But less water."

- Julia Terruso

5:44 p.m. - Cultural divide

Not far from the Made in America concert, a quiet clash is going in near gentle ponds and inside pleasant galleries. Or maybe there's no clash at all.

Inside the Barnes Foundation, it's air-conditioned cool compared to the hot sticky outside venue. Inside, it's much, much quieter and not nearly as crowded as on a typical Saturday, said Kelley Stone, visitor services supervisor for the Barnes.

She attributes the smaller crowd to the holiday weekend, when most of the region seems to relocate down the Shore, and to people wanting to avoid the 60,000 people predicted to be coming to the Saturday concerts. There have been a lot of families, though.

The upshot is good for fine-art fans: "we've been able to accommodate any walk-up tickets, which is unusual," Stone said.

She figured that there weren't too many visitors to the Barnes who also were going to the concert. The concert and the Barnes attract different crowds, she said.

That's obvious after talking to Aaron Irwin, 34, and his friend Matt McDonald, 34, both who came in from New York City - to go to the Barnes!

Irwin used to live in Philadelphia and hadn't seen the new Barnes. McDonald and another friend hadn't seen any version. The two, who both are jazz musicians, spoke while sitting outside in a garden near the entrance.

Even in the galleries, it was impossible to avoid hearing the bands playing outside. It was a clash of definition of art, and of the senses.

McDonald recalled standing in front of a Picasso painting and hearing a repetitive bass beat. To him, that was the difference between real art and music that bears little relation to art. McDonald said to his friends at that moment, "There's this [the Picasso] and then there's the bump, bump, bump."

They were even more blunt outside.

It's popular culture," said Irwin. "It's not really music. It's more about the spectacle."

McDonald said the concert's music was the equivalent of television's Jersey Shore, in its appeal to a mass audience.

To end the conversation, Irwin looked up and earnestly asked, "the Philly Orchestra - are they playing?"

A clerk in the Barnes gift shop mentioned that they have on in the back room a video simulcast of the concert on YouTube and they are catching moments of the music. They like what they have heard, but aren't looking forward to getting home when the museum closes at 6.

- Carolyn Davis

5:24 p.m. - Philly school shout out

Public Enemy just ended their set with a shout out to Philly schools.

A school counselor took the mic from Flava Flave and told the crowd to contact their elected officials and tell them to "stop playing games and stand up for students."

The counselor said she worked at a school of 1,200 which now has one counselor down from 3 a few years ago.

"Do you think every child deserves a certified school counselor?" She asked the crowd who roared back in a rare break from the hip hop.

Before ending their set, a member of public enemy shouted out "tell the f***ing governor to stop closing these schools."

- Julia Terruso

5:21 p.m. - Rattling the windows

Sitting on a bench outside the perimeter fence on Pennsylvania Avenue was one couple who, after hours of hearing the music rattle the windows in their home a block and a half away, decided to come out and enjoy the music up close.

"He was trying to take a nap earlier," laughed Nan Glasgow, 62, from the 2200 block of Green Street.

"Forget it!" interjected Carl Cohen, 60.

The two sexagenarians had been hearing the noise for days, beginning with sound checks on Thursday, they said.

It wasn't quite Cohen's cup of tea.

"Our kind of music? No, no, no," he said. Cohen had enjoyed going to the Art Museum earlier, he said, because he went to renew his membership and found the museum empty.

Glasgow was having a great time.

"I like it! He's old fashioned," she teased.

Her favorite act? Emile Sande, who had just performed her hit single, "Next To Me."

"Oh my God, I love her," Glasgow said, explaining that she listens to WXPN and is a huge fan of Sande, the British phenom who tore up the Liberty Stage. "I think she is just fabulous. That was a real treat for me ... She's one of my favorites,"

Cohen just wished the volume were turned down just a little bit.

"Normally we have fire engines, police cars, helicopters - you put all of that together and add 750 decibels of hip-hop," he laughed.

"If they could just take the volume dial," he joked, "and turn it down a little - from ten to one."

- Jonathan Lai

4:56 p.m. - Crowd streams in

Nearly five hours into Day One of Made in America, and all is going well, said a Philadelphia Police official.

As of 4:45 p.m., there were no incidents or arrests, said Chief Inspector Myron Patterson, standing near the entry of the ticketed event, not far from the Rodin Museum.

Streams of people are heading toward the concert and the lines to get in back up across an intersection.

There have been a couple of calls, Patterson said, for EMTs to treat concert goers who already had drunk too much alcohol. Otherwise, it's quiet - except for the music.

"It's a good crowd. We haven't had any fights or anything. It's  something we can be proud of."

- Carolyn Davis

4:50 p.m. - 43,000

Police estimate the crowd at 43,000 and growing.

4:32 p.m. - Doing it free

Elizabeth Cross, a physical therapist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia who moved to the city a month ago, said the Made In America tickets were too expensive for her this year.

"I'm cash poor," said Cross, 50, who sat in the grounds of the Barnes Museum a few blocks outside the festival grounds. The music from the festival was faint.

Cross said she had to pay for her move from Baltimore and rent in her old and new residence.

"I'm doing everything free," she said.

But she would likely go next year with friends. "I like the concept of Made in America," she said. To her, it represents pride in one's community and the nation's diversity, she said.

- Darran Simon

On a grassy lawn outside the high fences near the entrance, a dozen people are scattered, some sitting, some lying down, listening to muffled rapping and heavy bass.

Juanita Scott, 69 and Judy Harris, 63, brought lawn chairs. The women came from North Philadelphia to see if they could hear some of the acts without paying the high ticket price.

"It's too much," Scott said. "$100? I got bread and eggs to buy."

The sound quality left a lot to be desired, Harris said. "I think we're having more fun watching all the people," she said.

After an hour the ladies were already plotting their route back home, despite an earlier goal to make it to 10:30 for Beyonce.

"No way," Harris said. "Too hot for that."

- Julia Terruso

4:27 p.m. - Skate park

Festival organizers this year set up a Skate Park Stage, with skaters flying through the air, showing off their tricks as smaller musical acts took to the stage.

But it wasn't the only group of skaters having a good time.

Just outside the fence, in the shadow of the Art Museum and the Rocky Stage, was Paine's Park, the city's newly-opened skate park.

Andrew Ryan Walker, a 24-year-old manager of a skate shop, rested on his skateboard as he talked about being left out of the concert. Some of his friends were skating on the pop-up skate park inside, he said, leaving Paine's unused.

Walker wished festival organizers had made use of the new park, which many in the local skating community — and Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron — have praised. Still, he was happy to see skating become a part of the event.

"I'm glad they supported the homies, the local kids out here," Walker said. And the real fun will begin when everyone trickles out after the concert, he said.

"It's cool though, because once the concert winds down they'll be here," he said, referring to his friends who were skating or watching in the crowd. People will set up barbecues, drinks, and skate into the night, he said, multiplying the dozens-strong crowd of skaters.

Plus, the music was clearly audible; the bass, felt clearly as it rumbled the ground at the skate park.

"There's a big screen up there!" Walker pointed out. "I go up there and watch."

- Jonathan Lai

4:22 p.m. - Perfect location?

What hotel has a perfect location for the better-, if not higher-heeled concertgoers? Why the Four Seasons, of course, at 18th and the Parkway. You might not necessarily connect a luxury hotel with a bass-thumping concert, but the hotel is full tonight with all sorts of people, including concert attendees - maybe even some performers, though hotel manager won't say.

Manager Michael Nenner said he's happy the concert is in town since it means more business for all the local hotels. Can he hear the performers, even though the hotel is a  bit far away from the stages?

"Oh, we can hear it," he said, also referring to last year's event. "You can stand out in front and hear the bass."

Some of the guests look as though they could be performers, like a woman who came down from New York who was wearing a sleeveless, animal print top and tight, gold leggings that came down to around her knee. The woman, who declined to give her name, said she and a friend were splitting the cost of the room.

A standard room with a king size bed starts at around $349 for tonight, Nenner said.

Other people using the hotel facilities were, well, just using the hotel facilities.

Like Jessica Martin, of Philadelphia and her friend, Sophie Webb, a textile designer living in New York. Both are 27 and both are natives of England. Webb said she came to the concert from NYC because, "I want to see Beyonce." She also likes Macklemore, of the group Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, who will be playing Sunday evening.

But Webb isn't staying at the Four Seasons, since she's crashing at her friend's house, so why are the two in the hotel restroom. Can you think of a better place to take a rest break?

Then there are the wedding parties being held at the hotel tonight, including the Kay-Benn wedding.

"It's exciting, but it's a bit of a hassle in terms of the traffic'" said Jackie Kay, the bride's sister-in-law. "It definitely adds an element of glamor to the party."

As Kay waits in the lobby for the rest of the party goers, her 5-year-old daughter, Sienna, walks up. She was the flower girl at the wedding, and she's dressed for the evening in a shiny and frilly red party dress.

So, which is more important, Sienna is asked, a fancy-schmancy concert or a wedding party? She hesitates, then says, wedding. Why?

Weddings are more important, she said, because "they fall in love" at them."

She's thankfully too young to know that sometimes romances are made at concerts, too.

- Carolyn Davis

4:16 p.m. - A 16th to remember

Sharon Mowens held on to six silver happy birthday balloons flapping around in the wind and three plastic bags on Pine Street as concert-goers walked speedily past her.

Mowens' daughter Claire turns 16 tomorrow and is celebrating with friends at the festival.

Mowens, of Doylestown, had planned to let the girls train in but got a last minute hotel room at the Embassy Suites.

"It was a miracle. Everything has been booked for months and I call this morning and they have a room. With a balcony."

Mowens said she'll listen from the balcony and decorate to surprise Claire when she gets back.

"I wanted to do something special for her, make it one she'll remember."

- Julia Terruso

3:19 p.m. - Hawks and hawkers

Sorry, St. Joe, but there are other Hawks in the city today. Well, hawkers actually. As a large group of people crossed 16th Street to get on the Parkway, with a drum beat from the concert providing a rhythm, a man repeated as he crossed, "Tickets? Anybody got tickets?"

- Carolyn Davis

3:16 p.m. - Been there, done that

You don't have to be at the Made in America concert to see swarms of visitors. From Iowa. New York. Russia. Brazil. On the western side of the city, Drexel students were moving in to apartments and dorms. But their numbers are dwarfed near the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where about 50,000 members of Narcotics Anonymous have gathered for their worldwide convention.

One thing you should know about NA members. They like to hug. They get energy from hugs. I'm okay with that here, but I'm thinking maybe not so much with the concert-goers.

Joseph, from Oregon, was heading up to his car in a parking garage. Being with Narcotics Anonymous, he only would give his first name. Being from Oregon, he said a friend back home had Facebooked him and asked me to say hi to Chip Kelly, the Eagles coach.

I couldn't resist asking Joseph - he did hug me after all - if recovering addicts were going to steer away from a mega-big rock, hippopotami, other types of music concert. Concerts, where drugs and alcohol often flow.

Joseph smiled.

"We've done all that," he said. "We don't need to do it again."

- Carolyn Davis

3:01 p.m. - Selling the chicken fingers

At the Grille, a food stand, the chicken fingers are hot. Since noon, employees have sold about 100 orders; each comes with 3 chicken fingers and fries.

"That's not really a lot," said Arlene Thompson, the stand manager with Aramark, which operates the stand. The rush will come around dinner time, and again between. 9 and 10 pm for beer before they shut down the beer sales. The staff opened at 10 am and will leave by 1 am, and do it again tomorrow.

Thompson's motivation to her staff: "Think money."

- Darran Simon

2:34 p.m. - Singing along with a Bud

Haim got rolling before their schedule start time of 2:30 at the Liberty stage. One of the singers got the crowd jazzed when she said her mother was from Philly and told her there was no place like it.

"I believe her," the singer said. Some people sang along work cans of Budweisers in their hands.

- Darran Simon

2:23 p.m. - 'A lot of good energy'

Walk the Moon kicked off shortly before 2 pm and some people rushed toward the main Rocky Stage where the band played. In the crowd, Justin and Eli Jones  bounced the drums.

"A lot of good energy," said Justin, 26, a Lansdale resident, who works for a software company in Philadelphia.

Eli, 22, a rap and hip-hop fan who attends the University of Pittsburgh Bradford campus said: "I like them. Different. Unique."

It was their first time at the Made in America. The band wrapped up around 2:15 pm.

- Darran Simon

2:14 p.m.  - In honor of Deadmau5

- Jonathan Lai

1:37 p.m. - Heading for A$AP

Andrew Dutton sat on a blanket "my mom gave us  to ruin today," in front of the Liberty Stage. He was being a good sport and waiting for Haim to take the stage at 2:30 p.m., an all girls rock band, because his 16-year-old sister is a fan.

After Haim, the Doylestown siblings planned to head to A$AP Rocky for the 3:15 p.m. show. Dutton, 20, a sophomore at West Chester University, re-laced his grass-stained Nike's so they would stay on his feet when he starts jumping up at A$AP and other shows.

"Once everyone starts performing, it's going to be sick," he said.

- Darran Simon

12:48 p.m. - Gates open

People made their way toward the main stage of this year's Budweiser Made In America concert after the gates opened. They fanned themselves in the heat.

One woman declined to speak to a reporter because it was too hot. The temperate said 84 degrees. People wore American flag socks, and tank tops. Vendors hawked water and beer, yelling out loud.

Joanna Szczekutowicz, 24, of Toms River, a nursing assistant, said she had a "game plan," pointing to the acts she circled on the program in pink marker.
On the list : Beyonce and 2 Chainz and Imagine Dragons.

Her colleague, Jeremy Kovach of Mount Laurel, said he is not as much of a Beyonce fan as Szczekutowicz. He is more of a Nine inch Nails man. That band plays Sunday night.

- Darran Simon

Let it begin

Beyoncé headlines the first day of the Budweiser Made in America event today on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, where tens of thousands of paying concertgoers are expected to gather at the venue through the day.

Queen B is scheduled to take the Rocky Stage at 10:30 p.m.

The weather forecast calls for warm and humid conditions Saturday, with showers or thunderstorms on Sunday. Made in America is billed as a rain or shine event.

City officials advise that in the event of severe weather, people should listen for announcements and have a plan in mind if they're asked to leave the Parkway and take shelter. They can text "PHILA" to 411911 from their phone, and should already have signed up at www.readynotifypa.org for text and e-mail alerts.

City officials see Made in America as helping Philadelphia position itself as a setting for major American music stars - and improving the bottom line. Officials estimate the economic impact of hosting Made in America to be at least $10 million.

Hotels are booked this weekend, helped by the four-day Narcotics Anonymous World Convention that's being held for the first time in Philadelphia.

The festival is important not only to the city but also to Budweiser, whose presence dominates the grounds.

MORE: PHILLY.COM'S MADE IN AMERICA FESTIVAL 2013 COVERAGE