Margie Fishman

The News Journal

Hip-hop artist Busta Rhymes and electro-rock duo Phantogram will perform at the 2017 Firefly Music Festival, festival organizers confirmed Tuesday.

It will be Busta Rhymes' first appearance at the Dover music festival. Phantogram, a New York-bred duo consisting of Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel, last performed in 2014. The performers are the first to be announced as part of the 100-plus-act lineup for Firefly 2017, scheduled for June 15-18 at The Woodlands near Dover International Speedway.

A representative for Rhymes was not immediately available for comment Tuesday. Phantogram's Carter said he was excited to return to the Northeast.

"There are some friends we pretty much only ever get to see at Firefly, so it's a very special festival for us," he wrote in an email.

A full roster of bands, including Firefly Festival headliners, is expected to be released early next year at the same time tickets go on sale. Four-day general admission passes will initially go on sale for $289 each and VIP passes, which promise a more intimate, luxurious experience, will cost $699. General tent camping will start at $169.

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Red Frog Events, which produces the Dover music festival, dropped hints about both Rhymes and Phantogram on the festival's Facebook page and website in the last week. On Nov. 30, Firefly announced on Facebook that it would present a concert by Phantogram on Jan. 16 at Rams Head Live in Baltimore in advance of the festival.

On Monday, the festival posted to its blog a request for more fan involvement in picking bands, food and merchandise for the next festival. The post listed Busta Rhymes among a string of previous performers, who had been booked "solely because you wanted them." Fans had to read between the lines to realize that the hip-hop heavy hitter has never performed at Firefly, Christiane Pheil, Red Frog's director of creative programming, said Tuesday.

A Red Frog spokeswoman said the decision to book Rhymes was driven by fans, who ranked him very highly in previous surveys.

This year, the festival is promoting its "first-ever fan-curated music festival," giving fans their say on everything from which performers to book, to how The Woodlands' forest path should be decorated. From now until spring, the festival will expand fan engagement through surveys, voting and contests on its website, www.fireflyfestival.com.

Since the festival began in 2012, Firefly has relied on fans to give feedback on musicians they wanted to see, Pheil said. During that time, Firefly has booked 7 of its top 10 headliners and 31 of its top 40 mid-to-high-tier artists based on fan surveys., she said.

Blink-182, a pop-punk band that had topped fan surveys for years, was finally booked last year. Third Eye Blind and Florence and the Machine were also selected based on fan enthusiasm.

Now, Firefly is "going all in," Pheil said. "We're embracing the concept. We're making every component of Firefly fan-curated."

Last year, an estimated 90,000 people from across the nation flocked to Dover to listen to acts like Mumford & Sons, Ludacris and Kings of Leon during the four-day festival.

Recently, The News Journal conducted its own Fantasy Firefly poll of festivalgoers and newspaper readers to pick the 2017 festival headliners. English alternative rockers Muse led the pack, followed by the British virtual band Gorillaz and American rock band Pearl Jam.

To create a profile and start voting on Firefly 2017 bands and attractions, visit www.fireflyfestival.com and view the community page to contribute ideas.

As of Tuesday, the site wasn't yet ready to accept comments on food and drink or merchandise, but fans could pick their favorite of four bar experiences: Dueling piano bar; Pongo Room; an "around-the-world cocktail experience;" and "The Fort," a multi-level bar and patio area made of recycled materials.

Fans also are encouraged to list their favorite bands and rate performers in different musical genres. It's unclear whether the band examples on the website are actively being considered to join Firefly's lineup.

Under the pop category, fans are asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 performers like U2, Sia, Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake. Under rock/indie/alt, they can rate The Cure, Empire of the Sun, Gorillaz and more.

Get your ratings in now, Pheil urged. "We're very close" to filling the schedule.



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Contact Margie Fishman at 302-324-2882, on Twitter @MargieTrende or mfishman@delawareonline.com.



