03/06/2025
Bit of a late post because I just recently recovered from being sick but I thought I'd share my review on AndFriends Festival based on my personal experiences during the event.
I'll be reviewing only the things I experienced, so I'll be reviewing the venue, the meet and greets, and the rave.
There'll be a TL;DR at the bottom for those who don't like reading walls of text.
THE VENUE
First, I think the venue was great. When I first saw the venue map of the AndFriends Festival's expo area, I was skeptical. The event space looked very cramped and tight. My initial skepticism faded after seeing the actual venue firsthand.
The expo venue, located at Okada Manila's Crystal Pavillion, was actually quite spacious. I had no problems maneuvering through the expo, even during the peak hours of the event on both days. This is especially important for me during the second day, which was expected to have more attendees because it was a Saturday.
Next, I think that the various major stages of the expo were spaced out pretty well. As a result, the crowds were distributed nicely throughout the expo venue. Additionally, the good spacing meant that the audio of the major booths didn't overpower each other. I could listen to the program in the creator stage without worrying about the audio from the Friendship stage interrupting my immersion.
Lastly, I found it convenient that finding food wasn't troublesome in the venue. If attendees weren't interested in purchasing food from any of the food stalls within the expo, there were plenty of restaurant choices for them to choose from just right outside the expo.
THE MEET AND GREETS
Secondly, I think the organizers of AndFriends Festival handled the meet and greets well. From my experiences with the free meet and greets, I think the event staff and Okada's security did a good job at managing the crowds that lined up. They managed to do it in a way that those lining up for the free meet and greets wouldn't obstruct the pathway too much and inconvenience the other attendees.
Along with the other attendees I lined up with, we tried to self-organize ourselves as best as we could and not be disorderly so that the meet and greet process would go as smoothly as possible. But I have to give credits to the event staff and security of handling things well and giving good instructions to make organizing the meet and greet line easy.
As for the actual meet and greet, our time to interact with the talents was very limited. With the time allotted, I could at most have a short conversation with the talents, take a photo with them, then I had to go and make way for the next person in line. I'm okay with this!! Considering how many people wanted to meet the talents, I think the limited interaction time is a fair and reasonable compromise to try and accommodate as many people as possible.
After all, as much as we'd all want to meet our favorite creators, if everyone attending tried to interact for more than a minute, it would take at least half the entire day for the m&g to finish. That would be unfairly exhausting for the talents and others who'd want to meet them, so I found it best to line up at least 30 minutes to an hour in advance so I could secure my slot in the free meet and greet.
Similarly, the paid meet and greets were handled quite well. The staff handling the paid meet and greets were very approachable, friendly, helpful, and made the meet and greet instructions clear. My only nitpick with the paid meet and greets was how it was somewhat a hassle to reach the Glass Ballroom where it was held. I think that if there was a map or some other kind of visual guide for directions, it wouldn't have been as much of a hassle to get to the paid meet and greet area.
THE RAVE
Lastly, I'll review the true highlight of AndFriends Festival -- the rave held at Cove Manila.
Honestly, AndFriends Festival's rave is probably the best rave I've attended out of all the raves I've attended over the years. They had an all-star line up of both local and international artists. The first night was headlined by Zedd. It was my third time listening to Zedd live and he honestly never disappoints -- his set was amazing! However, I believe the second night which featured artists like Seven Lions, BBno$, and Illenium was on another level. It was just over three hours of euphoric bliss to the ears. I think you had to actually be there to get what I mean about how awesome that day 2 rave was, tbh.
OVERALL
Overall, I think the team behind AndFriends Festival did a great job organizing and handling the event. This wasn't the first rave they've organized, as previously they've hosted two successful raves with the Project Horizon brand.
While Okada Manila is on the pricier side for attendees compared to more commonly used venues like the SM Mall of Asia's SMX convention center, I appreciated how well ventilated it was and how much more spacious it is in comparison to MoA's SMX.
Furthermore, both the free and the paid meet & greets I experienced were done right, the staff and security did a great job managing the crowd -- the meet and greets were for the most part, not a hassle to attend.
Lastly, the rave on both nights were an amazing experience. Probably the best event I've attended so far this year, tbh. I'm honestly looking forward to seeing what they'll cook for next year.
TL;DR
The event was a banger 😎
