About HFStival
The HFStival is an annual Washington, D.C. / Baltimore rock festival. It was held every summer from 1990 through 2006 by radio station WHFS. It was held again in 2010 and 2011 in commemoration of the now-defunct station's legacy. At its peak, the HFStival was the largest yearly music festival on the East Coast, drawing 55,000 to 90,000 people. It was held at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C. from 1993 to 2004; at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore in 2005; and at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, in 2006.
Though not originally called HFStival, two earlier concerts held on the Fourth of July were the foundation for the first festival and are considered part of HFStival history.
In June 2024, a teaser image shared on social media indicated that the HFStival would return in September 2024 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.
HFStival began in 1990 as the WHFS Fourth of July Festival, an all-day concert followed by a fireworks display, held twice at Lake Fairfax Park in Reston, Virginia in 1990 and 1991.
In 1992, HFStival was held in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, and the following year's event, on July 4, 1993, was moved to Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C., where it remained for the next six years. In 1993, when the first RFK lineup was revealed, some controversy arose among the station's listeners over the inclusion of the Stereo MCs; the previous events had only included mainstays of rock and alternative music and the MCs, a hip hop group, seemed out of place. Once the concert went on, however, the audience's enthusiasm paved the way for WHFS to include more artists from outside the station's normal playlist on the HFStival's stages, which, in future years, included hip hop acts, electronica artists, and such disparate musicians as Tony Bennett and the Blue Man Group.
In 1999, HFStival was headlined by Red Hot Chili Peppers, and was held at the larger M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
Map & Directions To Venue
