Fans waited 'years and years' for a hip-hop, R&B festival

Juicy Fest, the newest addition to Canberra's festival scene, brought hip-hop and R&B big wigs to Stage 88.

The festival is known to be the biggest celebration of the genres in the southern hemisphere.

Crowds arrived at Commonwealth Park on the sunny Friday afternoon to relive their younger years.

As singer Mario serenaded Let Me Love You to thousands of people, best friends Vee Wijewickrema, Tasman Huria and Brenton King held each other tightly and sang along.

"We listened to this in the Uber here to hype ourselves up," Mr King said.

Festival headliners included T-Pain, T.I, and Ashanti accompanied by artists Trey Songz, Yg, Mario, Mase, Fabolous and Keri Hilson. The line-up also included old-school hip-hop group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.

Mr King said he had waited "years and years" for these artists to come to Canberra and the city "definitely" needed more events like it.

"This is the type of music we listened to [in our childhood]. It's so nostalgic. " Mr King said. "I'm sad that The Game and Cassie didn't come, but I think there's so much potential for these types of things to be here."

He said Juicy Fest, unlike Spilt Milk and Groovin' The Moo, wasn't a festival where people would begin arriving later in the evening.

"When you have a solid line-up, every act is like a headliner," Mr King said.

A festival spokesperson said they sold about 5500 tickets to the Canberra show.

Many fans appreciated the smaller "intimate" setting but some felt the show could be much bigger.

"There could be more people here," Ms Wijewickrema said.

Last year, the festival sold out every event in every city for the first time, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of hip-hop genre originating in New York City.

Festival promoters were excited for the January 19 event as they had received an outpour of interest from the ACT.

Spotify's end of year Wrapped revealed American RnB singer-songwriter SZA's Kill Bill was second on the list of Canberrans' favourite songs in 2023.

The track followed Miley Cyrus' earworm-worthy summer single Flowers at number one.