By DCist contributor Owen Paterline

This past weekend marked the 5th annual Salad Fest Sweetlife festival and probably their biggest gamble yet, jumping from one day to a two-day music festival. But perhaps the festival expanded too early. It was obvious they didn’t have the funding for a huge line-up, resulting in a few big names spread out over the weekend.

Not terribly much else changed from last year. You still have the generic flower children roaming over much of Merriweather’s grounds, and food trucks with amazing and overpriced meals (but what isn’t overpriced at this festival?) Also making a return was the unorganized staff. There were several accounts of staffers allowing various attendees (media, vendors, GA, etc.) into the pavilion for one artist but not the next for no given reason.

Sweetlife did manage to make a couple of improvements, though. The positioning of the Treehouse stage made you feel more like you were in a forest and also allowed larger crowds to see artists like The Weeknd and Tove Lo in a more memorable setting.

By far the most surprising performance was MisterWives. I had seen them at the 9:30 Club and they rocked the stage well, but I was blown away at how their performance has grown. Other notable performances from the first day included Bleachers and Billy Idol. The man might be old, but he’s still impressively in his prime.

The festival was in a relative lull on day two until Charli XCX kicked off the excitement. She nailed a great cover of Icona Pop’s “I Don’t Care” but faltered a little with singing Iggy’s verses in “Fancy.” Phantogram filled the amphitheater with electronic drones and it took all of Vance Joy’s might to bring the crowd back to their feet. An epic performance by Calvin Harris closed out the night. I have never felt Merriweather was too small for an artist before, but Harris proved that he can make any stage tiny and any place a club.

The major problem with the line-up this year was the notoriety of the acts, which were spread out over two days. Most of the better known bands played after 4 p.m. and one could easily just skip over the first half of the festival, which is exactly what happened. The older crowd more interested in Billy Idol and The Pixies was no where to be seen until halfway through the day and almost vanished before the headlining acts.

With the festival at two days, that price starts comparing Sweetlife to its neighboring festival in Delaware, Firefly. When you can spend $75-$100 more for another two days and a stacked line-up, why wouldn’t you spend the extra bit for the better experience?

Here’s hoping that next year is more worth the ticket price while continuing to bring the festival feel to Merriweather.