As the last few seconds ticked away on the Firefly Festival website's 2013 lineup countdown clock potential festival goers waited with bated breath.
It is no longer a secret however and at 8:00 am on February 19th, the world could breathe easy; the public were finally let in on who would be coming to play to throngs of summertime music fans gathered at RV Lot 10 and the Woodlands of Dover International Speedway.
[audio:http://www.wdde.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/tatoian-long.mp3|titles=Dover Motorsports’ COO Mike Tatoian discusses the 2013 edition of the Firefly Music Festival.]
In addition to early-leaked acts Vampire Weekend and Grammy-nominated The Lumineers, the city of Dover will play host to big-time names like The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Dispatch.
Festival promoters released a series of clues and puzzles on their facebook page and hidden on Red Frog's website, teasing fans and encouraging them to try to figure out the mystery on their own. And many internet forums were alive with speculation about the 71-band lineup.
Promoters are also planning to announce additional attractions to the festival experience. Last year's Dogfish Head Brewery, Arcade and Hammock Hangout were popular enough to bring back, and future announcements about new attractions will be revealed in the coming weeks and months on Firefly's website and Facebook and Twitter pages.
Lat year, Firefly drew estimated attendance of 30,000 fans to see 48 acts over 3 days and The Delaware Tourism Office estimated that the festival brought in $12.6 million to the state in 2012. Dover Motorsports’ COO Mike Tatoian expects to triple that in 2013.
“We’ll build on last year’s foundation and this year, collectively, we think it will be an even better festival," said Tatoian. "Our expectations will be bigger and better than it was even last year.”
"In those three days, we will likely entertain over 100,000 people," said Tatoian.
The festival runs from June 21-23, and a limited number of Early Bird 3-day passes go on sale February 21st. Click here to see the full lineup, or head over to Firefly's website for more information.
An alphabetical list of the 2013 Firefly Festival as it was announced on February 19.
· A Silent Film
· Action Bronson
· Alabama Shakes
· Amanda Palmer
· Atlas Genius
· Azealia Banks
· Big Gigantic
· Blondfire
· Calvin Harris
· Capital Cities
· CHVRCHES
· Conner Youngblood
· Crystal Fighters
· Dan Deacon
· Delta Rae
· Dispatch
· Django Django
· Dr. Dog
· Dragonette
· Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
· Ellie Goulding
· Foster the People
· Foxygen
· Grizzly Bear
· HAIM
· Hey Marseilles
· Imaginary Cities
· Imagine Dragons
· Japandroids
· JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound
· Kendrick Lamar
· Kishi Bashi
· Kopecky Family Band
· Krewella
· Leagues
· Lord Huron
· LP
· Manufactured Superstars
· Matt and Kim
· MGMT
· Passion Pit
· Public Enemy
· Red Hot Chili Peppers
· Robert DeLong
· Selah Sue
· Sister Sparrow
· St. Lucia
· The Apache Relay
· The Avett Brothers
· The Chevin
· The Joy Formidable
· The Last Bison
· The Last Royals
· The Lumineers
· The Neighbourhood
· The Royal Concept
· The Spinto Band
· The Walkmen
· Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
· Toro y Moi
· Trails and Ways
· Twenty One Pilots
· Vampire Weekend
· Wheeler Brothers
· White Panda
· Wild Belle
· Yeah Yeah Yeahs
· Young Empires
· Youngblood Hawke
· Zedd
· ZZ Ward