Jack White, Black Keys Shine at the Inaugural Firefly Festival

"Delaware, do you give a fuck if it rains?" screamed OK Go frontman Damian Kulash during their set on the first day of the festival. The weather held off, but OK Go made it rain with confetti guns that showered the cheering crowd in a rainbow of colors.

Walk the Moon bassist Kevin Ray painted the face of a fan before their show. Face paint has become a trademark of the band, but lead vocalist Nicholas Petricca said the tradition started unintentionally. "We had a party in Cincinnati and brought some face paint and… it just kind of accidentally kept going," Petricca told Rolling Stone.

The high energy on the stage of Walk the Moon was infectious to a crowd that never stopped dancing for the hour-long set. But it’s an enthusiastic audience that makes a good show, according guitarist Eli Maiman, who told Rolling Stone, “Because these tunes are so familiar to us, often at shows we depend on the crowd to make them new and exciting.”

Everything about John Legend exuded smooth, from his suave dance moves to his black leather jacket. For an hour and a half, he hypnotized the Firefly crowd with his honeyed croon.

Brian Aubert of Silversun Pickups sang to an ecstatic crowd bathed in golden evening light on the first day of Delaware's inaugural Firefly Music Festival.

Getting a front-row view for headliner Jack White was a competitive scene; one fan urinated in a cup to save his spot. The singer-guitarist threw himself into the music, playing each note with intense focus and palpable passion. 

Jack White, who performed barefoot, refused to decide on a setlist before the show, so his band had to be prepared for anything. Some of the most special moments during the set were the intimate interactions between White and the members of his band.

"We'll be your substitute teachers today," Ian Felice of the Felice Brothers told the Firefly crowd. So began their quirky set, which included quite a bit of conversation between band members and the enthusiastic audience.

The crowd adored Michael Franti, who jumped off the stage to sing among them. He showed them some love, too, by playfully changing a lyric and singing, “Makes no sense, like getting high with my Firefly friends” as the crowd exploded in cheers.

The energy from the stage of Michael Franti and Spearhead was contagious. Guitarist J Bowman jumped on the speakers as he roared at the crowd, shredding away on his instrument all the while.

Backstage before their set, a few members of Grouplove fooled around and contorted into yoga positions. Onstage, they still looked like they were having a lot of fun, dancing and tossing their hair. "We make a lot of friends playing," singer Christian Zucconi, whose vibrant hair matches the electric blue of his guitar, told Rolling Stone.

During the last song of Young the Giant's set, members of Grouplove and Walk the Moon stormed the stage. "It's good to be able to have people that feel your pain and your happiness and whatever your relationship with the road, it’s cool to be able to laugh about it and just to be together," frontman Sameer Gadhia told Rolling Stone of his touring pals.

Cake frontman John McCrea pumped up the crowd during their performance on the second day of the festival.

On Saturday afternoon, during an impromptu soccer game in the artist hangout area, the bands proved that their only rivalry is on the field. "It's a beautiful, memorable experience to share with friends who are coming up together and you're meeting on level ground," said Christian Zucconi of Grouplove, who played in the game.

Lupe Fiasco worked the stage, pumping up the crowd as the sun set on the second day of the festival. He tirelessly grooved to his own beat and jumped impressively high. 

One of the earlier performances of the day, J Roddy Walston and the Business woke up the crowd with an energized performance.

Reptar got their audience rocking out on the last day of the festival. Guitarist Jace Anselem Bartet showed some skin in short shorts during the performance.

The crowd for AWOLNATION screamed the lyrics along with the band, impressing frontman Aaron Bruno. "You guys are amazing," Bruno said. "That’s a brand-new song and you already know it."

For Cold War Kids, performing at Firefly was an excuse to take a break from working on their new album. "It's really nice to play at a festival like this, to play a couple new songs and also get away from the studio," lead vocalist Nathan Willett told Rolling Stone.

Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne took a ride in a hot air balloon before his performance on Sunday. Hot air balloons were one of the special unique attractions for festivalgoers at Firefly.

"Right here, right now. This is where the motherfucking dance party will begin," Michael "Fitz" Fitzpatrick of Fitz and the Tantrums yelled to the crowd. It was a magnetic performance, peaking when Fitz crowd-surfed during a cover of the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)."

Though he gave an energized performance, Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard admitted that he was under the weather. "I'm currently on my favorite drug of all time: Dayquil! It’s over the counter and it's glorious," Gibbard announced to the crowd.

"Come on, motherfuckers! This is a party!" screamed Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips. What a party it was: audience members in Wizard of Oz costumes dancing onstage, a massive disco ball above them and confetti spewing onto the crowd. Of course, no Flaming Lips concert is complete without Coyne rolling atop the audience in his huge plastic bubble.

Even before the Black Keys came onstage, the crowd was pulsing with excitement and anticipation. As the very last headliner at Firefly, the Black Keys closed out the festival with a charged performance.

Compared to the Killers’ blinding light show the night before or Jack White’s dramatic blue-and-black color scheme on Friday, the Black Keys gave a visually bare-bones performance. Their raw rock sound was able to shine without distractions.