Students say ‘hey, what’s up, hello’ to Fetty Wap at Lawnparties

While the cold and dreary start to what the USG Social Committee branded as “Princhella” was entirely unlike its Californian inspiration, excitement quickly built ahead of Fetty Wap’s headlining performance. As the sun slowly peeked out from the clouds, flocks of students migrated from Prospect Avenue to Frist North Lawn.

“He played his really good songs, he was really engaging in the crowd,” Connor Roeser ’28 told The Daily Princetonian. “Overall Lawnparty experience, I would say a good nine out of 10.”

Princeton’s Spring 2026 Lawnparties featured five guest musical performances across the street’s eating clubs, ranging from chart-topping pop artist Jay Sean at Colonial Club, to alternative rock band Vundabar at Terrace Club, pop rock singer Leah Kate at Tower Club, Anastazja at Ivy Club, and EDM duo LUCØ at Tiger Inn.

Although eating club performances often draw far less attention than the event’s headliner, Jay Sean’s performance was well-attended, with hundreds of people swarming the front lawn of Colonial singing along to his 2009 Billboard number-one hit, “Down.”

The event featured 10 food vendors alongside Prospect Avenue, which included Alfalfa for the second time, alongside familiar local and chain favorites such as Tico’s Eatery & Juice Bar, Nomad Pizza, Jammin’ Crepes, Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard, and Maddalena’s Cheesecake.

Lines for the food trucks remained long throughout the day, and the catered Taco Bell and Alfalfa at Campus Club ran out around 1 p.m. Pizza was provided at the concert venue. 

Unlike many previous Lawnparties, the usual barbecue selection from The Wandering Que was noticeably absent, replaced in front of Bendheim House by boxes of kosher sushi. 

“I think warm sushi is a strange move,” Katherine Ren ’26 told the ‘Prince.’ “I think that we can bring barbecue [back]. I would rather have slightly cold barbecue than warm sushi.”

Every year, student performers open for the headliner. After a brief performance from the student-run Princeton DJ Collective at 2 p.m., student band Motel Glow took the main stage at 2:30 p.m., delivering covers of songs by The Weeknd, Lana Del Rey, and Taylor Swift, among others. 

In contrast to previous Lawnparties headliners NLE Choppa and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, whose performances were each delayed by over 45 minutes, Fetty Wap’s performance started on time, with festivities concluding at 4:15 p.m. 

“I didn’t go deep into the mosh pit, but I was on the outside, and I thought it was really nice, a very chill vibe, very different from previous years where people would push up a lot and it’d be everyone just kind of in chaos,” Anthony Pleitez-Rivas ’28 said in an interview with the ‘Prince.’

Fetty Wap’s performance lasted just under an hour, delivering classic hits such as “Again” and “679” with special guest rapper Monty before concluding his set with top hit “Trap Queen,” which currently sits with 1.6 billion streams on Spotify. 

“A lot of students hate rappers and complain every single year about [Lawnparties headliners] being rap, but this is the hottest genre out. You can’t get mad because it’s Fetty Wap,” Jediah Worrell ’28 told the ‘Prince.’ “No shade to A Boogie, but [Fetty Wap] is blowing him out of the water … I just love a good New Jersey rapper.”

Devon Rudolph is the head Podcast editor and a senior News writer. She is from Fairfax, Va. She can be reached at devonr[at]dailyprincetonian.com. 

Gavin McLoughlin, a member of the class of 2028, is a head editor for The Prospect. He can be reached at gm9041[at]princeton.edu.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.