Beginning September 19, the party set under the ocean began at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Imagine Music Festival brought acts from all across the electronic-dance music spectrum to the newly extended four-day event, starting with a pre-party at the Disco Inferno stage featuring Throwdown, Blunts and Blondes, Sullivan King b2b Kompany b2b Kai Wachi and headliner Space Jesus.
With the new and improved stage design, one of the biggest highlights was the bass-heavy Disco Inferno stage. Featuring acts like Subtronics, Squnto, Boogie T and HE$H, artists quite literally brought the heat to fans. With a more advanced pyrotechnics setup and an immersive stage design, Disco Inferno kept the party going when the headliner was over.
Throughout the weekend, it was a new discovery every day, ranging from the newly designed Oceania stage, multiple touring vendors on vendor row and the newly installed Axis Replay Gaming lounge.
As fans just came off of the redesign of Oceania stage from 2018’s event, the production team did not want to stay minimalistic for 2019’s installment. Taking inspiration from the great city of Atlantis, this year we were greeted by a monstrous rendition of Ancient Greek architecture with the signature touch of aquatic themed visuals and lighting.
With big stage designs comes even bigger artists. Headliners Rezz, Seven Lions, Marshmello, Above and Beyond, Zeds Dead and special guest Shaquille O’Neal (DJ Diesel) took control of the mixers. Rezz’s signature mid-tempo sound was beautifully complimented by the new design and pK speaker system situated around the venue.
Although Diplo had to cancel last minute due to unforeseen circumstances, DJ Diesel replaced his slot for one of the most iconic sets bass music has seen in its many years of existence. Blending scenes from the basketball court and a magnificent laser show, Shaq Diesel dropped a set of multiple unreleased ID’s, original tracks with Nghtmre and Lil Jon, as well as some house to keep the crowd on their feet for a perfectly blended multi-genre track list.
Situated between Disco, Inferno and Oceania, Main Street vendors sold items ranging from black light fans, pashminas, festival fashion, spray art and more. Festy Besty had a fantastic array of festival fashion backed by a beautiful pastel and off-white store production that drew me in from the start. The co-owners were an amazing group of people and did everything in their power to make sure their products would satisfy their customers.
As the trend of eSports continuously grows into the mainstream public, LAN gaming center, Axis Replay, brought leisure, air conditioning and most importantly, gaming to the fans outside of Oceania. Games like Fortnite, Rocket League, Call of Duty Zombies and NBA 2k20 were just a few of the many games that were available to play.
During the duration of the festival, fans could also watch artists like Rezz and DJ Diesel, aside professional eSports athletes from SoaR Gaming and FaZe Clan, team up in Fortnite live on Twitch.tv.
Overall, this edition of the festival was extremely exceptional and is making its way to becoming one of the biggest festivals in the South East. Artists on the lineup keep getting bigger and fan interaction is growing significantly.
With the 2020 announcement just around the corner, we can only think about the ever-expanding possibilities to come next year.
