Imagine Music Festival Wins Award for Best Value
Counting our latest, Imagine Music Festival, we’ve been to 28 different music festivals around the world. Out of all the ones we’ve been to, Imagine takes the cake for “best value.” A mini EDC Vegas, this festival executed an incredible production, sound quality, and lineup relative to the ticket prices. We’ll dig into each of the highlights.
Imagine Music Festival Highlights
The Lineup
It’s rare that we’re floored by every single artist we see at a music festival. But it felt like the entire Imagine Music Festival lineup was giving it everything they had, set after set.
Claudia: It was hands down the best Zeds Dead, Seven Lions, and Ciszak sets I have ever seen in my life. Okay, it was only my first time seeing Ciszak, but I would have expected nothing short of fire anyway.
Casey: Huge shout out to TechYes and the artists they booked on their stage. Every time we passed by on our way to a different stage, we would get sucked in by the music and end up staying for at least 10 minutes! Here we discovered artists Hunter Reid and Galo!
Paraleven
Our first must-see artist of the festival was Paraleven, who absolutely crushed it at the Six Feathers Stage on Friday night. Everyone in the crowd was either dancing lost in the music or tearing up. We were doing both. Keep your eyes on this one, especially if you’re a Lane 8 fan. Check out one of our favorite Paraleven songs, “Siphon,” below.
Phantoms
Phantoms was probably our top set of Imagine and one of our biggest schedule conflicts with Wax Motif. It was hard to leave Wax Motif but we were so glad we did.
Claudia: I had no idea these guys were musically talented. I thought they were just funny DJs. Then we approached the stage and I saw Phantoms playing the drums and keyboard and singing. I was shook, then I cried. Their performance was so ridiculously tasty, I only wish we had gotten to their stage sooner!
Galo
Finally, we need to give a shout out to up-and-comer Galo, who we happened upon at the TechYes Stage on Sunday afternoon. We didn’t know who he was, but we were immediately drawn into his set by the house heaters he was dropping. Expect a ton of new music coming from him soon!
An honorable mention goes to Darude for dropping “Sandstorm” the moment we were walking by his stage. Going crazy to this iconic, dance floor anthem by the OG producer was unforgettable – we were half laughing and half crying the whole time!
Circulation & Amenities
Firstly, there was never a line to get into the fest. Sunday seemed to be the busiest day, but even then, we waited less than five minutes to get inside. This is such an amazing factor that you don’t really think about, but that makes the festival experience so much better (especially when you have to use the whizz palace.)
Speaking of whizz palace, having real bathrooms inside the speedway with real toilets, running water, and soap was a true blessing. This is so underrated, in our opinion, but again, we think it makes life at the festival so much better!
Something we’re not always impressed with at festivals is the food scene, but Imagine’s food trucks had some of the best pulled-pork and gyros we’ve ever had. It was awesome to eat good, real food to keep our energy up as the night went on.
Festivals can sometimes feel overwhelmingly packed to the brim with people. This was not the case at Imagine. It was easy to bop around in the crowd at each stage without feeling claustrophobic. We love being able to move to the front or exit easily – there was room for everyone to be comfortable and have space to dance, and more importantly, to shuffle.
Stages & Layout
The whole fest was set up in a line, with one main stage on one end and the other on the opposite end. While it wasn’t a huge distance to walk from end to end, the layout didn’t fully resolve sound bleed between stages. On the outside of the crowd at the TechYes, Disco Inferno, and Six Feathers stages, you could hear the other stages next to them. But this became a non-issue as you moved in closer to each stage.
All of the stages were designed so beautifully. The Disco Inferno stage boasted a rotating disco ball flamethrower clam that was recycled from Burning Man.
The Oceania Stage was massive and contained all the lasers in the entire world. We have never seen so many lasers in our lives, and they were constantly going off during every set. Even if you weren’t a fan of the main stage music, it was worth experiencing the exuberant amount of glorious laser beams.
The Amazonia and TechYes stages had great LED screens with plenty of pixels, especially for Tipper’s visuals.
Hot Tips
- This year, there was a complimentary bar at the festival. We unfortunately did not see it on the map until Sunday. Although we couldn’t find the actual bar ourselves, we did hear from friends that it was a real thing. How wild is that?? Keep your eyes peeled next year!
- Check out the Silent Disco and afterparties in GA camping!
- Bring a bandana or face mask to protect against the dust!
- If you stay at a hotel in McDonough, a restaurant nearby called Miyako Japanese Sushi & Steakhouse does dollar sushi on Sundays and Thursdays. That’s right, DOLLAR SUSHI. It’s not all-you-can-eat, which means you don’t have to eat the rice, so you’re basically paying for dollar sashimi. F*ck us up.
- Right next door to this place is Great American Cookies and Marble Slab Creamery. You can choose a brownie or cookie to mix into your ice cream and the cost of the pastry is included in your ice cream cost. We recommend mixing the cheesecake brownie into the cheesecake ice cream.
- Cafe Intermezzo can be found in Atlanta and in the airport, and their coffee and cheesecake (and all other menu items) are incredible. Half our diet over the weekend was Cafe Intermezzo (the other half was Panda Express).
- Go to Cafe Intermezzo instead of the aquarium if you have extra time in Atlanta.
Until Imagine 2020
Overall, we think Imagine Music Festival was such a success because it was produced independently and took an approach of wholehearted hospitality. Even though we feel at home at every music festival, it was obvious the staff and amenities took extra care to provide an amazing experience to all attendees. It’s easy to see why everyone gets hooked right from their first Imagine – so are we!
