Full Send to Shaky Beats Music Festival 2019
Shaky Beats Music Festival in Atlanta, Georgia went off with an over-the-top weekend of wicked bass music on May 10th & 11th. Shaky Beats was founded to be the sister festival of Shaky Knees Music Festival and Shaky Boots Music Festival, in hopes to fill the voids left behind by Georgia-based EDM festivals like Counterpoint and TomorrowWorld. The festival has expanded vastly since its inaugural year in 2016 to encompass four stages spread throughout Central Park, an eclectic food court with a wide variety of food, and a street art pavilion. As the landscape has expanded and morphed over the past three years, the buzz around the festival has grown catapulting it to be one of Atlanta’s best annual electronic dance music festivals.
Since Shaky Beats grew out necessity as the Atlanta music scene was lacking a electronic music festival within the city limits, it should come of no surprise that the buzz around this festival has spread like wildfire. Beside the fact that the festival came from necessity, the curators behind the festival have many years of experience under their belt from orchestrating Shaky Knees Music Festival so it definitely is not their first rodeo. The organization of the festival landscape has been re-organized since last year’s event and the improvements are superb. Upon entering the festival from the main gate, attendees are greeted with the festival service tents that are right next to the wristband activation stands. The Main Stage, also know as the Peachtree Stage, is situated just inside the main gates on the left and has its own dedicated bar area running along the left-hand side of the field. As an added bonus, curators have their sponsor Heineken come in to build a Heineken bar with a viewing deck just behind the sound-boards for the Peachtree Stage. As attendees make their journey through the festival, the food court sprawls out to fill in the space in between the Peachtree and Piedmont Stages.
The food court at Shaky Beats went through a complete make-over for the 2019 festival in terms of diversity and layouts, which improved the overall vibe of the area. Curators expanded the footprint of food vendors all together by doubling up on the amount of food available for attendees and they made sure to put an emphasis on the variety of options onsite. While the additions to the food vendors in the main area were a vast improvement from previous years , I do wish there had been a few options for munchies near the Ponce de Leon and Criminal Records Stages. Also, there should be an additional water station added in this area for attendees to fill their hydration packs and water bottles, instead of hiking all the way back to main stage for a quick drink. Though there weren’t any notable options for food vendors near the Ponce de Leon and Criminal Records Stages, it should not go over looked that curators added a bodega for attendees in 2019. The bodega came in clutch for anyone who may just want a quick snack or forgot their sunglasses at home. For more information on the food line up for the 2019 festival, hop over to our ‘Bars & Bites’ page and stay tuned for the full festival vendor review.
PAZ opening up Shaky Beats 2019. Photo courtesy of Alive Coverage.
Throughout the weekend, attendees bounced from stage - to - stage as they were immersed in a weekend filled with neck-breaking beats, delicious craft eats, and good vibes. To kick off the weekend with some high-energy good vibes, PAZ took to the Peachtree Stage at 1:30pm. PAZ is an EDM producer and DJ from Los Angeles, California with a very unique 8-bit meets trap sound. Though his sound has a trap vibe and his performance is high-energy from start to finish, his set is highlighted by the nostalgic moment of a Sponge Bob Theme Song sing-along. As the day kicked off, attendees mingled between the stages for wonky head-banger vibes from Dirty Monkey to heavier, more deep dubstep vibes from Whipped Cream. Whipped Cream’s set absolutely went off in every way possible. Her set is highlighted by the Rage Against the Machine “Killing in the Name of” remix that she dropped. From Whipped Cream, the party boogied back towards the main stage for the funkiest set of the weekend - Big Gigantic. The boys in Big Gigantic took to the stage and Atlanta was ready to get on up and let the good times roll. From dropping several of their original mixes to touching on some Big Grizmatik and a few collaborations with Griz, Big Gigantic’s set was an absolute party from start to finish. From Big Gigantic, the attendees danced over to Boogie T for some wonky dub and then back to the main stage to close out the night with Rufus du Sol. The first day of Shaky Beats 2019 came to a close with the other-worldly funky vibes from the sweet tunes of Rufus du Sol.
As the first day of Shaky Beats came to a close, the late night sets from the headlining artists helped the attendees keep the party moving through until sun rise. As the sun came up, the vibes for the second and final day of Shaky Beats were flying high. Saturday at Shaky Beats kicked off with funky tunes from the Funk Hunters on the Peachtree Stage and ended with high energy rave vibes from Martin Garrix. Saturday had a very notable female presence that curators for Shaky Beats deserve a huge high five for. Saturday boasted a lineup that included some of the heaviest hitting names in the EDM scene - and they were all female. These women are leading the race when it comes to keeping gender equality alive in the electronic music scene. CRAY took the Piedmont stage at 3:00pm by opening up her set with a remix of “I’ve Got Five On It” from the horror movie Us. She then catapulted her set into some wonky, deep dub vibes. Then, Ducky took the Ponce de Leon stage at 4:15. When Ducky walks out on stage, attendees get a super kawaii look that is mixed with an in-your-face neck-breaking dubstep set. Her look mixed with her sound it the perfect oxymoron. As the day progressed, attendees were amping up for one of the most anticipated set of the night - Clozee. Clozee is taking the electronic music scene by storm. She is straight out of France and her unique trance style has been landing her spots on some of the biggest music festival line ups across the country. These three women - CRAY, Ducky, and Clozee - are proving in a male-dominated music genre that women can mix, produce, and create neck-breaking beats just as well as men (honestly, sometimes better).
The second day of Shaky Beats was a tad bittersweet as the previous year had been a full three day event. As the afternoon of the second day set it, the feeling of it’s almost over but I’m just getting started began to set in. A sense of “I have to party HARD!” began to set in throughout all the attendees. As the sun began to set, Galantis took the Peachtree stage at 7:00pm. Galantis and Martix Garrix were hands down two of the most anticipated sets of the whole festival. Galantis brought their energetic set to the stage and the crowd was just waiting on their moment to get down and get funky to “Peanut Butter Jelly”. The crowd went absolutely wild for them when they finally dropped the song after teasing it several times throughout their set. As Galantis concluded their set, some attendees decided to take the moment to rest their feet at the main stage while others shuffled over to the Piedmont stage to get down with Fisher. As Fisher’s set came to a close, the mass exodus from all stages began to make its way towards the Peachtree stage to close out the night with Martin Garrix. Martin Garrix was hands down the picture perfect way to close out a weekend filled with energetic vibes. His set transformed Central Park into an old-school rave for an hour and half. Once his set concluded, attendees began to gather their things and boogie their way on to the Masquerade for the late-night sets to wish Shaky Beats a farewell - until next year.
Even though Shaky Beats may be over - the vibes are still shakin’ on all their social media accounts. Follow Shaky Beats to relive the wildest moments of your weekend as they recap the festival. You can also head over to our Facebook page to take a deep dive into our photo coverage from the weekend. If you had any questions, comments , or suggestions for the curators at Shaky Beats Music Festival - keep an eye on our email as they are sending out surveys to all attendees and your opinion could amount to changes in 2020. Until next year, make sure you’re following Concert Hopper to stay up to date on the latest festival season news. As always, stay hydrated, if you see something then say something to festival staff, and we hope to see you at a festival soon!
