Beats brought the Atlanta heat, as we shook our way through two sweaty summer days at Central Park. Another year has passed and we’re already looking forward to the next installment in 2020. Another stellar line-up kept the crowd movin’ and groovin’ from open to close in at this year’s Shaky Beats. Set inside one of Atlanta’s beautiful neighborhoods, Central Park provides enough room for four stages and room to explore the festival grounds. Inside the park you can explore the wide variety of scenery, music, food, art, and pop up shops. We had plenty of moments that stood out to us this weekend and we’d love to highlight our favorites from the weekend.
Friday reached a level of rowdiness that you would expect from day one at a festival. Whether those in attendance traveled from far or managed to head over after work, they surely showed no signs of an energy deficiency. The Skaky Beats’ artists were all unique in their own way as the line-up brought diversity to all of the stages. One of our favorite observations was the lack of repetition from artist to artist on a stage. We witnessed dubstep, house and live musicians play on the same stages one after another.
Boogie T stole the show early on Friday as he had Atlanta by the horns with relentless wubz and wonky beats. The Drama Club Records boss kicked off his summer tour in Atlanta with Shaky beats and it was massive. The Ponce de Leon stage was a covered area that got extra hot ‘n sweaty during Boogie T’s set. The tent hit capacity when he took the stage and you could feel the entire crowd getting one by one slapped in the face with heavy beats. His entire set was extremely unique and it never slowed down and the crowd loved it.
The U.K. duo, Solardo, brought the Criminal Records stage to life as they enjoyed playing on one of the most scenic stages at the festival. The Criminal Records Stage was tucked away on the west side of the festival and is home to beautiful trees and a wonderful natural sloped dance floor. Solardo bumped some funky house and tech-house as the sun was setting behind the Atlanta crowd which added some adrenaline to those attendee. The lights became more ubiquitous and the groove was on point while Solardo were serving as the conductor of the crowd.
We concluded day one of the festival with one of the most fitting acts we could have asked for the job at hand. An adrenaline filled day was eased back into life with the one and only, Rüfüs Du Sol. The trio took us on a journey, as the night came to an end, with an epic live set with the most soothing vibes under the Atlanta skyline. The look of pure restoration was present on many faces as Rüfüs serenaded us with crisp drums, vocals and a killer production game.
Another UK based artist blessed us with some fat house tunes on Day 2 and that was a true veteran of dance music, Chris Lake. A decade later and Chris Lake is still as relevant as ever, he’s been continuously pushing out quality releases since most of us were teenagers. Lake started his journey dropping beats on his very own Rising Music, which caught the attention of Ultra as well as Mau5trap. Deadmau5 and Lake would go on to become music mates and collaborate on several tracks as well as remixing each other’s work. Chris Lake has since added a bit more funk and bass to his music which has brought in quite the rowdy crowd. Bass heavy house lovers lose their mind when Lake gets behind the decks and he showed us exactly why on Saturday.
Big Wild took the stage on Saturday just as the crowd was reaching its full potential, the late crowd had finally washed in and the park was packed with festival goers. During the peak of the sun right before it began to set, Big Wild appeared out of the blue with a wonderful live set for the crowd. With the help from two guest vocalists, BW serenaded us as he worked his midi drums and keyboard effortlessly. The Atlanta skyine and bright big smiles must’ve been amazing to see from his point of view as the picture above illustrates.
One of the most thrilling sets of the weekend was from an artist that continues to mold her own path. CloZee has been absolutely ripping through the minds of her fans for a few years now and is tearing up the scene one set after the other. The French producer has a massive tribal influence in her productions and she will take you on a trip like no other. From mind melting visuals to bone chilling beats she will toss and turn you through the African desert then shoot you into space with one transition. If you haven’t seen her yet I would highly recommend doing so as it will be something you will not forget. She closed out the Criminal Records stage with a mind warping set that filled the forest like stage with a euphoric vibe.
Shaky Beats showed the beauty of the Atlanta Music scene as it brought in a jaw dropping line up yet again with a lovely crowd as well. A wide variety of artists, food and art left us wishing for a day three of the festival. Our Mic Drop team absolutely loved Shaky Beats and we totally recommend you start planning for 2020 because we’re sure the Shaky team is going to cook up something magical. Thank you Shaky Beats for the opportunity and we hope to see you next year.
