photos by aLIVE Coverage
Returning for its sophomore year at the Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta, Shaky Beats did not disappoint with the musical talent. With three great headliners came a spectacular undercard of numerous artists that I was thrilled to see. With a diverse selection of artists that ranged from future funk to the dirty, grimy trap and dubstep that all of the underground fanatics of ATL came for.
Music Genre – Future Funk, Trap, Dubstep, House
Camping – No
Capacity – Small (10-15k attendees)
Crowd Type – Frat/Sorority couples, Kandi Kids, GRiZ Fam
Water Stations – Yes
For The First Timers – Advice for booking a hotel is to find a room close to the venue (within walking distance). There are numerous hotels around the Centennial Olympic Park that are also surrounded by plenty of restaurants as well. The festival opened its doors around 1pm to 3pm each day and wouldn’t end too late. The venue is not very big and is pretty easy to meet up with a group of friends in a specific area. With the numerous artists, there is always bound to be conflicts. The stages are fairly close to each other and don’t take too much time to walk between sets. My only complaint from the weekend is that some of the stages weren’t as loud and that they needed to turn the volume up a bit more. Overall, the production of each stage was phenomenal.
Standout Food – There was a wide variety of food trucks that were all located conveniently by each other by the merchandise tent and main entrance. With choices that range from pretzels and smoothies to cheesesteaks, burgers, and rice bowls. The pick of the weekend was the steak rice bowl from the Bento Bus.
Musical Highlights – Not only did the headliners drew interest from my friends and I, but the supporting artists below really made this years festival a no brainer for me to attend. While I loved every set I saw over the weekend, there were a few sets that really captivated my attention:
- Alison Wonderland – Alison Wonderland is one of my favorite producers/DJ’s in the electronic music industry. Not only are her sets absolute bangers, but her music she produces tells a story/metaphor. I am hoping in the future that she will bring out her cello and play Space for the crowd!
- GRiZ – GRiZ is my favorite artist, hands down. The fact that I have seen him become even more popular amongst the crowd since I first saw him in 2014 still blows my mind. He closed out the Peachtree stage on Friday night with an hour and a half set and played an absolutely stellar set. He opened with Welcome to Atlanta featuring Ludacris. Throughout his set, he threw in a few live and VIP edits that I haven’t heard live, a set of brand new visuals that were ridiculously clever and closed with Gotta Push On featuring Brasstracks and Eric Krasno. GRiZ never disappoints me and the rest of the GRiZ fam that is present.
- Ephwurd – For those who don’t know, Ephwurd is actually a duo that consists of Bais Haus and Datsik. The set consisted of plenty bass house tracks that had to crowd dancing the entire set. This was also the first time I have seen Ephwurd and would totally recommend anyone to see this set if you are a fan of some loud bass and grimy drops.
Chris Lazzaro – FreedomFilmLLC.com
- The Chainsmokers – I am going to take some serious criticism from some here, but the Chainsmokers closed out Sunday night at the Peachtree stage and their set was nothing like I expected. Aside from a few of their mainstream, catchy tracks, they threw in a plentiful amount of festival bangers that my entire group of friends had no idea was possible. Our group had no intentions of trying to move deep into the crowd for their set, but immediately regretted it after a few sick tracks were played. Needless to say, that was a great way to end Shaky Beats this year!
Things To Do – While the festival grounds are very limited in space, there was not much to do aside from dancing at the three stages throughout the day. If you wanted a great view of the whole festival grounds, you could have left the grounds and catch a ride the SkyView Atlanta, which was located very close to the main entrance of the festival.
VIP or Nah – VIP attendees were entitled to elevated viewing areas at the Peachtree and Piedmont stages. There also was private, air conditioned bathrooms and a cash liquor bar in VIP at the Peachtree stage. To top it off, there was also appetizers served each day from 6:30pm to 8:00pm as well as complimentary beer and water. For all of those who enjoy numerous beers during the festivals as well as free food may want to consider upgrading for VIP and enjoy the view during the headliners closing out the Peachtree stage!
Story Corner – To kickoff Sunday, the second set at the Ponce de Leon stage had Mantis scheduled from 3:00pm to 3:45pm. Once the set ended, Paul Ollinger of Mantis decided to make the moment a memorable one and proposed to his girlfriend on stage! You can view the video below. Of course she said yes! – Story witnessed by Danny Smith