10 .) Phutureprimative: Oookay…. so setting the mood for Imagine Fest…It’s Hotlanta, I’m very hydrated on crown, Phutureprimative hits the decks with his ritual dancer Caeli la… and the stage is roaring out Bubbles like no tomorrow. The park venue was quite magical, solid tunes, and crafty ideas like Bubbling the main stage. I LIKE IT
9.) Purity Ring: Imagine put on a solid event, inviting some surprising names like Purity Ring & Crystal Castles ( Solo DJ sets ). The stage design was modern looking with refreshing rounded LED boards and light bars. I stayed for a couple minutes of Crystal Castles and comparing it to the duo’s live set together, with the wild hammered dance maneuvers and Jack Daniels… the pop electro solo act playing didn’t quite do it for me… However Purity Ring’s Megan James had a pretty side of things to share, with creative song selection and the right amount of energy. Plus the next morning she had breakfast next to us, nice.
Flying to Atlanta for Imagine Fest last minute was nice. ( 1 day notice ) I could barely afford to swing it, but those tend to be the best trips. We took off, landed and headed to the airport piano bar for refreshments. Downtown Atlanta was pretty much impossible to get a beer during labor day weekend. The locals offered us plenty of christian salt ( whatever that is ) but we kept it moving. The next morning we headed off to the event, picked up the credentials painlessly. ( who doesn’t love traveling 1500 miles to get shut down at the door ) Pit security didn’t like me. However I was working on befriending the guard back stage… he sent me on an epic quest to obtain him some newports… after doing that for him, I figured I was good to go for the weekend.
8.) Caspa: Next up on my list straight from the UK, sometimes it’s really not that surprising that some of these dudes just throw a great party. Loved how he dipped into the oldies, meshed some good Flux in, and finished me off with his I Remember remix. Before I knew it…. the Dub and Bass had engulfed me.
7.) Minnesota: Ok so I didn’t get any decent pictures of Minnesota but he was pretty much badass the entire time. The two friends I went to Imagine with crowned Minnesota the best set of the weekend. 6.) Beats Antique: Obviously one of my favorites… not to mention I rifled off about 1000 images at Zoey in the first 15 minutes… haha (AWESOME THO) Beats… every time I see the crew they are enchanting. Zoey, Dave, and Tommy’s way of hypnotizing the crowd and doing what they do, the percussion and belly dance is just incredible.
5.) Emancipator Ensemble: It was a bummer that after Beats finished and Emancipator Ensemble came on… Fedde Le Grand was BLASTING super loud….. I felt bad.. but they kicked off strong, sounded solid and I was no longer bothered by the Fedde overlap. But between songs it was clear that the stage distance was fucked… Regardless Emancipator was killer, and the announcement of the Spongle / Beats / Emancipator tour is exciting.
4.) Archnemesis: I had never made it to a Archnemesis set before… but I’ve seen the pictures and read great things. My schedule and current set time was telling me Aphrodite was playing, so when someone asked me “who is this?” I gave them ill information. Turns out it was Archnemesis… anyways best mid day show hands down, if you follow my pictures my better crowd shots happen during Archnemesis… Plus he knew how to get those amusing “ATL Hoe” chants going.
3.) Michal Menert & SuperVision B2B: SuperVision started up with Sky Blue from LMAFO on the main stage. I for some reason figured LMAFO was going to be packed….. NOPE, SuperVision was SLAMMED!, and that my friends is an awesome sight to see. Followed up by Michal Menert…. whom I love…. He had two great performances at Blackwater Fest & Imagine. Both with the “Big Band” or at least the drummer. Menert shows so much appreciation to the fans and the message was so positive that you couldn’t have had a better event without them both.
Honorable mention would have to go to Rusko…. I was pretty disappointed at Identity Tampa… but man, he was working it at Imagine, great sound, perfect transition… really just setting a great vibe… plus I couldn’t name one thing he played while I was there…
2.) RJD2: had me floored… dude is grabbing so many vinyls so fast it was insane…. The DJ skill was impressive that’s a fact… top notch delivery and energy, I tried looking up some of the songs from that set and soon realized RJD2 had made magic on stage that night.
Unlike some of the bigger events like Bonnaroo… at Imagine it was quite easy to get close up to the railing and most people are nice enough to let you get infront of them. Loads of effort on making the crowd have more fun, Inflatables thrown into the crowd, C02 ( loud ) Gogo Dancers, Rave Wands and what not… and then this Confetti Blast during Destroid.
1.) Destroid ( In Order of Which They Played ) The boys Excision / Downlink / Pendulum Drummer KJ Sawka as Destroid. Ok so firstly I kinda thought this was going to be semi cheesy. Turns out it was pretty fucking good. The suits are legit, they look hot as hell and by the consent C02 blasts to keep them cool, you get that feeling they are working hard up there to entertain you. Kinda reminded me of KISS with Bass and Cyborgs… Felt like I was in a loud SyFy movie. Over all decent, I also figured it was going to be super heavy because of Excision & Downlink, but they mixed it up quite well and covered all the bases the crowd wanted.
Your not done yet! Check out the full photo album here https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.828732503827843.1073741962.217205924980507&type=3
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