Brittany Maher
Editor-in-Chief
From the minute Piedmont Park opened its gates late Friday afternoon, vast crowds of music lovers filled the green meadow fields, ready to kick off Music Midtown 2014.
After last year’s rainy ordeal, the weather this year cooperated accordingly with sunny blue skies. The two day festival brought an even more diverse lineup, crossing multiple musical genres and enticing a wide variety of music fans across Atlanta – all coming together amongst the high-volume crowds to dance and sing along to their favorite artists.
Spread out over three stages, mainstream pop, rock, and hip-hop ignited the massive musical gathering. Beach balls and beer cans were passed around jubilantly throughout the afternoon until sundown when the vibrant city lights illumined the park, acting as a backdrop to a vivid display of glow sticks, stage lights and the multi-colored Ferris wheel that towered over the park.
The sunny Friday afternoon was filled with a variety of performances from the soulful melodies of Ron Pope and the equally electric soul of Mayer Hawthorne to the raspy, upbeat vocals of Bear Hands and Banks.
From one side of the park, Iggy Azalea amped up the bass and exhilarated the crowd with her electro modern hip-hop, displaying well-choreographed dance moves. Run-DMC, on the other hand, brought back nostalgic beats – MCing classic 80’s rap and hip-hop all while encouraging the crowd to jump along with the rhymes and keep their hands in the air. Rev. Run and Darryl “D.M.C.” Matthews McDaniel’s even signed Run’s classic black bowler hat to give to a lucky fan in the audience.
After sundown, Lorde gave a deeply expressive performance – whipping her long, curly hair to the big sounds the amplified throughout the park. Smoke bubbles filled the air and an array of lights lit up the stage as her powerful vocals and electro-pop music that left the crowd dancing into the night.
The night concluded with headliners Jack White and John Mayer. Jack White put on a high-energy show and left the crowd buzzing as they shouted along to his deep folk rock melodies. Across the lawn, John Mayer gave a warm and bluesy upbeat feat filled with both electric guitar solos and acoustic soul that palpated throughout the audience.
Tickets for Saturday’s show sold out less than one hour after gates opened that afternoon. With even more people filling the park, the day kicked off with a long and exciting list of performances including Sleeper Agent, Magic Men, Aer, Vic Mensa, Third Eye Blind and Needtobreathe.
B.O.B, an Atlanta rapper, represented the city in an Atlanta Falcons jersey and brought in some local flair. Lana Del Ray sang out light, haunting melodies while Gregg Allman humbly boasted his robust and profound voice to the classic sounds of Southern funk.
The Strypes, Fitz and the Tantrums, and 21 Pilots offered a pleasant mixture indie pop, experimental alternative and blues-rock to the festival. Bastille, on delivered a strong set infused with copious amounts of electric vitality and did an unlikely cover of “No Scrubs” by TLC.
Day two came to a close with Zac Brown Band, who got their hometown crowd singing along with their cheerful southern rock and Eminem, who drew in a massive crowd or frenzied fans ready to rap along with the hooded, fast-paced lyricist’s widely known verses.
The weekend energized the city and brought out concert goers from all walks of life. From college students to moms in mini-vans, one thing is certain: Music Midtown transcends both a variety of musical genres as well as a variety of music fans.
