By: Becca Morrow
For three epic days, Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia was transformed into a magical fairy tale themed realm called TomorrowWorld. This Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festival draws a crowd of over 140,000 people a day from all corners of the Earth. The lineup was a smashfest of all types of EDM, including headliners such as Tiesto, Skrillex, Bassnectar, Diplo, Kaskade and David Guetta.
The lineup is impressive enough, but TomorrowWorld takes the festival experience even further by building incredible stages for the performers and audience to both enjoy. The effort that goes into creating the experience for the citizens of TomorrowWorld is unprecedented. Standing beneath the main stage, the magical mountain towering over the crowds allows music-goers to forget that they are only 45 miles from Kennesaw State University. Aside from the eight elaborate stages, there were decorations throughout the venue that made people feel like they were on another planet. Things such as giant mushrooms, floating lotus flowers, fire breathing fish, and huge arches to walk through down every path.
One feature that sets TomorrowWorld apart from other festivals is the camping experience known as Dreamville. Dreamville is more than a campground, it’s an entire community of 50,000 happy people, all living outdoors and spreading good vibes for the weekend. There were tents decorated with flags from every country imaginable, wildly creative totem polls that expressed personalities, and a diverse crowd of people all celebrating the moment and the music. Campers were surrounded by endless conversations spoken in all different languages. There was no such thing as ‘strangers’ in Dreamville. Anyone who walked by was a neighbor who’d stop to catch up for a minute before wandering off again. There was such a sense of camaraderie that being in Dreamville was like being back at one big, familiar summer camp.
The performances were breathtaking experiences that had so much energy; it was impossible to stop dancing. Drop after drop, the DJs kept feeding the crowd just what they wanted. There’s something addictive about EDM. It makes people move in ways they didn’t know they could. It takes the phrase “dance like no one is watching” to a new level. It’s more like “dance like you don’t care who’s watching, because everyone else is dancing with you.” Bassnectar in particular was one show that threw people into another dimension of existence. The combination of his stellar visual display and remixed songs was an ideal way to kick off the weekend. Skrillex performed the night after on the main stage and brought the house down with his incredible bass drops and unpredictable rhythms. The night ended with a fireworks display that lit up the sea of people, all wrapped up in the moment of pure joy and experience.
TomorrowWorld gave people a reason to forget that there is a real world. It was a true escape into a fairy tale. Though the people have all gone home and back to reality, the feelings and experiences that the festival evoked will last much longer. TomorrowWorld was about making every moment in life legendary, and bringing people together through the magic of music and love.
