[Review] Imagine 2019: Friendships Beyond Anything I Could Imagine

Wednesday afternoon I arrived at the Seattle Tacoma Washington airport destined for an adventure to Imagine Music Festival. This was going to be my first time going to a music festival by myself, so I figured why not do it all the way across the country. People always talk about transformative festivals and what it is like to walk into a festival on one vibe but leave on a whole different level. For me Imagine Music Festival was just that, it was an experience that forever changed me and made me more confident in myself as an individual. 

Upon receiving my credentials, I made my way to the purple camp where all the staff was camped. There I set up camp with my hammock strung between a tree and the fence, worrying that I might be spending the weekend alone. Unbeknownst to me, the spot I chose was right behind the infamous late-night stage Port Royale. Not long after I got settled in a friendly neighbor from the special effects team invited me over to their camp. Their squad ran about two dozen deep and they took me under their wing for the rest of the weekend. Sometimes even quite literally such as when I helped giant yellow ducks make their way to the pool. 

I hung out with the special effects team for the rest of the weekend drifting back and forth between groups of people kind of like a lava lamp. It was a really amazing experience where I felt included and a part of something. Most of the special effects team members only knew a couple of the other team members going into Imagine but everyone left feeling like family. I know who I’ll be camping with next Imagine, and I’ve got a rad group of east coast buddies now. 

On Friday, I tagged along with the special effects crew when they went into the photo pit to release giant red balloons at Leah Culver. After catching the rest of the Leah Culver set, I stayed for K?D who had some really eye-catching visuals. Next, I headed over to the Disco Infernal stage where I got down to Boogie T and Subtronics. This stage featured a giant disco ball that shot fire high into the air making this one of the most exciting stages to watch.

Later on Friday, Rezz continued to hold my attention with her visual show. I noticed she had built more intricate versions of graphics from years ago. For me, it was really cool to notice how far her graphics progressed. I also noticed something different about this show, it was a bit more colorful than I remember Rezz. While her usual all red visuals were still strong so were flashes of blue, yellow and orange. The most prevalent color aside from red was blue, which made for an interesting contrast in emotional connection. The tense, demonic sounds of red were mixed with the soothing cooling feeling of blue. After this show, it was clear to me that her studies in psychology are going to use and she is beginning to let her “Synesthesia” be seen. 

Finally, the last artist I saw on Friday was DJ Diesel and he was easily my most anticipated artist of the night. I had heard rumors from my sister that he really knew how to throw down and was dying to see for myself. Turns out the rumor was true, Shaq knows how to how to alley-oop from Rap to Dubstep before dribbling it back down the court to the beat of Trap, Hip-hop, and Bass.

I spent the beginning of Friday night with my new friend Angel. We watched most of the Ghastly set followed by KSHMR together. Before I headed into the pit for the beginning of Alison Wonderland’s set we agreed on a meeting space encase Angel wanted to leave from being near the rail. As I made my way back from the pit, I didn’t see Angel so I headed to our meet up spot and found her. We watched a good portion of Alison Wonderland's set before I realized G Jones was about to start. At that point, I bolted beyond the fence line and ran the length of the race track to catch G Jones set. On the way, I got distracted by Lane 8 playing on the disco infernal stage. At first, I’ll admit I confused the stages and thought it was G Jones until I got a little closer and realized I was at the wrong stage. By the time I noticed my mistake Lane 8 had already drawn me in and I stuck around for 10 minutes or so before heading to G Jones. 

At G Jones, Greg echoed what I had been feeling about Atlanta, there really is something to southern hospitality that makes you feel at home. In return, he paid us a favor dropping three new tracks from his Tangential Zones EP. His music is full of glitch and reminded us that “It’s all in your head”. All throughout the weekend, other DJs were playing G Jones dropping reminders that it’s all in your head. The only track that rivaled him in plays was the new Griztronics which I think I heard from at least half the DJs at Imagine. 

I stuck around after G Jones to see Louis the Child, another one of my favorite artists. The timing on their light show was spot on which made for some really spectacular photos and .gif images. After Louis the child I caught up with my friends from the special effects team, they were getting ready to drop balloons at the Above & Beyond set. Since I was wearing the same imagine crew volunteer shirt and my camera battery was already pretty much dead, I opted to join them. When it came time I helped carry out the giant white balloons that were tossed into the crowd, ending my night feeling like part of the special effects crew. 

On Sunday I started out the day with an artist I hadn’t seen live before, Said the Sky. I enjoyed their sky themed visual show and the live drumming brought energy to the set and was really fun to photograph. Next, I saw Thriftworks, who again stacked sounds you wouldn’t usually think of as music into an auditory masterpiece. I followed up with catching some of the Alan Walker set before going to see Marshmello. Marshmello uplifted me as his music always seem to do and his visuals were next level. I especially liked the visuals where he was racing around on what looked like the rainbow road from Mariokart. After emerging from the photo pit I met up with my friends from the special effects team and helped them pass out glow wands into the crowd before making my way to Tipper. 

Tipper was one of my most anticipated sets of the weekend, over the years I’ve heard a lot about his shows, but hadn’t experienced one yet. I was blown away by his visuals and couldn’t help but make a few .gif images from them. His music is wacky, drippy and weird but in the greatest ways. For me his music also gives a bit of synesthesia, it’s almost like I can hear shapes in the sound. 

Finally, I ended the night with Claude Vonstroke at the Disco Infernal stage. After watching most of the set from the ground I went up to the press box to catch some final shots of the flames. Then I headed back to camp where I shared my favorite memories with the special effects crew and promised to come back next year. After one more night of swaying to sleep in my hammock behind the late-night stage, I packed up camp and said my goodbyes to Georgia.