Thousands of festivalgoers descended on Piedmont Park on the sunny Saturday for this year’s Music Midtown.
From first-timers to music lovers who make this huge festival an annual tradition, throngs of people quickly filled the park.
“This is a lot more than we expected, so that’s cool,” said Mitchy Collins of lovelytheband, an indie pop trio that formed just a couple of years ago in Los Angeles.
By the time lovelytheband took the Roxy Stage at 3:30 p.m., a sea of endless fans surrounded the stage, a testament to the enthusiasm for the festival and also to the band. In April, they saw their smash debut single, “broken,” top Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart.
For Jordan Turner and his younger sisters, Music Midtown has become a family tradition. Jordan, who lives in Buford, went to his first Music Midtown six years ago. And since then, his younger sisters Meredith and Madison, who live in the Charlotte area, have joined him.
While Hurricane Florence, which was downgraded to a tropical storm on Friday, brought downpours to much of North Carolina, his sisters aimed to enjoy their visit since the storm steered clear of metro Atlanta. Sitting in inflatable couches, the three of them took in lovelytheband, and were most looking forward to Fall Out Boy later in the day.
New this year was fans could upgrade their tickets to GA+ — which provides a dedicated viewing area at the stages — for $100 each day (additional to ticket cost). For Stephen Kearley, the upgrade was well worth the money. He said the special access was allowing him to get closer to stage — and allow him to see more acts without having to stand in large crowds.
The lineup is an exceptionally diverse this year with “Rockstar” rapper Post Malone and emo-punk-rock band Fall Out Boy snagging the marquee spots Saturday night along with Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar and anthem-rockers Imagine Dragons closing out Sunday.
And even though the big acts are huge draws to the festivals, many music lovers were eager to see new and rising talent.
For Jeremy Pidgeon, 22, of Huntsville, Alabama, said he was not only pumped to see Post Malone and Kendrick Lamar, but he was thrilled to also see Atlanta’s Mattiel.
Mattiel Brown is not only a musician but also a designer. During office hours, she works as an ad designer and illustrator at MailChimp, a position she’s held for about four years.
“She’s creative during the day, and she’s creative at night,” Pidgeon said.
