Shaky Beats Festival Review - Zhu Shreds & Incredible Hugs

Shaky Beats Festival Review – Zhu Shreds & Incredible Hugs

Photos by aLIVE Coverage

So I’m a bit of a fledgling Festee Junkie, but can seriously not get enough. My Festee addiction got lit on the Groove Cruise and its collective of gorgeous and warm patrons spreading smiles, hugs and goodies. After that I was hooked and had to check out the first year of Shaky Beats Festival. After a quick $153 flight from Miami to Atl and I was ready to get a bit Shaky.

Shaky Beats Festival was held in downtown Atlanta, which needed a festival after both Counterpoint and TomorrowWorld were canceled this year. It was cool to have a festival in the middle of downtown ATL where the skyline and Ferris wheel provided a great backdrop to the stages bathed in the radiant full moon.

Shaky secured Big Gigantic, Major Lazer and Odezsa as the headliners, but it was Zhu who stole the show in a master Italian Job style heist. Steven Zhu has that single Faded that is like silly putty in our minds. What captivated me was his phenomenal guitarist shredding it onstage like a Jimmy Hendrix disciple along with a saxophonist. Imagine in the middle of Faded the guitarist rips a hypnotic guitar solo that makes your soul tingle. Both him and the sax man made Zhu’s performance unforgettable and had me looking up his next live show dates across the country. He will be at Lollapalooza & Life is Beautiful.

I am always biased for musicians who actually play instruments live on stage. That is why Big Gigantic always puts on riveting shows. I heard festival goers throw around phrases like “life changing” and “blown away” about Big G that night. I have seen them 4 times and they are always impeccable!

Another live performing duo that people really dug was Chromeo who took us all back to the 80’s in their own electro funky way.

The favorite part of the festee for me was the people, it always comes down to the people, my people! Besides rolling up with a brand new crew that ended up being legendary, we met soooooo many sweet loving people. I gave and received some of the best hugs of my life at Shaky Beats Festival. No drama, no attitude just beautiful souls from all over the country there to dance, party and love.

We brought 20 peacock feathers to tickle and mess with people. If you felt a feather brush you in the crowd and had no idea where it came from, that was me and my crew 3 rows behind you. Interesting note: 1/10 people really do not like peacock feathers in their faces, even though it feels so goood. We are working on converting everyone.

Festivals are all about spreading love and meeting new people. Any toys you can bring to meet and interact with people will greatly enhance your experience. General admission was only $152 for 3 days, which was a great bargain for a 3 day festival with over 24 hours of music.

Artists also got super interactive with the crowd this year with Torey Lanez hanging from the lamp post,

Cherub member playing guitar while crowd surfing

and Waka Flocka spraying the crowd with bubbly.

If you had enough stamina to go out after the festee, Carnage, Big Gigantic and ASAP were partying at Anchor Down on Sunday night where Carnage was ripping it up with beats, jokes and smiles.

Shaky Beats Festival was a true bundle of joy. Awesome artists, affordable tickets and profoundly plur people made this a festival I’m definitely going back to for round 2.