TomorrowWorld. A beacon of hope in America’s festival scene, the United States’ most trafficked live stream event, and an economic powerhouse for the state of Georgia. But only for its first two years. It seems the festival reached a bit too high, only to crumble at the heels of a typical Georgia rain storm.
As you may expect, the music was incredible… Or, at least the music we got to hear. Days 1 and 2 were a grand time, despite the persisting rain, but Day 3 of the festival saw half of the venue closed, and an emergency consolidation of their artists on remaining stages. As a result, many DJs were cut entirely, some were scheduled to play before the gates opened, meaning to an nonexistent crowd, and headliner Porter Robinson was forced to abandon his highly anticipated live show due to technical difficulties. Still, music isn’t the only important factor in a festival. It’s the reason we’re there, yes. But it’s everything else that completes the experience, a value that TomorrowWorld previously embodied.
Pleasant interactions with security, a sense of being cared for by the event staff, and complete immersion in a venue all contribute to fond memories. Instead, attendees will remember being abandoned by their promised transport, left to soak in a moated venue, and a souring “Us versus Them” mentality before they recall any world-class music. Still, to the integrity of the event, attendees were still able to tap into the magic of TomorrowWorld and enjoy the festival as it was intended.
There’s a lot of good from this weekend worth acknowledging. Many of the festival staff were more than helpful, offering trash bags to those who’d forgotten rain gear, radioing the necessary forces to remedy the crime scenes that had become of port-o-potties, and most of all, enduring the weather with everyone and still doing their job with a smile.