The Good, the Bad and the Dirty: 12 Honest Moments from TomorrowWorld

The ravers went down to Georgia and they had themselves a time. The second installment of TomorrowWorld held in Chattahoochee Hills, GA invited electronic music fans from around the world to the sprawling countryside for three days of madness… and a whole lot of lights, lasers and bountiful beats. Here’s a dozen moments from the festival that originated a decade ago in Boom, Belgium as Tomorrowland.

A few lone bike racks and ancient school busses greeted us upon being dropped off by our hotel shuttle. (Shout out to the Hampton Inn in Fairburn, GA for not only being one of the closest hotels to the festival, but providing dedicated shuttle service, too. Super convenient.) We have to trust the driver that this empty field is the spot as no one from TomorrowWorld was around to direct us. I was expecting something magical from the start. The mile walk after taking another bus to the actual site didn’t start the day off on a high note. None of the impressive production I expected welcomed people to the festival. Kinda a miss, TomorrowWorld. Also, the security search was a joke. If I were a drug dealer, I coulda made bank.

At first I was skeptical about having a wristband that I had to pre-load with money. But it’s actually super convenient! As a VIP guest (thanks Zack Pearlman) they also gave me a $45 credit. I wonder how many tokens Deorro got and if he was a whiny about it as Tomorrowland. Drinks and food at TomorrowWorld are also way more affordable than any other festival or club event I’ve been to. Amen for that. Another Shock Top, please!

Quick rave lesson kids: People started wearing masks/bandannas on their face at raves because if you took ecstasy and slathered Vicks all over it, it made you roll better. Then people stared making cool ones out of kandi as accessories (not sure if the Vicks thing is still a part of that). But at TomorrowWorld, I swapped the bandanna I was wearing on my head to cover my nose and mouth because the whole grounds were a dust bowl and difficult to breathe. There was also a faint smell of horse poo the whole weekend…

TomorrowWorld basically had two sections with a lake and bridge between. When crossing, lots of smiling strangers (and even some cool staff) high-fived along way, spreading the good vibes. The downside? Getting sprayed by nasty fountain water along the way. Um, aren’t there signs everywhere warning about flesh-eating bacteria in that water or something?

I’ve lived in Vegas too long because all I saw when looking at the main stage was the volcano from the Mirage. I also kept looking for the DJ booth a bit higher up underneath that giant creepy sun face thing, but it was right at the base of the massive setup and thus obscured by flags and party poles. Booo! Fortunately, the DJs playing the main stage anthems and bangers aren’t my thing, except for Kygo. A round of applause for his set that was perfect for an afternoon time slot. And sneaking in “Sexual Healing”? Nice one.

Look, having to use the restroom at a festival can be a traumatic and disgusting experience. But not only did TomorrowWorld have port-a-potties that flush and have lights so you can see what you’re doing in there, but a crew was on site to keep em tidy after every inconsiderate person that apparently had a convulsion while urinating. Unfortunately, the standard stinky shitters were at the back of the fest for a typical gross nightmare, darn.

Oooh, epic fail on this one. The first three stages once inside the festival created a cacophony of off kilter beats and wrinkled noses and numerous people were complaining about the same thing. (On a completely random different note, can you spot the plane toting a Trojan Condoms sign?)

Dance Safe should be at every event. For real. Not only do they provide partying education (and have been for as long as I can remember), they had the only potable-looking free water. They also gave me a free Gatorade. Right on.

Next-door was the post office where you could send free cards to anyone around the world. Very cool touch, TomorrowWorld. I went back every day with more snail mail addresses.

Completely by coincidence, I found numerous peeps I knew getting down at the small stage nestled in the trees. The Pièce de résistance for me was a set from Jody Wisternoff (pictured).

The East Coast gets it. A rough estimate would put the TomorrowWorld crowd for John Digweed as at least twice that as when he played EDC. And it was soooo goood with a stellar vibe. Pete Tong right after was amazing as well.

Ooh! Someone going back-to-back! That’s always fun. *gets closer* Wait, that’s Ferry with Jacob van Hage! Turns out Ferry’s quite the trooper because at the end of each DJs’ set at the Full On stage, Ferry went B2B with them, and it was a total blast.

Richie Hawtin and friends owned most of my Sunday, including my first time finally seeing Maceo Plex and Paco Osuna. Bucket list, check! By far the musical experience that I was looking forward to the most. If you know me, you know I never get in the thick of it when it comes to crowds. But I was able to casually dance my way to the front and center of the barricades for Hawtin (wearing my Minus shirt, of course). A great end of TomorrowWorld with the bass booming my hair back as a light misty rain fell on the last hour.