It was a relatively cool Friday afternoon, especially for Atlanta in the middle of September.  It was around 6:00 by the time I got to Piedmont Park.  I wasn't too concerned about seeing anyone on the lineup for Friday because the main reason I purchased a ticket to Music Midtown was because of Lana Del Rey.  

The first act that I saw on Friday was Iggy Azalea.  As much as I hate to admit it, I really enjoyed her music and I was blown away by how great her performance was.  Of course she performed her radio hits, Fancy, Black Widow, and Problem.  My personal favorite that she performed was Pu$$y.  I was shocked at the amount of people with small children among Iggy's crowd.  She not only brought tons of energy to the AT&T stage, she also brought T.I. to the stage as a special guest.  When she announced that she'd have a special guest, it was pretty obvious that she would bring him.  I mean, he lives in Atlanta, so it's convenient.  By the end of her set, I found myself wishing for more. 

After Iggy, I went to the merch table so that I could buy a Lana Del Rey shirt.  The Honda stage was not too far from the table, so I ended up watching Lorde's performance after I made my purchase.  She's the strangest person I have ever seen perform live, but she's also one of the most talented.  Her voice was incredible.  She was singing Glory & Gore when I first started to watch her.  I heard her sing most of the other songs from her album, Pure Heroine, but I missed the first 20-30 minutes of her performance.  The most impressive thing about Lorde's performance was that she sang Flashing Lights by Kanye West.  I, personally, liked it better than the original song.  I wasn't originally planning on watching Lorde, but now I'm so glad that I did.

The last person that I saw perform on Friday was John Mayer.  I wouldn't consider myself a fan, but I do enjoy his music.  You would think his music provided a very chill, laid-back, atmosphere, but I actually saw a few people get into physical altercations during his set.  I guess it was just the combination of a hot day, alcohol, and everyone wanting to be as close to John Mayer as possible, but who knows?  I was expecting for him to sound great live, and I wasn't disappointed.  Even though he was fantastic, I ended up leaving early simply for the fact that I couldn't listen to him for two hours.  I needed to get some rest for the next morning anyways.

Day 2 was the day that Lana Del Rey would be performing on the Electric Ballroom stage.  I wanted to get to the park as early as possible so that I could get to the front of the crowd.  The plan was to stay at that stage all day, until Lana came on.  That meant that I would be seeing Magic Man, Vic Mensa, and B.o.B. before Lana came on.  Gates opened at 12 pm, but I got there at 10.  As soon as the gates opened, there were tons of people sprinting to get to the Electric Ballroom stage to get to the front row.  My friend and I made it fairly early, we ended up being a row or two behind the gate.  

Magic Man was the first act that we saw that day.  I had never heard of them before Music Midtown, but I was actually very impressed.  They were upbeat and put on a good show.  Their music was catchy and their lead singer had a nice voice.  I'd classify their music as indie rock.  Even though they were good, they reminded me of something I would've listened to in middle school.  

After Magic Man, Vic Mensa came on.  I'm not a fan of rap music, so I didn't enjoy Vic Mensa's performance at all.  I thought he was irritating and I ended up playing 2048 on my phone the entire time.  He reminded me of the kid from my high school who thought he could rap, but real couldn't. Except for the fact that Vic Mensa actually ended up becoming famous. 

B.o.B. was after Vic Mensa and even though I'm not a fan of rap music, I actually really enjoyed B.o.B.'s performance.  He brought nice energy to the stage.  I think part of his performance being so good was the fact that he's from Atlanta.  He knew how to get the crowd going, and he even had a tweak contest on stage.  I think I could've gone without seeing that, but at least it was entertaining.  Even though his performance was really good, I was pretty happy when it was over because I was just looking forward to seeing Lana.

The hour long wait between B.o.B. and Lana seemed to take forever.  Everyone around me was so excited that she was finally coming on soon.  Finally, at 6:45, her band started playing.  You could hear her singing, but you couldn't see her.  Everyone was freaking out and there were so many phones and hands in the air that you could barely see the stage.  When she came out, the crowd was absolute mayhem.  She started her set with Cola, which was exciting for me because that's one of my favorite songs of hers.  She sang old crowd favorites like Blue Jeans, Video Games, Born to Die, Ride, and National Anthem.  I was super excited that she sang West Coast and Money Power Glory from her new album, Ultraviolence.  As always with her shows, she came down and took selfies with the people on the very front row.  It was a surreal experience to be so close to Lana, but still so far away.  Her performance was the best I'd seen at Music Midtown, and arguably one of the best performances I've seen in my entire life.  The only disappointment I had was that an hour and fifteen minutes wasn't enough Lana for me, and she didn't sing Gods & Monsters.  Of course, those are just small things, and didn't actually take away from her performance.  

Because I'm not a fan of Eminem or the Zac Brown Band, I took the remainder of the night to eat some food truck food and just relax after a long day.  Music Midtown 2014 was an incredible experience, and I feel sorry for anyone who missed it.  I'll definitely be going back next year, but I'm not too sure that I could brave the crowd and try to get super close for anyone but Lana.  I hope everyone gets to experience the amount of joy that I felt when I got to see one of my absolute favorite performers.