Atlanta is teetering on the edge of getting festival-ed out.
But, considering the tens of thousands of music fans who converged this spring for the SweetWater 420 Fest, Shaky Knees, Shaky Boots and CounterPoint, maybe the market can bear a fall glut as well.
So lace up your sneakers, start doing the no-rain-and-cooler-weather-please dance and prepare for these five fall music festivals.
One Music Fest. The mercurial Lauryn Hill will headline the sixth incarnation of the hip-hop/R&B festival, which also includes the high wattage of the Roots — taking a weekend break from their regular gig with Jimmy Fallon — ASAP Rocky, avowed "Seinfeld" fan Wale, Raekwon, Ghostface and Atlanta mainstays Janelle Monae and Wondaland and funky-fresh newcomer Raury. Hill most recently performed in Atlanta in February 2014 with a show at the Tabernacle, while the Roots gigged at the CounterPoint Music Festival in Rome in May.
Noon Sept. 12. $50-$90. Aaron's Amphitheatre at Lakewood, Atlanta. www.ticketmaster.com.
Music Midtown. A fourth stage, a genre-hopping quartet of headliners (Elton John, Drake, Sam Smith and Van Halen) and the most robust lineup of mainstream artists you'll see in Atlanta this year anchor Music Midtown, which returned in 2011. The rest of the musical offerings are an intriguing pastiche of heritage acts, well-regarded current hitmakers and a smattering of upstarts: Lenny Kravitz, Hozier, Billy Idol, Alice in Chains, Panic at the Disco, Run the Jewels, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Metric, Vance Joy, Jenny Lewis, Tove Lo, August Alsina, Icona Pop, the Airborne Toxic Event, Kodaline, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Elle King, New Politics, X Ambassadors, Jamie N Commons, Colony House, Rozzi Crane, Alessia Cara and Elliot Moss.
4 p.m. Sept. 18 and noon Sept. 19. $125 (two-day pass); $600 (two-day VIP); and $1,200 (two-day Super VIP). Piedmont Park, Atlanta. www.musicmidtown.com.
TomorrowWorld. For its third U.S. incarnation, the electronic dance music/lifestyle festival known as TomorrowWorld has wrangled another assembly of top-name DJs/producers. Tiësto and Steve Angello will headline the three-day event and will be joined by a who's who of the EDM world: David Guetta, Martin Garrix, Afrojack, Hardwell, Armin van Buuren, Bassnectar, Kaskade, Adventure Club, Ferry Corsten, Jamie Jones, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Big Gigantic, Paul van Dyk, Get Real (Claude VonStroke & Green Velvet), Adam Beyer and many more. Last year, more than 160,000 people flocked to the farmland outside of Atlanta. That's a lot of fans of bass drops.
Noon Sept. 25-27. $137 (single day); $357 (three-day pass). Bouckaert Farm, Chattahoochee Hills. www.tomorrowworld.com.
Afropunk Fest. The Brooklyn-rooted music fest, which debuted in 2005 and took place again in New York in late August, is noted for its multicultural appeal. Now it's expanding and Atlanta is the inaugural second market. Based on the lineup tapped for the Atlanta arrival, a similar commitment to diversity appears to be a priority. The notable lineup includes: D'Angelo and the Vanguard; Flying Lotus; Santigold; Tyler, the Creator; Death Grips; Public Enemy; Twin Shadow; Danny Brown; Benjamin Booker; Suicidal Tendencies; Trash Talk; Kaytranada; Big Freedia and Saul Williams.
Oct. 3-4 (time TBA). $45-$289. Central Park, Atlanta. www.afropunkfest.com.
Parklife. The goal for Parklife music festival in its second year was simple: Go big. Or, at least bigger, as the event moves from its initial home at Atlantic Station to the Promenade at Piedmont Park. The Americana-heavy lineup topped by Jason Isbell also features bluegrass-country darling Chris Stapleton, Strand of Oaks and Natalie Prass.
“Moving to a legitimate green space like Piedmont is huge and associating it with an event called Parklife makes the most sense,” said Andrew Hingley, the talent buyer at Eddie’s Attic who created the event last year with regional concert promoter Bowe O’Brien.
2 p.m. Oct. 18. $45. Promenade at Piedmont Park, Atlanta. www.parklifefest.com.
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