The annual two-day Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival goes back to the 1990s with two major headliners: Live and Barenaked Ladies.
Live — the Pennsylvania band known for alt-rock hits such as “Selling the Drama,” “I Alone,” “Lightning Crashes” and “All Over You” — will headline the Saturday, March 23, lineup while quirky Canadian group the Barenaked Ladies, which had a No. 1 pop hit in 1998 with “One Week,” will conclude on Sunday, March 24.
Two other acts have been announced as well: Nashville indie alt-rock band Moon Taxi will precede Live on Saturday while Canadian group Crash Test Dummies (”Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm”) will be on the Sunday lineup.
The full lineup and schedule will be made available at a later date. The headliners usually perform around 4:30 p.m.
The free festival, which has been around several years and drew more than 45,000 people last year, is held at Blackburn Park at 3493 Ashford Dunwoody Road in Brookhaven. Past acts include Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Rick Springfield and the Wallflowers.
The last time Live performed in Atlanta was last year’s Shaky Knees Festival in May. The Barenaked Ladies headlined a concert in June of last year at Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park.
“It was a couple of years’ process to get Live,” said John Ernst, who stepped down as Brookhaven’s mayor this month after eight years due to term limits.
Ernst, who fashions his musical tastes as “eclectic,” said he’s proud how big the festival has gotten under his watch and plans to stay involved with it in the future. The festival budget is $250,000 with sponsorships and a cut of beer sales defraying some of the expenses for the city.
“A festival like this is multifaceted,” Ernst said. “It helps brand the city. When we had Hanson last year, a massive number of people came from out of town and filled our hotel rooms up.”
One of the highlights last year, he said, was the crowd singing along to “American Pie” with Don McLean. “That was epic,” he said.
Headliners at the Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival from past years:
2018: Keith Anderson, Craig Morgan, Edwin McCain, Five for Fighting
2019: The Wallflowers, Smash Mouth, the Spin Doctors, the Romantics
2020: Cancelled due to COVID-19 (Rachel Platten and Better Than Ezra were scheduled headliners)
2021: Rick Springfield, The Revivalists, The Amy Ray Band, Better Than Ezra, Jagged Edge, Brian Littrell
2022: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Drivin N Cryin, Anderson East, Howie Day
2023: Band of Horses, Hanson, the Fray, Don McLean, All-4-One
