Living in Midtown Atlanta sure is awesome! Just this Saturday past I awoke to the sounds of mic checks and strummed guitar chords coming from Piedmont Park where Atlanta’s fabled Music Midtown festival was being resurrected for the first time in five years. Throughout the day, I enjoyed band after band take the stage and at one point I sat in my dining room with a beer and a smirk counting my blessings for the crystal clear sound and view I got to enjoy for free!
The legendary music festival and Piedmont Park have, over the years, hosted bands of extraordinary caliber like The Eagles, Journey, Dave Matthews Band, Silverchair, The Killers, the White Stripes, and Paul McCartney to name only a few; growing to an epic three days and six stages of music with crowds of 300,000 in its heyday.
It was at this point of glory in 2005 that Music Midtown proved too much for the city’s council who were forced to cancel the annual attraction, which by then had earned its reputation as the biggest music festival of America’s South and drawn spectators from all over the US. This year, on Saturday 24th September, the festivals’ (small in comparison) one day comeback was headlined by Coldplay who are so-hot-right-now with the anticipated release of their 6th album due in October.
Unfortunately I left my apartment at 6pm and missed Coldplay’s’ performance but out of the bands I heard during the day, “Walk the Moon” (who played from 2:45 – 3.30pm) and “the Joy Formidable” (who played immediately after them until 4.30pm) where my favs. The first had an unreal 70’s punk band sound and the latter; amazing and powerful lead female vocals that ricocheted off every high-rise building in the vicinity.
Since the smaller crowd of 50,000 behaved and the festival went off without a glitch; next year’s Music Midtown has been given the thumbs up and planning is already underway! I can’t wait! (Of course I won’t be one of the crowd who pay an excess of $50 to get sunburnt and dirty – but now that I know how cool it is, I will share my beer, smirks and awesome views with friends!)
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| Photo Credit: joeyfoley.net |
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| Photo Credit: Music Midtown 2011 Website |
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