Festival-goers near and far can take a sigh of relief this week as Music Midtown has announced their return. The festival will take place in Piedmont Park from Sept. 15 to 17, 2023.
On Friday, Sept. 15 artists including PINK!, Flume, J.I.D. and Pitbull will entertain the masses flocking in from Atlanta and beyond. On Saturday, Sept. 16, iconic performers such as Billie Eilish and The 1975 will continue the craze.
Finally, to conclude the much anticipated weekend, the festival will close out with headlining appearances by Guns N’ Roses and Lil Baby in addition to Incubus, Tove Lo, Young Nudy, Glorilla, and Masego on Sept. 17.
Although festival coordinators have begun preparation to set the stage for these upcoming performances, the questions around gun reformation laws in Georgia are still at the forefront. Last year, as the “Constitutional Carry Act,” was signed into law in April 2022, Music Midtown was faced with uprising and urgent challenges, as they were already expecting to let 50,000 festival attendees enter Piedmont Park in just a few short months.
The “Constitutional Carry Act” which allows Georgians to carry a handgun in public spaces without a permit, created friction in the event’s ability to deploy metal detectors to enforce any potential weapons on the festival premises. Consequently, Music Midtown had to announce a cancellation and refunded ticket costs to buyers.
Doug Shipman, Atlanta City Council President, tweeted, “A sad day as Atlanta’s Music Midtown is canceled. Public policy has real impacts and in this case — economic and social implications on a great tradition.”
Earlier this month, Shaky Knees Music Festival, showcased their own work-around loophole in getting attendees to go through a security check and ensure that no weapons were to be carried into the park.
The entrance had been reconfigured so that attendees must enter solely through the Civic Center — a privately owned facility, which allowed the Shaky Knees festival to enforce a private-facility weapon policy upon entry.
Music Midtown has yet to share how they will be adapting to the gun-carrying laws as it pertains to festival attendees’ safety this year.
For festival updates, tickets, and more visit Music Midtown’s official website.
Wrong info. The Atlanta Civic Center is not private property – it is still owned by the city, and has been shutdown since 2014. Using this building as a workaround was not an actual workaround as the weapon carry law was still broken by the Shaky Knees staff.
The Atlanta Housing Authority, purchased the sprawling facility from the city in 2017, housing authorities are funded by Federal Programs and donations.
So? The Housing Authority of the City of Atlanta was formed May 18th, 1938, by the Atlanta City Council. It is still a City of Atlanta government entity, therefore the Civic Center is STILL public, not private property.
I heard through the grapevine that some folks who carry will be going and they won’t take kindly to being harassed at the gate, they’ll livestream it if they are hassled about their guns and they will sue them. Ain’t no gun laws been changed since last time.