Festival Will Feature Arrested Development, Kishi Bashi, Family and Friends, The Black Lips

AthFest Educates announced the headliners for this year’s 20th Anniversary AthFest Music & Arts Festival, which will take place June 24th- 26th in downtown Athens, with affiliated events starting June 22nd. 

This year’s outdoor stage headliners are Family & Friends Friday night, Arrested Development Saturday night, and Kishi Bashi on Sunday night.

Family and Friends, which played to a sold out Georgia Theatre last AthFest, and the main stage the year before, will headline the festival for the first time.  The seven-piece band’s high-energy performances include two percussionists, multiple stringed instruments, and whole group harmonies. 

Arrested Development will headline the main stage Saturday night.  The Atlanta based hip-hop collective has been making music and working for change for more than twenty years.  The Grammy award-winning group describes itself as “pioneers of the conscious rap” genre, highlighting social issues and in their songs, and using their earnings to support justice efforts. 

Kishi Bashi will close the festival with a headliner performance Sunday night, bringing his unique violin playing and infectious lyricism to the AthFest stage for the second time.   The internationally touring Kishi Bashi has been out supporting his latest album String Quartet: Live! since it came out last November, but has made the time to play schools for nine local Clarke County schools this Spring. 

Troy Aubrey, music chair for AthFest says he is especially excited that this year’s headliners embody the spirit of AthFest Educates: “It’s so great that our headliners share the belief in the importance of music and art to change lives and be a positive force in the world.  I love to see the marrying of our talent and our mission like that.”

Atlanta punk rockers Black Lips will headline the 40 Watt Saturday night.  More line-up announcements will be coming soon, with the full line-up announced May 3rd.   Wristbands for Club Crawl shows are available on AthFest.com at the early bird price of $20 through April, when they go up to $25 in May and $30 in June. 

MEDIA CONTACT: Rachel Allen (706) 490-7188 media@athfesteducates.org

High Resolution Band Photos Available Upon Request

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