In an ambitious move, A-Town Get Down Festival moved this year to a different date and venue. Previously held at the Morris Center on a generally quiet winter weekend, the daylong festival was held last Saturday and utilized some awesome open spaces at the east end of Indian Street, near the bridge and SCAD’s Alexander Hall.
I attended a Savannah Music Festival performance that afternoon — we’ll have some more info about the SMF soon — and didn’t make it to A-Town till about dusk. There were a lot of people milling about in the huge space that the festival occupied, but the event probably needed to be somewhat condensed. I love the ambition of A-Town, though, and I was impressed with all the acts that I saw — Grammy-winning blues phenom Bobby Rush, bluegrass band Old Salt Union, the powerful AJ Ghent Band, and the headliner Cracker.
I also caught the “Gesture Jam” with DJ Obi-1-Benobi and the Stardust Pixies. The mix of art, music, food trucks, and other vendors — all with the Savannah River bridge looming above — made for some striking visuals. We’ve already posted Jon Waits’ gallery of Swamp Cabbage, and here are shots of the acts that I saw, plus some shots from around the festival — click on through for the full gallery.