The success of music festivals like Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Burning Man, Coachella, Bonnaroo, and many more are proof that world class cities can draw in great talent and tourism dollars. Music festivals increase the cache of a city while providing a venue for people who will come in and fill up hotels and air-bnb’s, and spend lavishly on food and entertainment. If you show those people a good enough time, they will be back reliably each year to do the same, and will bring their friends.
A Charlotte-based group called Southern Entertainment has announced a new music festival coming to the Queen City next year. Titled the Lovin’ Life Music Fest, it will feature more than 40 artists on three stages May 3-5. The plan is for musicians spanning generations and genres so there is something that will appeal to every music fan. The location will be First Ward Park in the heart of Uptown Charlotte’s First Ward.
Festival headliners were announced this week, with Stevie Nicks, Noah Kahan, and Post Malone taking top billing. The rest of the lineup will be announced in the coming months. Tickets will go on sale on December 14th at 8am. There will be tiers of admission, with general admission, general admission+, VIP, and Super VIP passes. The range of prices is from $199 to $999 and will be available exclusively at llmfclt.com. There is a special holiday pricing deal starting with just $49 down, so if you’re going to be in town, this is a great deal to get you to the festival.
Southern Entertainment partners Bob Durkin and Rob Pedlow have created this event. They are the team responsible for Carolina Country Music Fest in Myrtle Beach, SC. They also created the Barefoot Country Music Fest in Wildwood, NJ. Rob Pedlow said “Charlotte’s ready for its own signature event”. He expects the event to help support nonprofits, create jobs, and to be an economic engine with a projected impact of more than $30 million in the first year alone. That is with a projected audience of 90,000 attendees over the three days of the festival. In future years, if attendance numbers rival some of the larger music festivals, we can expect that economic impact to be much greater.
For example, the Austin City Limits music festival is now held over two different weekends in October each year, and brings in an estimated 450,000 attendees and brought in an estimated $450 million in 2022. This is 17 years after the revival of the festival and it has grown each year. If the Lovin’ Life Music Fest becomes as beloved of an event as ACL, we could see that type of economic impact as well.
If you want to be in on the fun, make sure to grab one of the early bird tickets. If you want to be the first to know new details about the event, follow @lovinlifemusicfest on Instagram and Facebook.
