Here’s a quick look at the best shows and events happening in Atlanta this weekend Thursday, May 16th through Sunday, May 19th!
JOY KILLS / Step Sisters / Challenger Deep at The Clermont Lounge
Thursday, May 16th at 10:00pm
Yep you read that right! JOY KILLS, Step Sisters and Challenger Deep will be taking the stage at the One And Only CLERMONT LOUNGE. Come watch these bands shake what their mommas gave ’em and let’s see how many crushed PBR cans we can collect.
Pile w/ C.H.E.W., DiCaprio & Thousandaire at 529
Friday, May 17th at 8:00pm
Pile is a rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. Started as a solo project by Rick Maguire back in 2007, Pile released ‘Demonstration,’ a 10 song demo and ‘Jerk Routine’ in 2008 before expanding their line-up. Wanting to be able to tour on the material with a band, Maguire attempted to find some other players. After some shuffling, the band found a cohesive line-up with Kris Kuss (drums), Matt Becker (guitar), Matt Connery (bass) and Maguire (guitar, vocals). In the eight years since, Pile has released several acclaimed albums, ‘Magic isn’t Real’ (2010), ‘Dripping’ (2012), ‘You’re Better Than This’ (2015), and “A Hairshirt of Purpose’ (2017), in addition to two highly sought after EP’s and the ‘Odds and Ends’ (2018) collection. Since coming together as a full band in 2009, Pile have toured as much as their lives collectively allow, playing nearly 1000 shows spread out over the US, Canada, the UK and Europe.
Color Me Badd w/ Bogey and the Viceroy at The Vista Room ATL
Friday, May 17th at 8:00pm
Color Me Badd is one of the top R&B vocal groups of all time. The group has sold 12 million records in the United States. Their debut album, C.M.B sold over 6 million copies worldwide and became certified Triple platinum in the United States. They have 3 number 1 singles and 17 top 20 singles. Color Me Badd has five hit singles from their debut album C.M.B.
Bogey and the Viceroy: Born in New Orleans and raised only blocks away from the legendary Fats Domino, bandleader Bogey Thornton has been entertaining audiences all over the map for the past 15 years with his signature brand of swanky soul. Bogey’s sweet voice embodies the ease and sophistication of iconic 60’s crooners like Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye. The Viceroy band is comprised of Atlanta music scene veterans who perform regularly with Kingsized, Cadillac Jones, Joe Gransden’s Big Band and Tongo Hiti. Members of Viceroy have also performed/ recorded with such varied acts as Cee Lo, Ciara, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Natalie Cole, Band of Horses, Perpetual Groove, Wilco, The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Tortoise, Tito Puente, Jr., Spoon, and Kelis.
Dennis DeYoung: The Music of Styx at The Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater
Friday, May 17th at 8:00pm
Dennis DeYoung is a founding member of the rock group Styx. The Chicago-based band originated in 1962 when 14 year old DeYoung and brothers John and Chuck Panozzo joined Dennis in the basement of his childhood home to form one of America’s most successful and enduring bands. Styx has sold over 35 million albums worldwide and DeYoung has written eight of their nine top ten singles. Styx was the only band to ever record four consecutive triple platinum albums.
Filthy Friends w/ Dressy Bessy at The EARL
Saturday, May 18th at 8:00pm
The first releases from Filthy Friends, the scorchingly melodic rock group whose membership consists of some of the most original musical voices of the past three decades, came as a small, delightful shock to the system. Not only because of the names associated with the project, including Sleater-Kinney co-founder Corin Tucker, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck and indie stalwarts Scott McCaughey and Kurt Bloch, but also because of how ably they were able to mesh their individual sounds into a crackling melodic whole on debut album Invitation.
Now, with their follow-up—Emerald Valley, out on Kill Rock Stars on May 3rd—the Friends have proven their collective mettle, crafting a thematic suite of songs that finds the quintet digging deeper into their bag of musical tricks and giving Tucker room to rage about and mourn the fate of our planet and the people who inhabit it.
BBMAK – Back Here Tour at The Loft – Atlanta
Saturday, May 18th at 8:00pm
Originally formed in 1997, BBMAK (Mark Barry, Christian Burns, and Stephen McNally) have officially reunited after a 15-year hiatus. The multi-platinum selling English pop group has sold more than three million albums and had several hit singles worldwide between 1999 and 2003, when they disbanded. Best known for their self-penned, infectious, guitar driven hits “Back Here”, “Out of My Heart”, and “The Ghost of You and Me”, BBMAK was one of the few bands of the early-2000’s pop explosion to actually play their own instruments and write their own songs. Billboard Magazine recently named “Back Here” the 9th greatest boyband song of all time and the band is currently preparing to hit the road this spring in support of their new, as yet-untitled, album.
Mattiel with Hommeboy at The Masquerade
Saturday, May 18th at 7:00pm
Watching her onstage, that brown bob of hers whirling like a cyclone as she unleashes her brash and husky riot of a rock voice, it’s hard to imagine Mattiel Brown was ever anything but a natural-born performer, a tried-and-true self-empowered presence. “Honestly though I never even believed I could do this all,” Mattiel, one of rock’s most thrilling young talents, says. Still, dig deep and she’ll admit to those times when she’d let herself dream: of one day stepping onstage, gripping that microphone and showcasing her skills. Then, she imagined, could at last let it all go, unleash that deep-seeded passion of hers for melody and rhythm and intricate storytelling and channel her pent-up ferocity into something real and palpable and powerful.
