Savannah Music in 2022: Festivals return, new can't miss acts and venues shine
When I was covering music in 2021, it was nearly impossible to frame a story without mentioning the COVID-19 pandemic that decimated the live music industry for two years. Every 2021 story was about artists trepidatiously poking their heads back out of their homes and trying to scrape a living playing live again.
Hopefully, this will be the last time I have to mention the virus in an article and we can get back to just talking about the music.
I want at look back at 2022 and recap the positive growth the music scene experienced. Instead of a year of fretting about how the pandemic affected musicians and venues, the theme of 2022 has been one of returning to normalcy.
Events that had been sidelined for years returned to the stage. New venues sprung up to reinvigorate Savannah’s music scene and make the city more inviting for large touring acts. Fresh, young bands released incredible new music and were constant presences on show line-ups. And established artists produced some of their best music to date.
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Savannah venues raise the bar
Let’s begin with one of the biggest music related stories of 2022 — the opening of Enmarket Arena. Although parking is still an issue, Enmarket Arena was able to bring in larger caliber acts whose tours traditionally skipped over Savannah.
Artists like The Eagles, Jimmy Buffet, Bon Jovi, Pitbull, and Andrea Boccelli performed in Savannah for the first time, and locals were able to see big tickets events right here at home rather than having to drive four hours to Atlanta. In 2023, Enmarket Arena has Barry Manilow, Journey, and Janet Jackson to look forward to.
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On a slightly smaller scale, District Live hit its stride in 2022, booking big acts like Ben Folds, Iron & Wine, Joan Osbourne, Howard Jones, and The Melvins. Along with Victory North, District Live is a mid-sized venue that can bring in indie and mainstream artists that are too big for a bar, but not necessarily going to fill an arena, and I’m excited to see who they book in the coming year.
Another new venue that brought something different to Savannah was Graveface’s Lodge of Sorrows. The warehouse space booked a variety of underground metal, folk, goth, industrial, noise, and rock acts, as well as some 80s legends like Mark Burgess of the Chameleons, and the oily sax man from The Lost Boys, Tim Cappello.
The Lodge offered an exciting alternative to the usual bar venues. Graveface Records also celebrated their 20th anniversary with a weekend long festival at the Lodge.
Return of local favorite festivals
Speaking of festivals, 2022 saw the return of several festivals that had either skipped the last few years or organized subdued versions. After streaming from the Ships of the Sea Museum for two years, The Savannah Jazz Festival finally returned to Forsyth Park, making it, once again, one of the biggest live events in Savannah.
The Savannah Jazz Festival wasn’t the only event that took it outside. Savannah Stopover returned after a year hiatus, but rather than spread out across the city at several bars and venues, the festival consolidated its bands onto five stages at the Georgia State Railroad Museum. The line-up was stacked and the setting magical, but, unfortunately, unexpected freezing, damp weather ruined the experience for audiences and impacted attendance.
In 2023, Savannah Stopover is going to take a gap year from the festival, and rather focus on smaller “Stopover Presents” shows. I’m looking forward to a big return in 2024.
AURA Fest: All Underground Rock All Day consistently booked exciting metal and hardcore shows through out the year, but was finally able to put on its main festival again. Held at Ships of the Sea Museum, AURA Fest was headlined by Lorna Shore, Impending Doom, and Rivers of Nihil, reestablishing it as the biggest metal festival in Savannah.
Another dearly missed event that made a return this year was Basik Lee’s Hip-Hop Night. Hip-Hop Night died with the closure of The Jinx, but found a new home at Victory North, which provided an even bigger stage for burgeoning rappers to hone their craft.
More:Once a training ground for local rappers, Basik Lee revives legendary Hip Hop Nite at new space
Savannah hip-hop was alive and well with excellent releases from a number of rappers including Pote Baby, Dope KNIfe, Clay Hodges, Wes Lee the Wordsmith, King Bogus, The Monarch, LaScrilla, and Yung Damon.
New bands to watch in Savannah
This year Savannah also saw a slew of young punk and indie rock bands emerge, or begin to come into their own, thanks to the tireless work of show bookers like Coastal Rock Productions and Dog Days Presents. There was nary a rock show in Savannah that wasn’t supported by one or more local upstarts like Klept, BugMeat, Hott Goss, Garlands, Jus B, Smalltalk, Lobstrosity, The Maxines, Manarovs, Chipper Bones, or The Tragadee.
Savannah’s music scene is as intertwined as it’s ever been with every musician playing in at least two to three projects at a time. It’s hard to say whether Savannah has a small scene, or is just incredibly tight knit.
More:Musicians reflect on Elevated Basement closing after 30 years of defining Savannah sound
One of the bittersweet stories from the year was the closure of Kevin Rose’s Elevated Basement Studio. After nearly thirty years the storied recording studio (Gregg Allman, Stewart Copeland of the Police, Bela Fleck)closed its doors and marked the end of an era for Savannah music. New home studios, however, sprung up to fill the gap. Chris “Scary” Adams’ Hidden Audio, Andrew Sovine-Wolfe’s The Back Room and Matt Lloyd’s Deep Cuts Studio, for example, opened up to offer new options for artists to produce professional recordings.
Looking ahead at 2023, the big news is the return of the beloved Jinx. Owner Susanne Warnekros announced that plans are in motion to reopen The Jinx in a new location at 43rd and Whitaker Street. Whether it is a nostalgic return to the good ol’ days or something entirely new remains to be seen, but the closure of the Jinx undoubtedly left a hole in the Savannah music scene and it will be wonderful to have the historic venue back in some capacity.
Favorite albums of the year
To wrap things up, here are some my favorite local album releases of 2022.
Rapper Dope KNife of Dope Sandwich fame released his possible “magnum opus” with “The Dope One,” his most assessable and mainstream leaning record yet. Play it loud in your car and rattle your trunk.
Basically Nancy’s angsty self-titled debut was produced by Kevin Rose and Ryan Graveface, and is the last album recorded at Elevated Basement Studio. The songs were written while the trio were in high school and marks both the closing and beginning of a new era for them.
Holy Ghost Tabernacle Choir’s “Slow Murder” is an abrasive, blistering, screamy, sludgy, doom-laden debut album that demonstrates why HGTC may be currently the best metal band in Savannah. It also features a guest appearance from Soul Glo vocalist Money Nicca.
Punk band Manarovs features Jeff Storey-Pitts and Petey Worrell of Jeff Two Names. Their self-titled debut is full of straight ahead good-time punk rockers about secret agents and aliens.
Bastardane’s debut “Is This Rage?” harkens back to 90’s hard rock by Corrosion of Conformity (with a dash of Metallica). After touring the country with Sevendust and booking festival gigs like Bottlerock and Rockville, Bastardane are a band on the rise, so see them live in Savannah while you can.
Klept’s “Verbicide” is as genre fluid and wildly unpredictable as Mr. Bungle or Black Midi. Whether you like metal, indie, experimental, noise, or space rock, Klept’s cacophonous debut has something to excite your eardrums.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah GA music in 2022: Venues shine and new bands thrive
