Riverbend Festival's 40th Year Celebration Roars Through Chattanooga
As the summer heat settled into the city of Chattanooga, the area downtown near the Tennessee Aquarium underwent a transformation as it has every year for the better part of the past 40 years. 2023 saw a continuation of the festival that has welcomed some of the biggest names in music across multiple genres. This year’s festival continued this tradition and treated the citizens of Chattanooga and fans from all around the country and even the world to an excellent three days of live music.
Ross’s Landing in downtown Chattanooga was transformed into a compact concert festival grounds featuring three stages. There was also a large display established for Chevrolet where fans could even test drive vehicles. Along with this, the Tennessee Valley Authority had multiple electric vehicles on-site as well. There were also multiple food vendors including festival favorites, Island Noodles. There were also activities on site including a selfie wall, axe throwing, giant Jenga and corn hole.
Each day had its stand outs and we’d like to take some time highlighting a few of these here for you. On day one, the festival began a bit later and so there were fewer acts. The evening culminated in a performance by Maren Morris but for us at ConcertHopper, the stand out for the day was COIN. The band was so full of energy and they left everything on the stage for the fans in attendance.
For day two of the festival, we were treated to a longer schedule which gave us more artists to take in. Closing out the day was Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats. For me though, as a kid who sat in the back of the bus with a CD player while in high school, I had blasted Stankonia by Outkast. And, while stationed in Okinawa, Japan, I had performed karaoke to Outkast songs. So for me, Big Boi was a highlight of day two and I was not disappointed. Surrounded by thousands of fellow fans, we all sang in unison to hit after hit from both the Outkast and Big Boi’s solo catalogs.
Another stand out for day two is probably someone who most of the readers will be familiar with but, for me at least, there was only a very narrow familiarity with the artist. Gayle, perhaps most famous for her songs that make their appearances all over TikTok put on a killer performance. Fresh off of a run with Taylor Swift and her Eras tour, Gayle brought a decidedly punk rock vibe to Riverbend festival. Also, as a surprise, Gayle and her band covered Paramore’s “Misery Business” much to the delight of the fans.
Moving on to day three, storms had gathered in the areas surrounding Chattanooga and the buzz about the festival was whether we would skate by without a rain delay. Inevitably, this turned out to not be the case as, during Blackberry Smoke’s set thunder clouds rolled into the area and forced the concert to shut down. Fortunately the stoppage was only temporary and Trombone Shorty graciously relinquished a bit of their set so that Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade was still able to play, albeit with a shortened set.
In spite of all of this, our favorites of the day were a band that we selected ahead of the festival in our acts to watch for. Doom Flamingo provided some beautifully hybridized music that perfectly blended jazz, pop, dance and electronic music amongst other genres. Powerful vocals pelted those who were either lucky or smart enough to show up early enough in time to see the group perform.
Another standout performance was a very historical one and that was Mavis Staples. To call Staples anything short of a legend would be doing her a huge disservice. She’s not only a talented vocalist and songwriter but a devout figure standing out amongst the titans of the civil rights movement in America. She’s a multiple Grammy winner, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner, named one of the 100 Greatest Singers of all Time and is an inductee to the Blues, Gospel and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame. Seeing her perform was truly an event that I will be forever grateful for having borne witness to.
All in all, Riverbend was a great success this year. The festival could have easily folded during the pandemic but it persisted. For 40 years now, the festival has brought joy to the summer droves of Chattanooga and we certainly hope there will be 40 more years of this festival to come. We’ll see you all next year on the banks of the Tennessee River in Chattanooga for what is undoubtedly going to be another great festival year.
As always, please feel free to browse around ConcertHopper’s website further and check out our articles covering a wide variety of topics. Please also check us out on social media on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Life is a beautiful thing and music only adds to that beauty, take some time to get out and celebrate beauty and life with a community of like-minded individuals at a concert soon, it’s always worth the price of admission.