Music Midtown was set to take place this September at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, GA with such acts as My Chemical Romance, A Day To Remember, and Turnstile. Unfortunately the festival has been canceled due to what organizers are calling "circumstances beyond our control."
"Hey Midtown fans – due to circumstances beyond our control, Music Midtown will no longer be taking place this year. We were looking forward to reuniting in September and hope we can all get back to enjoying the festival together again soon. Refunds will be processed automatically within the next 24 hours to the original method of payment. Please allow 7-10 business days for the refund to be processed by your bank. For any questions related to refunds, please visit contact.frontgatetickets.com."
Unfortunately it's a little more complicated than that. According to a report published by Billboard citing industry insiders, the festival was likely canceled due to recent changes in Georgia's gun laws. While Music Midtown took a stance against allowing guns into the festival ("Weapons" are on their list of prohibited items), the Safe Carry Protection Act in Georgia allows any gun owners to carry on publicly owned land… such as Piedmont Park. Billboard notes that there's no legal consensus on whether events held by private companies on public land can ban the carry of guns, which of course prompted pro-gun groups to threaten legal action if they were banned.
I guess the logical conclusion here is to hold the festival somewhere else in 2023, though it certainly feels like a shame that it's canceled and artists lose out on revenue because people feel the need to carry a gun everywhere they go.
