Brookhaven made its earliest ever announcement of headlining acts for its decade-old free Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival: rock act O.A.R. and R&B act Boyz II Men.
The festival at Blackburn Park is set for March 29 and 30.
Last year’s festival, which featured acts like Live, Lisa Loeb, Barenaked Ladies and Sister Hazel, drew the biggest crowd to date, 58,000 over two days.
“We think O.A.R. will be a good draw for folks in the 30 to 45 year old range,” said former Brookhaven mayor John Ernst, who started the festival and voluntarily helps put together the music line up. “And Boyz II Men are legends. Everyone knows their biggest songs.”
More acts are set to be announced at a later date.
“We started hunting for acts earlier this year,” Ernst said. He hopes this will spur more sponsorship money and reduce the reliance on taxpayer’s dollars to fund the festival and pay for the acts. In recent years, the budget for the music has been around $250,000.
O.A.R., a Maryland rock band, has had several adult pop top 40 hits over the years and one memorable one that landed on the Billboard Hot 100: 2008′s “Shattered (Turn the Car Around).” They were last in Atlanta for a concert at Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain this past summer.
Philadelphia trio Boyz II Men owned the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the early 1990s with memorable harmonic hits like “Motownphilly,” “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday,” “End of the Road,” “I’ll Make Love to You,” “On Bended Knee” and “One Sweet Day.” The group performed at the Stockbridge Amphitheatre in 2023.
Headliners at the Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival from past years:
2018: Keith Anderson, Craig Morgan, Edwin McCain, Five for Fighting
2019: The Wallflowers, Smash Mouth, the Spin Doctors, the Romantics
2020: Canceled due to COVID-19 (Rachel Platten and Better Than Ezra were scheduled headliners)
2021: Rick Springfield, The Revivalists, The Amy Ray Band, Better Than Ezra, Jagged Edge, Brian Littrell
2022: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Drivin N Cryin, Anderson East, Howie Day
2023: Band of Horses, Hanson, the Fray, Don McLean, All-4-One
2024: Barenaked Ladies, Live, Lisa Loeb, Sister Hazel
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