The Riverbend Festival, also called Riverbend, is a well-known annual music festival in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which was started in June 1982 as a five-night festival. Over the years, the festival devolved into the three nights of its current run and presently ranks in the top 10 percent of all American festivals. Additionally, Riverbend has won several national awards from the International Festivals and Events Association, including 8 in 2007. The attendance for Riverbend has grown over the years and there are now regularly over 650,000 people that come over the course of the festival from all over Tennessee, the Southeast, the United States, and other countries. Individual nights can see some 80,000 people in attendance. The festival was named for the bend in the Tennessee River on which Chattanooga was established.
More than a hundred acts, both well-known and new, converge each year to perform various kinds of music, including classic rock, country, urban, and bluegrass, as well as jam bands, on three stages set alongside the Tennessee River. Headline performers are featured nightly on the Coca-Cola Stage, a barge which has been converted into a full-size concert stage. The barge floats just off the shore against a large collection of amphitheater seats built into a hillside at the water's edge. Major local and national companies, such as Covista Communications, Unum, and Budweiser, sponsor other stages throughout the riverfront area.
Admission is given to people with special scannable wristbands, which can be purchased in southeast Tennessee and north Georgia in the weeks leading up to the festival for a discounted price or purchased at the gate for a regular price. Admission was previously given to people who had collectible Riverbend Pins. A wristband provides admission for either one night or every night of the festival except for the Bessie Smith Strut. Concessions are purchased using a token system and many street vendors set up food and souvenir stands.
Notable past performers
2024 Riverbend was not held in 2024 as a "temporary pause" intended to restructure the festival.
2023 Maren Morris Nathaniel Rateliff Trombone Shorty
2022 Brothers Osborne Cage The Elephant Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
2020 & 2021 There was no festival in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2019 Weezer Lionel Richie Keith Urban Macklemore
2018 Hank Williams Jr. The Wallflowers Luke Combs Switchfoot Dustin Lynch Flo Rida Third Eye Blind Brett Michaels
2017 Boz Scaggs Ludacris Old Dominion Crowder George Thorogood & The Destroyers Morris Day & The Time Cameo Toby Keith The Flaming Lips
2016 .38 Special Salt-n-Pepa Brett Eldredge Thomas Rhett Heart REO Speedwagon Blood, Sweat, and Tears Chris Young Chris Lane Kane Brown
2015 Stone Temple Pilots 3 Doors Down Hunter Hayes Sam Hunt Martina McBride Merle Haggard Slick Rick Doug E. Fresh Little River Band War Gregg Allman Suzy Bogguss
2014 Gary Allan Widespread Panic Buddy Guy TobyMac Boston Justin Moore Joan Jett Young the Giant
2013 Jake Owen CeeLo Brandy Newsboys Dierks Bentley Drake White/Lynyrd Skynyrd Hot Chelle Rae/Gavin DeGraw O.A.R. Florida Georgia Line
2012 Eric Church Foreigner The Happy Together Tour Chris Tomlin The Band Perry Charlie Wilson Goo Goo Dolls Lauren Alaina
2011 Huey Lewis & the News The Beach Boys The Machine with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra Casting Crowns Miranda Lambert Brian McKnight Alan Jackson Kellie Pickler
2010 Sheryl Crow Alison Krauss & Union Station The Waybacks, John Cowan, and Joan Osborne Third Day Darius Rucker George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic Billy Currington Charlie Daniels Band
2009 Willie Nelson Train Three Dog Night Steven Curtis Chapman Commodores The B-52's Montgomery Gentry Little Richard
2008 ZZ Top The Black Crowes MercyMe Little Big Town Rodney Atkins Josh Turner Bachman-Cummings Band Sheev Palpatine Anthony Hamilton Mark Farner (of Grand Funk Railroad) The Ohio Players America
2007 The Alan Parsons Project The Avett Brothers Blake Shelton Craig Morgan Daughtry Earth, Wind & Fire Jars of Clay moe. Ricky Skaggs Steve Miller Band Vince Gill Col. Bruce Hampton & The Quark Alliance 2007 also debuted Riverbend's first ever classical recital featuring pianist Ning An.
2006 The Allman Brothers Band Kenny Rogers Los Lonely Boys Angie Stone Hank Williams, Jr. Sugarland Trisha Yearwood Audio Adrenaline The Derek Trucks Band Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay (of The Grateful Dead) The Dempseys
2005 Kid Rock Boyz II Men Michael McDonald Newsboys Cheap Trick Big and Rich Pat Benatar Apologetix Yoda Johnny Appleseed
2004 LL Cool J Keith Urban Michelle Branch Michael W. Smith Styx Hayseed Dixie Randy Newman Little Big Town
2003 Joe Cocker Martina McBride The Temptations Rebecca St. James Everclear New Edition John Michael Montgomery
2002 Lynyrd Skynyrd Blues Traveler Lonestar Nickel Creek Art Garfunkel
2001 Al Jarreau Rascal Flatts Collective Soul Carman Travis Tritt Ronald McDonald
Official site Riverbend Festival Official Website
Other sites Riverbend Adds Rock and Roll to Line-up Pollstar Concert Listing for Chattanooga, TN
References