Atlanta's Music Midtown cancellation allegedly linked to gun law scrutiny

While music Midtown organizers LiveNation have yet to release an official reason, many are claiming the festival’s abrupt cancellation is in response to Georgia’s gun laws.

The festival took to social media to announce its decision to cancel the massive music festival that takes place in Atlanta each year. This year’s festival was scheduled to take place Sept. 17-18 at Piedmont Park with headliners My Chemical Romance, Future, Jack White and Fallout Boy. The festival has been an Atlanta staple since 1994 and has been held in Piedmont Park multiple times. According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the festival rakes in nearly $50 million each year.

“Due to circumstances beyond our control, Music Midtown will no longer be taking place this year,” organizers said in a statement. “We were looking forward to reuniting in September and hope we can all get back to enjoying the festival together again soon.”

According to the website, ticket holders will receive refunds within the next 24 hours to the original method of payment.

Many are speculating the reason behind the cancellation being Georgia’s firearm laws. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported the cancellation is “linked to a recent appeals court ruling related to the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s ability to restrict guns from its property, and broader concerns about firearms at the festival.”

In April of this year, Gov. Brian Kemp sign Senate Bill 319 allowing residents to carry a concealed handgun in public without a license from the state.

“People don’t have to carry if they don’t want to,” Kemp said at the time. “But this is a constitutional authority that people have and they certainly shouldn’t have a piece of paper from the government to be able to legally carry a weapon.”

Georgia law allows guns in public parks, but in 2014, gun rights activist Phillip Evans and GeorgiaCarry.org, now known as GA2A, filed a lawsuit against the Atlanta Botanical Gardens after being escorted off campus for openly carrying a gun. In 2019, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled the Gardens had the right to ban guns because it has a “long-term lease to use its land.” That decision was affirmed earlier this year.

Atlanta city council president Doug Shipman called the decision a “sad day in Atlanta.”

Georgia governor hopeful Stacey Abrams released a lengthy statement opposing Kemp’s laws, saying he puts “his political ambitions above the welfare of the state.”

“Brian Kemp’s dangerous and extreme gun agenda endangers the lives of Georgians, and the cancellation of Music Midtown is proof that his reckless policies endanger Georgia’s economy as well,” Abrams said. “It’s shameful, but not surprising, that the governor cares more about protecting dangerous people carrying guns in public than saving jobs and business in Georgia.”

Libertarian Lt Governor candidate Ryan Graham released a statement, saying if people “don’t want to go to an event that allows guns, don’t.”

“Organizations have every right to set rules in order to participate in their private events,” Graham said. “That doesn’t change just because the land is public. We can support an individual’s right to keep and bear arms and balance that with others’ freedom of association. Markets can sort this out. If you don’t want to go to a gun-free event, don’t. If you don’t want to go to an event that allows guns, don’t. It’s really that simple.”

Music Midtown has not yet responded to request for comment. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and Kemp have yet to release statements on the cancellation.