Ludacris, The Flaming Lips coming to Riverbend

Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity has apologized for last month's G-Day spring game performing agreement with Ludacris, pictured. The contract included the university providing condoms and liquor to the Atlanta-based rapper. Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity has apologized for last month's G-Day spring game performing agreement with Ludacris, pictured. The contract included the university providing condoms and liquor to the Atlanta-based rapper.

By Barry Courter March 30, 2017 5 min read

The Flaming Lips

Rapper Ludacris sings before Georgia’s spring intrasquad NCAA college football game Saturday, April 16, 2016, in Athens, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Do you realize the Riverbend Festival is changing?

Or at least that’s the way it might seem to some fans with the announcement today that rap superstar/actor Ludacris and music festival favorites The Flaming Lips will play the nine-day event on consecutive Saturdays this summer.

They join Boz Scaggs, Don Felder, Corey Smith, Old Dominion, Crowder, Mother’s Finest, George Thorogood & The Destroyers, The Purple Xperience, Morris Day & The Time with Cameo, Toby Keith and Here Come the Mummies as the headlining acts on the main Coca-Cola Stage.

Others on the schedule include newly announced acts Five Alarm Funk, Watch the Duck, The Ragbirds, Drivin’ & Cryin’ and The Producers, as well as previously announced artists such as Joy Formidable, White Denim and Whiskey Myers.

Critics of Riverbend have complained for years that it is dominated by country and oldies acts with very few newer acts such as those found at “destination” music festivals like Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn., or Hangout in Gulf Shores, Ala.