After the Moon River Festival sold out in just eight hours for its inaugural event in Chattanooga, co-founder Drew Holcomb admitted to having a slight worry that "it was beginner's luck."
When word came down before noon Thursday from festival producers AC Entertainment that all 10,000 tickets to this year's festival had been sold, Holcomb said, it was a "testimony to the city of Chattanooga and AC and, more than anything, the lineup. To do it for the second year in a row is great."
He said there were about 400 general admission tickets left for sale at the end of the day Wednesday. Tickets had gone on sale at 1o that morning. All of the VIP tickets were sold by day's end, and all of the presale tickets that were made available to previous tickets buyers were sold on Tuesday when they became available.
The 2019 lineup features Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Brandi Carlile, Goodbye Road (Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors, JOHNNYSWIM, Penny & Sparrow), St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Moon Taxi, Drew & Ellie Holcomb, The Wood Brothers, JOHNNYSWIM, Josh Ritter, The Lone Bellow, The Oh Hellos, Joy Williams, Rayland Baxter, The Band Camino, Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds, The Suffers, Devon Gilfillian, Cedric Burnside, The New Respects, Birdtalker, Lady Wray, and The Brook & The Bluff.
"It's no surprise this festival sold out so quickly," said Mary Howard Ade, music marketing manager with the Chattanooga Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. "People not only want to see the great bands Moon River brings, but they also want to experience Chattanooga."
Jonathan Susman, open spaces activation and engagement specialist with the city, said the festival's success is indicative of a larger growth in live music in the city.
"I think it says a lot about the work that people with the city, the Convention and Visitors Bureau and the state have done," he said. "It just shows that a lot of the work that these folks have done for a lot of years are paying off.
"The first wave of tickets that sold out for Moon River were people that had been there before, so they knew it to be a great event," Susman said.
He pointed not just to the success of Moon River, but to other events, as well. After the Riverbend Festival announced two weeks ago that it was switching from nine days to four, raising its ticket price in order to bring in more current acts and going to a tiered ticketing system, officials said the first three tiers sold out on Feb. 4, the day they were released.
Contact staff writer Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.