On October 25th and 26th, the 2nd Annual Southern Gothic Festival will be creeping into the infamous 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia—a venue that is the perfect setting for a macabre underground music event. The timing’s no coincidence either; it’s set to go down during Athens’ Halloween blowout, The Wild Rumpus. Picture the streets clogged with costumed phantoms, thousands of them, howling in the night while the 40 Watt beats like Poe’s proverbial dark heart beneath it all.
This year’s lineup evokes the spirits of 80s goth and post-punk. Headliners The Chameleons and The March Violets will bring their dark magic from the UK to captivate Athens. Alongside them, newer luminaries in the darkwave scene, such as Vision Video, Deceits, Korine, Panic Priest, and more, are poised to conjure their spell over the audience during their sets.
Expect no quiet repose in the confines of the 40 Watt—this is music that wails, croons, and thrashes, tearing down the paper-thin barrier between the living and the lost. With every chord, every howl, the air will thicken as though the ghosts of Samhain itself are dancing through the smoke. It’s a night of music to burn the past and beckon the future with pyres lit high—Athens, with its indie rock and post-punk Americana history music scene as the perfect 40 Watt as the perfect Southern Gothic sepulcher this season of the witch.
Here is the full lineup of the festival’s eclectic mix of modern misfits:
- Vision Video
- Deceits
- Korine
- House of Harm
- Panic Priest
- Tears for the Dying
- Miss Cherry Delight
- Vincas
Tickets for a single night are $45, and for a full weekend, they’re $70. Purchase your tickets here!
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