AVLFest 2024: First wave of musicians announced, what to know about venues, tickets, more

ASHEVILLE - Local, regional and national artists make up just some of the long list of names announced to play at the four-day music festival, AVLFest.

AVLFest, presented by Wicked Weed Brewing and Worthwhile Sounds, will be in various locations across Asheville from Aug. 1-4.

On March 22, the organizers released the first wave of performers with the second half to be released later.

Jeff Whitworth, founder and owner of Worthwhile Sounds, said for the sophomore year the citywide festival will have new and returning acts, more venues, and logistical improvements to enhance guest experiences.

AVLFest performers: First wave

Last year, 236 artists performed and there will be a slight increase at this year’s event, Whitworth said.

Topping the list of more than 160 artists announced so far for 2024 are Papadosio, Beachwood Sparks, Town Mountain, Blitzen Trapper, SG Goodman, River Whyless, The Mother Hips, Susto, The Heavy Heavy, Jon Stickley, Trap Jazz, Daikaiju, Joslyn & the Sweet Compresssion, Toubab Krewe, Tyler Ramsey, Larry Keep Experience, Dylan LeBlanc, Crys Matthews, King Lazy Eye, Floating Action, Yarn, Bask, Dangermuffin, Tumbao, Gyasi, Boulevards, Free Planet Radio, Colby T. Helms, Jeff Sipe, Lyric, Joshua Quimby and Viv & Riley and Ismay.

AVLFest provides a stage for local artists and invites regional and national acts to join the music celebration ― some whom will be returning for a second year.

"AVLFest will always support and embrace and lift up our local scene as much as possible. That will forever be our motto," Whitworth said. "At the same time, like last year, it's a perfect blend of national touring acts and local bands."

Whitworth said genres are diverse to acknowledge and honor music lovers of all types who live in and travel to Asheville for music.

Papadosio, a five-piece group with prog rock, livetronica, jazz and jam influences, is based in Asheville and has national and international appeal.

"They're a very successful touring band we're proud to have here in Asheville as their home. It seemed like an obvious fit to have our wave one headliner be one of Asheville's largest draws as far as local bands are concerned."

Whitworth said Beachwood Sparks is a quintessential psychedelic country rock band from the 1990s and early 2000s that were ahead of their time. He said the band was broken up for more than a decade, so when Whitworth learned they were reuniting for a couple of shows and planning to release a new album, he tapped them for AVLFest.

He said it will be the band's first time playing Asheville.

"One of the unique things about AVLFest, it doesn't look like a standard festival lineup, which is music to my ears; it's by design," Whitworth said. "We kind of like to stay away from the prototypical festival billing and create unique experiences and bringing a band like Beachwood Sparks to North Carolina is a huge deal to the national music scene."

AVLFest venues

Several new venues have been added to host the concerts and will span from downtown to neighborhoods across Asheville.

Burial Beer Co.’s new music hall Eulogy, Jack of the Wood, The Odd and The Social are some new additions. French Broad Brewery's outdoor stage will be used ― last year, the shows were indoors.

AVLFest host venues for 2024:

• Salvage Station

• The Outpost

• Highland Brewing Company

• New Belgium Brewing

• The Orange Peel

• The Grey Eagle

• Wortham Center for the Performing Arts

• Eulogy

• French Broad River Brewery

• Asheville Music Hall

• The Funkatorium

• One World West

• The One Stop

• The Odd

• Jack of the Wood

• Sovereign Kava

• The Social

• Fleetwood's

• Little Jumbo

• The Cellar at Haywood Park Hotel

AVLFest festival passes

AVLFest offered presale discounts to locals and those who purchased early bird presale tickets last year, which have now ended.

“It’s impossible to beat a four-day festival of this magnitude but we’re still keeping tickets very affordable,” Whitworth said. “I put us up against any festival as far as pricing goes for a four-day festival and I think that we will resoundingly show up as the cheapest option.”

Admission is now $135 for general admission and $250 for VIP weekend passes and may be purchased at avlfest.com or participating local retailers Harvest Records or Records in the RAD ― recommended if wanting to skip online ticketing fees.

The passes are all-inclusive for the more than 20 stages over the four-day event; separate tickets will not be sold for headliner shows this year.

Whitworth said the team wanted to create a festival that is accessible from the genre and affordability standpoints.

Ticketing kiosks will be set up around the city during the festival weekend.

Passes must be redeemed for wristbands to grant entry. Whitworth said there will be additional locations across the city for concertgoers to retrieve their wristbands for added convenience.

A way to attend shows for free is to volunteer for AVLFest. To sign up, email volunteer@avlfest.com.

A portion of the 2024 AVLFest proceeds will benefit Asheville Music Professionals, a local nonprofit driving education, advocacy, and collaboration in the western North Carolina music community.

AVLFest shuttles and bikes

AVLFest is upping efforts to encourage concertgoers to be environmentally conscious by using alternative modes of transportation.

“We have a strong initiative this year to really assess and mitigate our carbon footprint as much as possible so we’re encouraging biking again,” Whitworth said.

This year, AVLFest is partnering with Asheville on Bikes to roll out a “robust plan” for effectively using bikes to navigate the festival, including providing bike route maps.

Instead of full-scale luxury coaches, the organizers are enlisting compact 30-seater shuttles and there will be twice as many ― about 16 ― to regularly circulate the venue route. Whitworth said the shuttles can maneuver the streets better and are expected to be more efficient.

AVLFest impact

Whitworth said last year’s festival weekend was a success for the local music scene, small businesses, and the city and worked to raise awareness about what Asheville has to offer – the core mission at AVLFest.

“Overall, we were resoundingly pleased with the outcome from our inaugural event. It was fully embraced by the community which was obviously our biggest objective and top priority,” Whitworth said.

“In year two, our focus is on maturation more so than growth, so basically, cleaning up holes that we found in year one ― there weren’t many, luckily, but tightening up a few things and making it a more seamless and close to flawless experience as possible,” he said.

AVLFest has a no-road closure policy to ensure businesses’ operations aren’t negatively impacted. Whitworth said many local businesses reported increased traffic and sales and are excited about the festival’s return.

Nearly 8,000 tickets were sold for AVLFest in 2023. This year, the event is capped at 10,000 tickets.

"Our hope is that we sell out," Whitworth said. "One of the reasons we added more venues and expanded our coverage."

AVLFest 2024

Where: Various locations, Asheville.

When: Aug. 1-4.

Cost: $135 Weekend Pass (Wave 1).

Info: To purchase tickets, visit avlfest.com and follow on Instagram @avlfest.

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• AVLFest: Was the inaugural citywide music festival a success?

• Exclusive: Burial Beer's Eulogy music venue, Good Hot Fish restaurant opening details

• Handle with care: Dale Chihuly artist team moves new exhibit onto Biltmore Estate

Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at tkennell@citizentimes.com or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: AVLFest 2024: More than 160 music acts announced in first wave lineup