Secret Stages returns to Avondale with 55 buzz-worthy acts

The Secret Stages Music Discovery Festival, featuring quality, up-and-coming acts from Birmingham and around the United States, returns to Avondale on Friday, Aug. 2, and Saturday, Aug. 3.

The lineup includes 55 acts from 18 states — including a dozen from Alabama — and every genre from rock and folk to hip hop and electronica.

The venues, all within easy walking distance on 41st Street South, are Avondale Brewery, Saturn, 41st St. Pub and The Hangar.

As always, Secret Stages — in its ninth year overall and second in Avondale — is carefully curated, allowing fans to discover new musical delights.

“You know that feeling when you discover that new band you’re obsessed with? We’re trying to deliver that feeling in a live event package, and we really hope at the end of the two days you have discovered that,” said Sam George, festival co-founder and creative director.

“Secret Stages is one of the best bang-for-your-buck music experiences you can get in this town, or anywhere,” he said.

“Secret Stages is an opportunity to see acts in an intimate venue that a few years from now may be playing to packed houses on much larger stages,” George said.

Secret Stages organizers say the move last year from the Loft District downtown to Avondale was successful.

Avondale was “a really good fit” for Secret Stages, said Rashid Qandil, the event’s lead curator.

“The festival felt distilled and compact in Avondale, while the general quality of stages and experience felt enhanced,” he said.

Presenting the event in Avondale in 2018 was “unequivocally the right move for Secret Stages,” George said.

“Though we loved our downtown footprint, and moved primarily for reasons beyond our control, the new consolidated location provides brings our audience closer together and provides more of a festival vibe, while making it easier on our attendees to quickly navigate from set to set,” George said.

At Secret Stages 2019, there are acts from New York, Boston, Miami, Atlanta, Nashville, New Orleans, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and other large cities, an impressive geographic spread and a sign, perhaps, of word spreading in the music industry that the event is an attractive one.

"I definitely think that Secret Stages continues to gather national recognition every year from artists, fans and the press,” George said. “While we are a curated festival, and the credit for our expansive lineup is due largely to our booking team and the attention and care they give to making sure our festival is as representative as it can be geographically, musically and demographically, it can’t hurt that each year more of the artists we approach have heard of us.”

Qandil also gives credit to the rest of the booking team, Lauren Elizabeth and Chris McCauley, who have been “incredibly valuable additions,” he said.

“With the new team in place, we are reaching a wide range of artists as we all build on our networks and relationships,” he said.

Qandil, who has booked the hip hop acts for Secret Stages since it began, took on more responsibility for curation after long-time programmer and event co-founder Travis Morgan stepped down prior to the 2018 festival.

Drawing acts from around the country “definitely wouldn't be as easy without the standards that (Morgan) set at the onset of the festival and the years of dedication he put in as the lead booker and working with our team to build a reputation for Secret Stages,” Qandil said.

In addition, “artists are helping spread the word about the festival and the energy here,” he said.

The other “big factor” is Birmingham’s improving national image. “The Magic City is growing and becoming more attractive, and we have been growing along with it,” Qandil said.

And in addition to drawing national and regional acts, it is also rewarding to shine a light on acts from Birmingham and Alabama, according to George.

“Secret Stages has always had a two-pronged mission when it comes to the artists we bring to our stages,” he said. “One is to gather the best under-the-radar acts from across the nation to Birmingham. The other has been to hold up acts from our own backyard that deserve every bit as much to share the spotlight with the acts we bring from out of town.” 

“Helping people discover that they have amazing music being created right around the corner from them is it’s own reward,” George said.

Organizers are also proud of the diversity in the 2019 Secret Stages lineup, according to Qandil. “Music isn't intrinsically about being black or white or trans or queer or male or female, but it speaks to all of these experiences, and the community here in Birmingham is all of those things and more,” he said.

Jon Poor serves as event director and is also a co-founder of the event.

There will be live music from 5:30 p.m to midnight each day of the festival.

Day passes are $45, weekend passes are $60 and VIP passes are $120.

Advance tickets are $35 for day passes, $55 for weekend passes and $100 for VIP passes.

For more information, including discounted advance tickets, go to secretstages.net.