by Frank Ricci
SLEEVEENS + MANAROVS + 86 STATE STREET
THU APR 23 | 6:30 PM | STARLAND YARD
Scouts, experts, and owners of 10,000 records from across the nation supply Take Five with some of the data and analysis that keeps you, the Savannah concert-goer, informed on bands you must see in order to live a life of fulfillment. Sleeveens were insisted upon by a leading west coast neurologist (like, literally, bro), and local research has confirmed the analysis. Based in both Nashville and Dublin, they play a spine-tingling combination of British and Irish punk, garage rock, power pop, and plain ol’ rock and roll. It’s upbeat, loaded with hooks, and kills on stage.
Fans of Buzzcocks, Undertones, and Stiff Little Fingers already know what this sounds like. People who like live punk will be fully informed by around 10 pm Thursday night. There are some (very) early U2 influences, but mainly what you get is a focus on melody, lots of energy and sincerity, and strong songwriting soaked in draft beer. A definite Top 3 must-see show of 2026 so far. If all that isn’t enough, it’s outdoors and free, fercrissakes.
Support comes from Manarovs, who ought to be in top form. Fresh off a European tour that included the history-making two gigs at Milan Bergamo Airport in Italy, nothing makes a band tight as a drum like constant gigging on foreign soil. Deeply dedicated to downstroke Ramonescore, Manarovs are the perfect match for the kind of punk Sleeveens play, and the combination is set to equal more than the sum of its parts.
Openers 86 State Street bring the radical weirdness to the festivities. The duo performs their unique, stripped-down take on basic folk, pogo punk, garage rock, and rockabilly.
FURY IN FEW + KLEPT + ONE HITTER + PERSONAL ONION, NOW
FRI APR 24 | 7 PM | COASTAL EMPIRE BEER CO.
Given their motto of “Rock or Die,” the two young men in Atlanta’s Fury in Few are going to live to be older than Methuselah. To say this band has a few hooks is the understatement of the century. Whether it’s a riff, a chorus, a drumbeat, or a line of melody, Fury in Few have a knack for planting a sonic seed in your ears that grows in your head and clings like ivy.
As with the White Stripes and the Black Keys, you can barely wrap your head around what can be done with just a guitar and drums until you see the band live. It’s far beyond hardcore, punk rock, and indie, basically circling back to where “hard rock” almost becomes the best way to describe it. But don’t let that undersell the near-perfect Gibson SG guitar tone, the formidable rhythm foundation, and the songs that ride on them.
That may be part of the genius here. Take something simple and attractive and make it 1000x better…and shirtless. It’s what they’ve been perfecting, from early songs like Put the Thriller Down and (Metal) Piece of $hit to their newest single Strike a Poser. Take Five does not condone violence, but won’t complain about this command, either.
Klept has earned a strong following of local underground music fans by playing out, playing loud, and adding oddball electronic sounds to their experimental heavy noise punk. They also earned mad respect when lead singer Ceron Thornton turned Space Prom upside-down with a scintillating version of Black Flag’s Rise Above, a highlight on a night loaded with them. One Hitter, the band and not the weed addiction device, does not suck, despite their short version self-description. The longer one makes more sense: “punk prog psych noise post music whatever the fuck.” Who is anyone to argue? Newer trio Personal Onion, Now, featuring guitar wiz Catzap on drums, kicks it off.
MJT
SAT APR 25 | 8 PM | BROUGHTON STREET BOWL AND BREW
Family bands have a long and sometimes contrived history. The fake television band The Partridge Family only counts in fiction, but the real world brought us The Cowsills, Hanson, HAIM, and the Jonas Brothers. Long Island offers MJT from Central Islip, a town once known for a notorious mental hospital. Fittingly, the Godfrey brothers are crazy good on their respective instruments. Jordan kills on drums, David wails on guitar and vocals, and Matt channels Moving Pictures-era Geddy Lee on the keys and synth bass. The brothers began as a progressive alt rock band and have matured into a distinct blend of soul and rock, with the alt side keeping the edge and the prog side creating space to show off. The guitar sound is huge, often with metal-level distortion, and the melodic, soulful vocals still fit.
Combining genres like this is ambitious. Successful attempts came from Urban Dance Squad, Fishbone, 24-7 Spyz, Living Colour, and Faith No More. Group success aside, all of those bands were known for individual members with virtuoso-level skill. Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, Angelo Moore of Fishbone, and Mike Bordin of Faith No More stand out. All three MJT members are accomplished, as the range of their sound clearly shows. It’s a lot of music for a free show.
THE D.O.O.D. + ARS GOETIA + NIBIRU
SAT APR 25 | 9 PM | THE WORMHOLE
The Distinguished Order of Disobedience have been bombing out of Sarasota, Fla., since 2004. Their brand of metal includes thrash, speed, and groove, so it’s anything but subtle. That goes for the members as well. The four hairy, burly biker guys may look a touch less threatening with Jonzey, the lone female member, on bass, though metal history says that should fool no one. It’s a tradition shared by Jo Bench from Bolt Thrower, Kira from Black Flag, and Sean Yseult from White Zombie. In a genre that at one time garnered a total sausage party audience, it’s nice to think these pioneers helped even out the crowd. Either way, it takes nothing away from the heaviness of the music, and D.O.O.D. hits hard. Some songs enter hardcore punk or metalcore territory, but the majority sits in the Pantera lane, with an emphasis on how Vinny Paul’s drums sound.
Ars Goetia, the planet’s most prominent taco metal band, loads the meatiness of deathcore, the shredded cheddar of metalcore, and a healthy splash of hardcore hot sauce into a deadline-oriented crispy corn tortilla metaphor that didn’t materialize in time for publication. Regardless, it likely violates multiple food safety regulations, but if you love it heavy, you’ll wolf it down and ask for seconds.
Like the headliner, Nibiru keeps their metal in the same groove as Pantera, with wild guitar pyrotechnics, chug-a-lug rhythms, and a hardcore influence that most Gainesville bands are unable to avoid. There’s a technical side to the proceedings that recalls Meshuggah and Gorguts, but those come in rare flourishes rather than as a major part of the sound. Needless to say, this isn’t date night music. There will be no quiet moments unless some nitwit on Bull Street drives into an electrical pole leaving Cha-Del’s.
TAYLORVILLE – TRIBUTE TO TAYLOR SWIFT
THU APR 23 | 8 PM | VICTORY NORTH
There will always be something odd about tribute acts for current bands, and for youth-oriented music the disconnect is double. Then you remember Taylor Swift has been releasing records for 20 years. This June will mark the 20th anniversary of her debut single, Tim McGraw, when she was all of 16 years old. The eponymous full-length, Taylor Swift, followed four months later, and it’s been nothing but hit singles, top-selling albums, catastrophic relationships, and mountains and mountains of money ever since. Bad, terrible, no-good boyfriends aside, it’s been all upsides. That debut record sold 8 million units, but the total including the digital age comes in at 116 million albums sold. Her Billboard 200 chart success is unprecedented, with 15 albums totaling 98 weeks at No. 1. Call it bubblegum pop if you like, but kids alone cannot buy that many records. Millions grew up with her, stuck with it, and like Madonna, she matured and became a better singer, turning current trends into gold. Over the last decade, ticket prices have become a mortgage proposition, so it only makes sense that tribute acts have appeared.
Taylorville bills itself as an “unofficial” version, focusing on the Eras concert tour. It’s a full band playing all the hits, some deeper cuts, and a full-scale audio-visual spectacle suited for smaller venues that don’t charge four figures for entry. Victory North is possibly the best venue in town, so the pairing works like Tay-Tay and Travis.