MOSH FOR TOTS: THE TONY DANZA TAPDANCE EXTRAVAGANZA + FILTH + HEAVY//HITTER + EVERGREEN TERRACE + LOTS MORE
SAT NOV 7 | 2 PM | DISTRICT LIVE
The annual AURA Fest tradition continues with yet another overwhelming, all-day lineup. Note the early start time, and as always, bring a toy for Toys for Tots. The first 100 donors get hella swag.
For those who use them, bring backup earplugs. You’ll need them in tip-top condition for headliner The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza. Over four albums from 2005 to 2012, the band took the heaviest mathcore imaginable to the realms of multivariable calculus and differential equations. The first two records match the perverted compositions of Fantômas with timing changes that would confuse a jazz veteran.
The ferocity somehow intensified on the last two, aided by the addition of Josh Travis. Lineup attrition and typical band difficulties brought the Extravaganza to a close. They reformed last year and don’t plan massive tours, so it’s kind of a big deal AURA got them to stop by.
Far more deliberate, Filth takes an extremely different approach. Where Danza can warp a saint’s mind in three minutes, Filth keeps it slow and menacing. They don’t want to drive you insane; they want to scare the living shit out of you. Frontman Dustin Mitchell spices up the plodding deathcore with growling gangsta rap tales that end in graveyards.
Orlando’s Heavy//Hitter mix groove and industrial rhythms into their deathcore. Jacksonville’s Evergreen Terrace have been making top-tier melodic hardcore on their own terms for more than a quarter-century. Columbia, South Carolina’s God Glitch, Atlanta’s The Tarnished, and West Palm Beach’s Thirst join hardcore protest outfit UXO.HXC in making the trip to town for the tots.
Endera, Sling Blade, Sorry For The Mess, and Ars Goetia round out the local support. A dozen bands showing up to help collect toys for kids. Only a Scrooge wouldn’t realize that, like Wu-Tang, metalcore is for the children.
RANDALL BRAMBLETT BAND – SAVANNAH PORCHFEST
SAT NOV 7 | 6 PM | BALDWIN PARK
If music builds communities, few Georgia artists have made more connections across generations, genres, and audiences than Randall Bramblett. The Jesup native has spent more than half a century playing with some of the finest musicians in the business, while quietly establishing himself as a formidable songwriter and bandleader.
His résumé reads like a Southern music family tree. Gregg Allman, Elvin Bishop, Chuck Leavell's Sea Level, Widespread Panic, and Steve Winwood have all benefited from his considerable talents on keyboards, saxophone, and just about anything else he gets his hands on. His compositions have found their way into the repertoires of Bonnie Raitt, The Blind Boys of Alabama, and Bettye LaVette, whose album of Bramblett songs was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Yet Bramblett's own music is where all those connections converge. Across 13 solo albums, including 2024's Paradise Breakdown, he's explored the intersections of Southern soul, jazz, blues, rock, and funk with a storyteller's eye for the human condition.
He’s earned a place in the Athens Music Walk of Fame, an appropriate honor for a musician whose contributions extend well beyond his own recordings. A fitting headliner for the 2026 Savannah Porchfest.
Starting at 11:30 am in the Baldwin Park neighborhood, more than 40 acts will be performing on various porches north of Victory, south of E. 38th Street, between Price and Harmon.
Just a few from the long, long list include Jack Bible, Bero Bero, Soul Purpose, Basik Lee, The Train Wrecks, Ben Keiser, Super Resistors, and Split. Birdleaf plays the afterparty at Hop Atomika.
HALFCOLT + DUSTIN PRICE + EXIT 8
FRI NOV 6 | 6:30 PM | STARLAND YARD
You have to admire an artist who makes slow music and names his debut album ...A Slow Life Then. Nobody can accuse Halfcolt of false advertising. The Savannah indie outfit, led by singer-songwriter Kolten Wellborn, specializes in deliberate, emotionally rich songs that unfold with little concern for some stupid clock.
Brooding guitars, introspective lyrics, and a downright stubborn refusal to hurry things along give the music a distinctive character. Fans of Low and The National should find themselves on familiar ground.
What began as Wellborn's songwriting project has grown into a collaborative endeavor, with several musicians contributing to the new record. The band will perform ...A Slow Life Then in its entirety at this free release party, celebrating its arrival on streaming platforms and, for those who still appreciate owning music, on cassette and CD.
Sharing the bill are Savannah's Dustin Price and Statesboro’s Exit 8. Price has wowed the town with his own new album, Monster Movie, released a few weeks ago.
If you missed the listening party at Pinkie’s, why not hear some of it live? Exit 8, who played their debut show in February, make noisy shoegaze sure to reward the early arrivals.
TOMMY PRINE
FRI NOV 6 | 8 PM | NICKEL & OAK
When your father counted Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and Bonnie Raitt as admirers, it takes guts to follow in dear old dad’s footsteps writing songs. John Prine was a master storyteller, an old soul in his twenties with an uncanny ability to connect to the points of view of others. Tommy didn't pursue a musical career until his mid-20s, despite learning guitar by watching his father play. He learned a lot, creating his own style of moody, alt-folk that can be stark and haunting or lush with strings.
His 2023 debut, This Far South, examines loss and love, and the harsh realities of growing up. The more personal Ships in the Harbor addresses his father's death with depth and tenderness. Last year’s six-song EP, Love Circle, experiments with rock rhythms and bombastic electric guitar. Inheriting such a legacy can be an impossible situation. Tommy is making the case for a Prine family tradition.
JUST RATS + CHEMICAL X + PIT LOCUST + DISPOSED OF
THU NOV 5 | 8 PM | COASTAL EMPIRE BEER CO.
The world is an undeniably better place because of the trail blazed by legends like Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde. Women rockers who followed, leading their own bands and experimenting with different styles within a punk context, gave us The Distillers, The Muffs, Elastica, Veruca Salt, The Breeders… you get the picture.
Keeping that trail crowded is key. Just Rats leader, Bee, is all over it. Strong songwriting is subjective. What’s not debatable is the emotional expression found in the soul-baring lyrics. It’s more than you might expect.
On the spleen-venting end of the emotional spectrum sits New Jersey’s Chemical X. A week into their own 18-city tour, they should be road-tight and ready to stomp out some old-school NYHC.
After their spot-on Green Day cover set on Halloween, Pit Locust can get back to beating hardcore over the head of metalcore and kicking deathcore in the nuts. Disposed Of is getting into the holiday spirit with their debut death metal demo, Endure Eternal Suffering. The GA-SC duo is new and seemingly hungry.
By Frank Ricci