All photos via Charlie Timberlake

SweetWater 420 Fest descended upon Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia this past weekend, April 21-23, 2017. Always scheduled on the weekend closest to Earth Day – this year’s Earth Day fell right in the middle on the 22nd, helping them reinforce and celebrate their motto of “We’re not here for a long time, She’s (Earth) is here for a good time.”

The festival kicked off Friday with Vermont jam quartet Twiddle, an hour and a half of crowd pleasers moe., who also headlined SweetWater Brewery’s 20th birthday party earlier this year.

Trey Anastasio Band headlined Friday night with two-sets, playing the recently debuted original “Everything’s Right.” Giddy Trey hypnotized the crowd with the lyrics of the new song – “just hold tight, everything’s right” – rousing many tension releasing head bobs. Jennifer Hartswick’s vocals on TAB’s cover of Gorillaz “Clint Eastwood” makes it the only version you should listen to these days.

A perfect Atlanta spring Saturday brought heavy crowds for day 2 of the festival. Atlanta born Ron Pope started off the day with his brand of soulful rock, playing his latest single “Let’s Get Stoned.” Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue brought a needed jazz and funk vibe to the main stage followed by Slightly Stoopid who were clearly happy to be there, calling 420 Fest “the greatest festival around.”

The main stage attendance swelled as Georgia-formed Widespread Panic closed out Saturday evening with their first two sets of four sets total over the weekend. Highlights included starting off with old school favorite “Pigeons,” then waking up the crowd at the start of the second set with “Chainsaw City.” Next smoothly transitioning into a crowd thrilling cover of the Dead’s “Good morning Little Schoolgirl” and closing out a classic Panic performance with “Porch Song.”

Sunday got off to a soggy start as Dark Star Orchestra had a downpour going on during their early afternoon set. Major and the Monbacks brought people into their sheltered show at the Lyrics and Laughter stage as a respite from the rain. The crowd ended up staying when it stopped after being reeled in by the psychedelic rock sounds of their forthcoming album Moonlight Anthems. Lettuce woke up the rain drenched crowd later in the day with their vibrant horns and high energy asking “are you ready for the funk?” To which a throng of bobbing umbrellas and ponchos affirmed.

The rain broke and the sun came out just in time for Widespread Panic to close out the weekend with another two set opus. The crowd was not as inflated as Saturday, but it was clear that most Sunday attendees were there for Widespread. Starting off with “Disco” into “Arlene” and crushing the Talking Heads “Life During Wartime,” Panic definitely proved the“never miss a Sunday show” saying to be true with their festival closing performance.

SweetWater 420 Fest has had varying lineups over the their 12 year history (Kid Rock? Snoop Dog?) but going back to their jam band roots was a success. As SweetWater Brewing celebrated “20 years of heady beers,” they finally had a lineup to match.