Justin Timberlake to headline Pilgrimage Festival 2017
Two years after he purchased a home in Leiper’s Fork, Tenn., Justin Timberlake is getting ready to play a big concert for his neighbors.
The pop superstar will headline the third annual Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival in Franklin, Tenn.
The two-day festival revealed its performer lineup last week, and it also includes Eddie Vedder, Ryan Adams, The Avett Brothers, Mavis Staples, Gary Clark, Jr and Walk the Moon, among more than three dozen artists.
This year’s Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival takes place September 23 and 24 at the Park at Harlinsdale in Franklin, Tenn. Learn more at www.pilgrimagefestival.com.
Though this will mark Timberlake’s Pilgrimage debut, he’s also a partner and producer of the festival.
In 2015, Timberlake purchased a 126acre patch of land in Leiper’s Fork, Tenn. — a neighboring town of Franklin in Tennessee’s Williamson County. Last year, he joined the Pilgrimage team, calling it a “an amazing opportunity to help build an exceptional event and contribute to my community.”
On Tuesday, Pilgrimage celebrated the lineup news with a “Launch Lunch” at the Factory in Franklin, inviting local business and community partners. Along with a performance from 2017 Pilgrimage act (and Timberlake proteges) The Shadowboxers, festival producers Kevin Griffin and Brandt Wood outlined their vision for year three.
That includes the hope that the event will sell all of its tickets. That would be a first for Pilgrimage, but considering Timberlake’s draw — and the fact that he has almost no other concerts scheduled this year — it’s a goal that may be in reach. Last year’s Pilgrimage reported a daily attendance of 15,000 fans per day, which was a 50 percent increase from year one.
“Festivals that have been around for decades worry every year about how their festival is going to sell, and we’re no different,” Wood said on Tuesday. “But we book with the idea that the festival is going to make for a great story, and it’s going to create some ticket movement, and we’re seeing that already today, by the way.”
Tickets are on sale now via www.pilgrimagefestival.com. 2-day passes are $175, and a 2-day “VIP Village” pass (which includes special viewing areas, open bars, parking, a “culinary experience” and more) is $725.