Â鶹app

Huntsville’s newest music festival is kicking things off with a trip to the recent past (think the 1990s and early 2000s).

The South Star Music Festival on Tuesday announced that Gwen Stefani and Blink-182 will headline the two-day festival on Sept. 28 and 29 in John Hunt Park.

Joining the "No Doubt" lead singer on Sept. 28 are TLC, Jane’s Addiction, Gin Blossoms, Candlebox and more.

On Sept. 29, Ludacris, Beck, Goo Goo Dolls, Sublime, Vanessa Carlton and more also perform.

City of Huntsville Music Officer Matt Mandrella says despite the festival being pushed up a year, originally slated for 2025, their team worked hard to knock it out of the park. He says the festival will have something for everyone to enjoy, including a massive sports bar for SEC and NFL fans wanting to keep tabs on the big games while at the festival. 

Mandrella says this festival is a part of the city's mission to make the music scene more dynamic. 

“I’m so happy and excited for our community right now,� Mandrella said. “There's been a lot of people voicing they want a Big Spring Jam back or a big festival back and to be able to deliver that for the community, I think is really special.�

Mandrella says the festival's lineup was developed so people can go to as many artist’s sets as possible. He says as of right now, there are little to no time conflicts between sets. The actual layout and number of stages will be confirmed overtime.

Mandrella feels confident the festival will bring in around 30,000 people to John Hunt Park each day.

The mayor of Huntsville, Tommy Battle, says it's exciting to see all of the artists coming to our city, predicting people from all over the country will come to attend this festival. He hopes some of the visitors will like Huntsville and decide to stay.

“When you start having a festival that has maybe up to 75,000 over a couple of days coming into our town, that is a big financial impact and it helps keep our economy rolling," Battle said. "It fills up that weekend gap that we sometimes have, but I think this will be a great weekend for us."

One of the city's main goals for year one is for everyone to have a good experience, making things as seamless as possible. Some ways the city is working to do this is having minimal lines at concessions, an extensive traffic plan, a thought out parking situation, and a shuttling system.

Battle hopes the festival will build off of the momentum of this year and get better and better.

Tyler Parker, originally from Morgan County, moved to Nashville a few years ago but says this festival would definitely bring him back down to Huntsville to visit again.

“I think the Rocket City has grown so much in the past decade and any new thing: concerts, the Trash Pandas, all kinds of stuff that has popped up in Huntsville is great for the city,� Parker said. 

Parker says the festival's big names will help bring people to Huntsville from all over.

“Gwen Stefani in Huntsville is B-A-N-A-N-A-S," Parker said.

Huntsville resident Megan Brandon met her husband at Big Spring Jam and believes anything that brings opportunity to the city is a good thing. 

"I’ve lived here since I was 6, and we used to have to leave town and go to Birmingham or Nashville or Atlanta for things like this so it’s fun to be able to just go to events while you’re at home," Brandon said.

Presale tickets will be on sale from 10 a.m. to 10:40 a.m. Thursday. Public access (with a price increase) begins at 10:40 a.m.

Signup for presale access .