The Georgia Theatre - Athens, Georgia
January 11, 1978 - June 19, 2009

Converted from an old movie theater to a music hall the Georgia Theatre opened January 11, 1978 with a performance by Seal Level. David Allen Coe followed soon after and The Police played a memorable show here during their first American tour in 1979. The B-52's played the same year, after going and selling the $1,500 worth of tickets demanded by the owners as a condition for letting the band play. Tyrone Davis, B.B. King, Muddy Waters and Tom Wait all played the Georgia Theatre in the early days, but the original owners were ahead of their time and couldn't make the Georgia Theatre pay for itself. They kept it going for about three years before pulling the plug. The old hall limped along as the Carafe and Draft movie theater, with occasional live music, until November 1989 when Kyle Pilgrim and Duck Anderson re-opened as a live music and movie venue. The two partners made the Georgia Theatre into a legendary music Mecca hosting the likes of Wide Spread Panic, Wynton Marsalis, Ice-T, Warren Zevon, Rev. Horton Heat, Phish, The Dave Matthews Band Bela Fleck, Hootie and the Blowfish, Randall Bramlett, and many, many local bands. Portions of the R.E.M. video for "Shiny Happy People" were filmed here.