Mary J. Blige has announced her second annual Strength of a Woman Festival and Summit, in partnership with Pepsi and Live Nation Urban. The four-day affair returns May 11-14 in Atlanta, Georgia, with music, comedy, empowerment panels and more.
On May 11, Grammy-winning jazz musician Robert Glasper will host a headlining show at City Winery.
Blige will headline night one of the two-night concerts at State Farm Arena. According to a press release, Blige’s set will feature some of her rarely-performed hits and B-sides.
There will also be a celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary featuring Jeezy, Busta Rhymes, Method Man, Jadakiss and DJ Drama & Friends. Legendary R&B group Jodeci will perform as a special guest.
Ms. Lauryn Hill will headline night two, with additional performances by Summer Walker, Lucky Daye, Muni Long and Coco Jones.
“I’m so excited to bring our Strength of a Woman Festival & Summit back to Atlanta for its second year,” says Blige, founder of Strength of a Woman Festival & Summit. “Having the opportunity to continue to uplift, inspire, and build amongst a community of women is the reason why we created this festival. I’m so grateful for all of the support from our performers and participants and of course Live Nation Urban, Pepsi and our additional partners who are committed to celebrating and creating community for Black women.”
Nicole Jackson, vice president of MJB Inc., says, “The popularity and impact of the inaugural Strength of a Woman Festival & Summit successfully showed how and why Black women are the blueprint for cultural relevancy and inclusion. Being able to look back and see the global reach the festival had through our livestream and billions of media impressions is confirmation that we are filling a void in the festival space.”
Presale tickets are available today with the code SOW23. General on-sale begins this Friday, March 10, at 10 a.m. ET. Tickets and additional information about the festival are available at soawfestival.com.
Blige launched her inaugural Strength of a Woman Festival & Summit last year. The festival, which sold out in 72 hours, featured performances by Chaka Khan, Xscape, Sevyn Streeter, Ella Mai, Queen Naija, Kiana Ledé, City Girls and more.
Strength of a Woman Festival & Summit 2023 Lineup
Thursday, May 11
Robert Glasper at City Winery
Friday, May 12
Concert: Mary J. Blige & Friends with a special “MJB B-Sides” set celebrating Hip Hop 50th Celebration at State Farm Arena
Special performances by Jodeci, Jeezy, DJ Drama and more
Hosted by Kenny Burns
Saturday, May 13
Concert: R&B Night at State Farm Arena (Performances by Lauryn Hill, Summer Walker, Muni Long, Lucky Daye, and Coco Jones)
Hosted by Kenny Burns
Sunday, May 14
Gospel Brunch and Concert at The Bank (Performance by Sunday Service Collective)
Hosted by Ryan Cameron
The Purpose Ball at The Bank powered by Gilead (Performance by Saucy Santana)
Comedy Night Show at Tabernacle (Mike Epps, Don’t Call Me White Girl, Henry Welch and Navv Greene)
Hosted by Erica Duchess
