One Musicfest Celebrates 15 Years Of Fellowship And Music With Earth, Wind & Fire

ONE Musicfest has staying power

One Musicfest celebrated 15 years of fellowship and music the weekend of Oct. 26-27. The event is known for bringing out over 100,000 attendees to experience the best and brightest entertainers at outdoor venues in Atlanta. This year the festival was held at Atlanta’s Central Park and featured a P&G stage and a Sprite stage, as well as Mielle, Bevel booths and a host of vendors. The festival also weaved in conversations around civic engagement with Georgia’s public advocates, Senator Raphael Warnock and Mayor Andre Dickens, seized the opportunity to show their support for Vice President Kamala Harris and encourage the crowd to vote.

For its milestone anniversary — One Musicfest did its big one and presented the legendary Earth, Wind & Fire, among others, to a massive crowd of generational fans which was quite fitting to witness. It is clear that Earth, Wind & Fire, one of the most premier and iconic bands in modern history. The band, which still consists of three of its original members — Verdine White, Philip Bailey, and Ralph Johnson — took to the main stage and performed a string of memorable classics like “Can’t Hide Love,” “Shining Star,” and “September.”

The latter provoked a performance of the electric slide line dance among a modest crowd of EWF fans. And if there was any indication that each song was part of many playlists in many households and were passed down many family trees throughout the 1970s, 80s and beyond, the scene at OMF made it ever so clear.

“I remember this song,” a young festival-goer told BLACK ENTERPRISE. As Bailey hit falsettos, he swayed to the all too familiar tune of yet another cult classic of EWF, “Reasons.”

“My mom used to play this a lot when I was growing up,” he said.

Earth, Wind & Fire has been active for more than 55 years and shows no sign of slowing down. The group has tour dates throughout the end of year. Much like the elements, ONE Musicfest has staying power and ability to entertain a diverse audience of music lovers — 15 years to date and years to come.