Free concerts in Atlanta: Macklemore, Gym Class Heroes & more

One of the cool parts of Final Four weekend in Atlanta was a series of free concerts called The Big Dance. We saw Gym Class Heroes (Stereo Hearts, The Fighter) inside the Georgia Dome on Friday for a short concert before the collegiate all-star game. On Saturday, we saw Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (Thrift Shop, Can’t Hold us, Same Love) then Ludacris (Act a Fool, How Low) at an outdoor venue near the arena.

There were other performances we wanted to see — Zac Brown Band, Flo Rida, Muse, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Sting — but the timing didn’t work out since we were there to see Wichita State playing the NCAA tourney. And while the crowds were manageable on Friday night, game day on Saturday was crazy with thousands of fans there for the concerts PLUS the 80,000 going into the arena for the games. We were able to get pretty close to the stage for Gym Class Heroes but as you can see from the photos we were far from Macklemore. The sound was good, though, and the large screens helped us see the stage.