Kirk Franklin Teams With Live Nation Urban For Second Annual Exodus Festival

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Gospel artist Kirk Franklin continues his partnership with Live Nation Urban to host and headline the second annual Exodus Music & Arts Festival taking over the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas, May 26.  

“Live Nation Urban is excited to produce the 2nd Annual Exodus Festival alongside Kirk Franklin,” Brandon Pankey, VP of business development & operations at Live Nation Urban, said in a statement. “The artists are incredible this year and we are merely scratching the surface of what this festival will prove to be long term for the gospel community. With Kirk leading the charge, we envision Exodus being THE event for fans of gospel and fans of dynamic and impactful music globally.”

The festival will feature a spiritual lineup with headliner and host Kirk Franklin, along with Fred Hammond, The Clark Sisters, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Travis Greene, Vashawn Mitchell & Kelontae Gavin. 

General onsale tickets will be available Jan. 18, with TIDAL subscribers getting an exclusive presale beginning Jan. 16 at 10:00 am CST. 

“Last year the inaugural was groundbreaking,” Kirk Franklin said of last year’s event. “This year, we won’t be able to fathom the musical explosion that is about to take place!” 

The inaugural Exodus festival took place at the same venue May 26, with a lineup including Franklin, Tye Tribbett, Marvin Sapp, Tamela Mann and others.

Franklin, a Fort Worth native, tours regularly with recent boxoffice reports including May 12-13 at Horseshoe Hammond in Illinois, which sold 4,147 tickets and grosses $322,220. 

He released his last LP, Losing My Religion, in 2015 and was a contributor to Tori Kelly’s 2018 LP, Hiding Place.

Live Nation Urban produced events including the Spotify-partnered Rap Caviar concert series in various cities and with various artists, along with The Roots Picnic and Broccoli City festivals among others. 

“We’ve created some really exciting platforms in the Hip-Hop, R&B and Gospel space, that will be perennial events that I am really proud of and excited to see grow,” Live Nation Urban President and Maverick partner Shawn Gee told Pollstar in a 2018 year-end survey. “However, what I see as the biggest accomplishment of our first full year in existence is the growth and development of my team members. One of the goals of LNU is to try to change the complexion of the live music industry, literally. 

“The live space, from a buyer / agent / vendor / venue perspective has traditionally been a white male driven industry. With Live Nation Urban, [Live Nation CEO] Michael Rapino has given me a platform to give young African-American male and female executives an opportunity to enter this space and grow and flourish. In the past 12 months, the impact that the ideas that my growing team has had on culture has been impressive and proven the overall narrative upon which my venture is built.”