Alabama Shakes in Birmingham

About Alabama Shakes

Alabama Shakes are a four-piece from Athens, Alabama that somehow managed to make soul music feel urgent and unfinished in the best way possible. Brittany Howard's voice is the thing that stops you mid-conversation—it's got this raw, searching quality that sounds like it's being pulled from somewhere deep. The band broke through around 2012 with Boys & Girls, an album that felt genuinely different in a landscape of carefully calibrated indie rock. Hold On became their crossover moment, a song so fundamentally right that it still sounds fresh. Their follow-up Sound & Color showed real growth, with Howard's voice getting stranger and more confident at once. What makes them matter is that they never sound like they're performing soul music so much as living in it. There's always something slightly off-balance about their arrangements, a willingness to let songs breathe unevenly. They've never chased trends or tried to be cooler than they are. Just four people from Alabama making music that feels true.

They command a room with zero showmanship. Howard stands still mostly, lets her voice do the talking while the band locks into grooves that get tighter as the set goes on. Crowds quiet down to listen. When they hit the big ones, people lose it quietly—no screaming, just this palpable relief.

Known for Hold On, Don't Wanna Fight, Sound & Color, Girls in Alabama, Be Mine

Alabama Shakes + Birmingham

Alabama Shakes brought their particular brand of soulful rock back to Birmingham in late July, playing a set that felt like a homecoming victory lap. At the Coca-Cola Amphitheater, they moved through 22 songs with the ease of a band that knows exactly what they're doing. They hit the obvious marks—"Sound & Color," "Gimme All Your Love"—but the real magic was in the deeper stuff. "Shoegaze" and "Joe" showed they're comfortable living in the shadows of their own catalog, while "I Ain't the Same" and "This Feeling" reminded everyone why they mattered in the first place. The setlist felt generous and considered, the kind of show that rewarded longtime listeners who'd been paying attention.

Alabama Shakes in Birmingham News

• Alabama Shakes returning to Tallahassee to perform at Cascades Park WCTV · Dec 12, 2025
• Alabama Shakes play first home-state show of reunion tour [PHOTOS] The Bama Buzz · Jul 28, 2025
• Alabama Shakes is back in Birmingham—here’s a sneak peek at their reunion tour set list Bham Now · Jul 18, 2025
• Here Is Alabama Shakes’ 2025 Reunion Tour Setlist UPROXX · Jul 17, 2025
• Alabama Shakes announced their first tour in 8 years, including stop in Birmingham WBRC · May 8, 2025

Live Music in Birmingham

Birmingham's music DNA runs deep: gospel, blues, soul, and rock all bleeding into each other. That's the city Alabama Shakes grew up in, and it shows in every song. The soul music tradition here isn't academic—it's living and breathing. When a band like Alabama Shakes combines that soulful foundation with rock muscle and modern production, it feels like an extension of something that's been happening in Birmingham for decades, not a departure from it.

Birmingham road trip to see Alabama Shakes?

Stay in Forest Park—tree-lined streets, restored homes, close to downtown without feeling generic. Eat at Chez Fon Fon for excellent French-Italian food in a real neighborhood setting, or Goro Ramen for something more casual but excellent. Spend an afternoon at the Birmingham Museum of Art, which is genuinely worth your time and free. Walk through the Pepper Place district afterward for galleries and coffee. The city's Civil Rights history is significant; the 16th Street Baptist Church is essential if you have the time and reflective headspace.