Flow Tribe to Headline the VIP After-Party Closing Out Son of a Sailor Fest
New Orleans funk band Flow Tribe will headline the official VIP after-party for Son of a Sailor Fest at Cedar Street Social on Sept. 12, closing out the two-day Mobile festival.
MOBILE, Ala. — New Orleans funk band Flow Tribe will keep Son of a Sailor Fest going well after the outdoor music ends on Sept. 12, headlining the festival's official VIP after-party at Cedar Street Social. The booking, announced Saturday, is the latest addition to the two-day celebration returning Sept. 11-12 with programming built around Jimmy Buffett and the broader Gulf Coast music tradition he helped define.
A band built for a late night
Flow Tribe is known for a high-energy blend of New Orleans funk, rock and rhythm and blues — a sound suited to a room that fills up after the outdoor stages have gone quiet.
Festival organizers pointed to the group's appearances at New Orleans Jazz Fest and its repeat performances on the French Quarter Festival's Abita Beer Stage, along with steadily growing national exposure. The band is also included in the current French Quarter Festival lineup.
What else is happening Sept. 12
The Saturday festivities at Cedar Street Social will include a free outdoor stage featuring W.B. Sims, Sara Bug, Vibe Irie and the Tanner Gray Band, along with a Jimmy Buffett tribute show performed by Street Folks. Vendors, food and bars will operate throughout the day, and live painting tied to Mobtown Mural Fest will run alongside the music — a nod to the visual arts scene that has become part of downtown Mobile's identity.
The after-party is VIP only
Access to the Flow Tribe performance will be limited to VIP pass holders. Those passes also include all-day access to the indoor Cedar Street Social VIP lounge, a dedicated indoor bar and restrooms, complimentary drink tickets from Kona Big Wave and BBD, and entry to a VIP stage-side viewing area. Organizers said VIP passes are expected to go on sale soon.
A festival with a clear sense of place
Son of a Sailor Fest has positioned itself as a distinctly Mobile event — one that honors a hometown musician whose work carried the Gulf Coast to a global audience, while making room for the New Orleans sounds that have always traveled the same coastline. Booking a Crescent City funk band to close it out fits that logic neatly. The festival returns to downtown Mobile Sept. 11-12.
The festival’s name nods to “Son of a Son of a Sailor,” the title track of Buffett’s 1978 album. Buffett, who was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi, in 1946 and grew up in Mobile, died on Sept. 1, 2023.
