Atlanta this week: Josh Garrels, Medium Build and more

Whitechapel kick off a 20th-anniversary tour at the Tabernacle, Paula Cole plays This Fire front to back at Variety Playhouse, and Medium Build brings a brand-new record to The Eastern.

Atlanta has 72 shows on the books this week, and the good ones bunch up on Wednesday and Saturday. Wednesday asks you to choose between a deathcore anniversary and a Buckhead folk night; Saturday asks you to pick between a 30-year-old album and one that's barely two months out.

Start Wednesday at the Tabernacle, where Whitechapel open their 20th Anniversary Tour at 7 p.m. with Chelsea Grin, The Acacia Strain and Netherwalker. Atlanta isn't just a stop here: the run was announced to launch at the Tabernacle on Nov. 11 before heading on to a December finish at The Caverns in Pelham, Tennessee. Night one of a tour has its own energy, and this bill is heavy from top to bottom.

The same night, Josh Garrels plays Buckhead Theatre at 7:30 p.m. The room has worn a lot of names since it opened as the Buckhead Theatre in 1930, Capri and Roxy among them, before Charles Loudermilk bought it and brought it back under its original name in 2010. It's a handsome place for a songwriter who leans on quiet.

Thursday, Judah & The Lion return to the Tabernacle at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday is the big one. Paula Cole is at Variety Playhouse at 8 p.m. on THIS FIRE: 30, a tour built around playing *This Fire* in full for its 30th anniversary, timed to a two-volume demo collection, *Sonic Memoir: Demos 1989–1998*. Across town, Medium Build headline The Eastern at 8:30 p.m. with Eden Joel, on a tour named for *King of Having Fun*, the album Nick Carpenter released Sept. 4 on slowplay/Island. He has called it a "post-mortem" of the last decade and "a celebration of life," which is a decent description of a Medium Build show, too. If you'd rather be in a room of 250, Tommy Fleece is at The Masquerade's Altar at 7 p.m.

Sunday splits two ways. Giles Corey plays Masquerade's Purgatory at 7 p.m. with Kathryn Mohr and Val Acton Loper, and KenTheMan brings her One Night Stan show to The Eastern at 9 p.m.

Wed, Nov 11 — Whitechapel, Chelsea Grin, The Acacia Strain, Netherwalker at The Tabernacle, 7 p.m.

Wed, Nov 11 — Josh Garrels at Buckhead Theatre, 7:30 p.m.

Thu, Nov 12 — Judah & The Lion at The Tabernacle, 7:30 p.m.

Sat, Nov 14 — Tommy Fleece at The Masquerade (Altar), 7 p.m.

Sat, Nov 14 — Paula Cole at Variety Playhouse, 8 p.m.

Sat, Nov 14 — Medium Build, Eden Joel at The Eastern, 8:30 p.m.

Sun, Nov 15 — Giles Corey, Kathryn Mohr, Val Acton Loper at The Masquerade (Purgatory), 7 p.m.

Sun, Nov 15 — KenTheMan at The Eastern, 9 p.m.

If you can only swing one night, make it Saturday, and decide whether you want to hear an album you already know by heart or one you're still learning. Either way, Little Five Points and Reynoldstown are close enough to argue about it over a late dinner afterward.

Sources: WHITECHAPEL Announces Fall 2026 North American '20th Anniversary Tour' (Blabbermouth) (blabbermouth.net); Whitechapel announce 20th anniversary North American 2026 fall tour (Metal Insider) (metalinsider.net); Buckhead Theatre (Wikipedia) (en.wikipedia.org); Former Roxy re-opens as Buckhead Theatre (Rough Draft Atlanta) (roughdraftatlanta.com); Paula Cole unearths two-volume collection Sonic Memoir: Demos 1989-1998 (Shore Fire Media) (shorefire.com); Paula Cole THIS FIRE: 30 (Jefferson Theater) (jeffersontheater.com); Medium Build Shares ‘In My Gut’ From New Album (uDiscover Music) (udiscovermusic.com); Medium Build — King of Having Fun (Atwood Magazine) (atwoodmagazine.com); KenTheMan — One Night Stan tickets (AXS) (axs.com)