Brendan Brown loves gigs in Georgia because he can get one thing in the South that he just can’t get in New York.
“Grits, we don’t get up North , not the real ones, not the real deal. So, it’s one of those things. Oh, we’re waking up in Georgia tomorrow. We’ve got to go get some good breakfast,” said Brown the founder of Wheatus, who will be in town Oct. 1 getting some real grits and playing an acoustic set beginning at 7 p.m. at Sacred Heart Cultural Center to benefit Habitat for Humanity. For tickets, go here.
Brown has played Augusta before. A friend of musician and Habitat senior business development director Will McCranie, Brown also has fond memories of catching large-mouth bass and eating fantastic spicy chicken in Georgia. And it’s the birthplace of longtime Habitat volunteer, the late President Jimmy Carter whose 101st birthday would’ve been Wednesday as well.
To Brown, Georgia “has the most attractive and beautiful stuff about the South all in one place,” he said.
The Long Island band is marking its 30th anniversary of its founding this year and celebrating the 25th anniversary of its breakout single “Teenage Dirtbag.”
In 2022, the song found a new audience when the “Teenage Dirtbag” trend went viral across social media, racking up more 2 billion views in less than a month.
The song was shared by celebrities such as Lil Nas X, Brooke Shields, Paris Hilton, Madonna, Alice Cooper, Jon Bon Jovi, Chevy Chase, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mark Ruffalo, Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera, Heidi Klum, Lady Gaga, Sammy Hagar, Nick Kroll, Mark Ronson, Lupita Nyong’o, LL Cool J, Tony Hawk, Victoria Beckham, Machine Gun Kelly, Anderson Paak, Jessica Alba, Mick Fleetwood, Millie Bobby Brown, Sheryl Crow, Chris Pratt and Jamie Lee Curtis.
“We are the luckiest bunch of morons to come out of Long Island,” he said.
Brown doesn’t know what the concert will bring. He abandoned the set list years ago and every concert is a night of requests and with 80 songs ready to go, he never knows what combo it will be.
So come prepared to shout out your favorite and don’t be shy, he said.
Each night “has always been some version of good,” he said.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named Augusta Magazine’s best local writer in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
