Ribs and R&B Music Festival will take over Hart Plaza with headliner Tony! Toni! Toné!

What do you get when you combine salty, grilled meat, the Detroit riverfront
in the summertime, and the group that brought us hits “Little Walter,” “If I Had No Loot,” and “Feels Good”?

Aside from a little heartburn, you would get the three-day celebration of barbecue and R&B, jazz, and gospel music via the Ribs and R&B Music Festival, which will spice up Detroit’s Hart Plaza. The three-day festival will feature a gaggle of grilling gurus and a sonic schedule filled with some tune-carrying Tonys, including festival headliners Tony! Toni! Toné!, as in, like, the original group featuring Raphael Saadiq.

There will be more than 30 performances across two stages, including appearances by Alexander O’Neal, Miki Howard, Al B. Sure, as well as Laquint Weaver and Friends, and Deon Yates, who will perform as part of Saturday and Sunday’s Gospel and Jazz Explosion lineup.

While the event is free on Friday before 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday before 2 p.m.(the price goes up to $10 after), food will be available for purchase — but you might want to pack a whole mess of moist towelettes because no one wants to clap with BBQ sauce fingers and with COVID, you might not want to lick your fingers clean no matter how damn tempting it might be.

Event runs from 11:30 a.m.-midnight, Aug. 13-15; Hart Plaza, 1 Hart Plz., Detroit; 800-794-7503; ribsrnbmusicfestival.com. Event is free Friday before 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday before 2 p.m. and $10 after. VIP seating is available.
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