Grammy-winning soul singer Melanie Fiona is spending this weekend on stage in Atlanta, playing four shows over two nights at City Winery in Ponce City Market. The engagement, scheduled for Friday and Saturday with sets at 6:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. each night, gives Atlanta audiences an up-close look at an artist in the middle of a long-awaited musical comeback.
The Friday and Saturday dates were confirmed by City Winery Atlanta, which built out the four-show format to meet demand for the singer's intimate return to live performance. As Atlanta News First reported, Fiona joined the station's ATL Live segment ahead of the run to discuss music, motherhood, and personal transformation. The two-night stand is being framed by the venue as a key stop in Fiona's return to touring following the April 2025 release of her EP, Say Yes, her first major project in 13 years.
A Long-Awaited Return to New Music
Say Yes marked Fiona's first substantial recording release since her 2012 sophomore album, The MF Life, according to Rated R&B. The six-track EP dropped on April 4, 2025, ending a recording gap that stretched well over a decade. The title track was co-produced by Andre “Dre” Harris and features creative contributions from SiR, Thundercat, Charlie Bereal, and Chris Dave, blending retro soul with contemporary R&B production, per the same outlet's reporting.
Fiona's commercial legacy stretches back to her 2009 debut, The Bridge, whose breakout single “It Kills Me” topped Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, according to AllMusic. The MF Life followed in March 2012 with the gold-certified single “4 AM,” which climbed to No. 8 on the same Billboard chart. That same year, Fiona won two Grammy Awards at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, taking home Best Traditional R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for “Fool for You,” her duet with CeeLo Green, according to the Recording Academy.
Inside an Intimate Venue With a Local Twist
City Winery Atlanta's setting adds to the appeal of this particular run. The venue sits inside Ponce City Market in the Old Fourth Ward and features a 300-seat concert room alongside a full-service restaurant, bar, and outdoor patio, according to Creative Loafing. That capacity keeps performances close and conversational compared to arena-style shows, a format well suited to an artist revisiting her catalog after years away.
The Atlanta location opened in June 2016 as a 26,000-square-foot facility, becoming the city's first urban winery, according to WhatNow Atlanta. It was established by Knitting Factory founder Michael Dorf, who launched the original City Winery concept in New York City in 2008. Per Explore Georgia, the Atlanta venue remains the only active winemaking facility operating within city limits, importing harvested grapes from established growing regions to ferment, age, and bottle wine on site, distinct from the traditional vineyards found in the Blue Ridge foothills.
Concertgoers attending Fiona's shows should also note a venue-wide policy that took effect in January 2025: a mandatory $25 food and beverage minimum per guest for all newly scheduled performances, as reported by Creative Loafing. The rule applies to all ticketed music and comedy shows in the venue's main room, meaning ticket holders should plan to order food or drinks to meet that threshold during the sets.
A Comeback Built on Reinvention
Fiona's current run leans into themes far removed from her early 2010s chart run. Rather than simply reviving old hits, the singer's promotional messaging around the Atlanta dates centers on motherhood, personal transformation, and independent artistry following her years away from the spotlight, according to City Winery's own event materials. That framing lines up with her ATL Live appearance, where she spoke directly to Atlanta News First about those same themes ahead of the weekend's shows.
For longtime fans, the pairing of Fiona's Grammy pedigree with a 300-seat room offers a rare chance to hear the artist behind “It Kills Me” and “Fool for You” in a setting built for close listening rather than stadium-sized spectacle. With four total performances across Friday and Saturday, Atlanta audiences have multiple chances this weekend to catch an artist re-establishing her place in R&B more than a decade after her last major album.
