United 2008, a concert showcasing five Atlanta-area bands, debuted at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame as part of the museum’s summer music festival, June 28.

“This is probably one of the biggest shows that Dawson County has had in a while,” said United 2008 organizer and local business owner Bob Johnson.

Johnson, owner of His Rock Café, a youth oriented coffee and concert house, has been showcasing performances by Christian artists and musicians for more than six months and said that the performances he saw at United 2008 were some of the best he’s seen gathered for a single event.

“The concert itself was probably the best concert I’ve put on so far. As far as talent across the board,” said Johnson, speaking of local rock bands The Breakdown, Anacey, 11thour,

Radio City Playhouse and Sunday Best.

Johnson said the concert was not as well attended as he would have liked, but the event was a learning experience and the nearly 100 people who did attend really seemed to enjoy themselves.

“The feedback I’ve been getting so far has been really good about how well the bands sounded and the level of talent that was there,” said Johnson.

Johnson called the concert’s debut a learning experience and that next year he plans on starting the show a little later than this year’s 5:30 p.m. start time.

“It’s the summer time and a lot of people are out of town or had to work until 6 or 7 that Saturday. So, next year we’ll probably have it from 7 until 10,” said Johnson.

E-mail Adam C. Stapleton at adam@dawsonnews.com.