Innings Festival

March 25, 2018

The Avett Brothers

White Buffalo









Innings Festival

The second day of the Innings music festival proved to be every bit as fun and exciting as the first day and once again the later starting time allowed Kathy and I to do a little exploring in the Phoenix area. One of the stops that was on my must see list was the Penske Racing Museum, where car owner has many of his winning cars from his various racing adventures including a number of his many Indy 500 championships.







Located in his huge luxury auto dealership in swanky Scottsdale, the Penske Racing Museum showcases an amazing collection of cars, trophies and racing memorabilia chronicling the career of one of the most successful dynasties in all of sports. Penske Racing has 50 years of racing experience and over 440 major race wins highlighted by 16 Indianapolis 500-mile race victories.



On display in the Museum are cars detailing the diversity of Penske Racing including a replica of the 1963 Pontiac Catalina which Roger Penske drove to victory in the 1963 NASCAR Riverside 250.  Additionally, a number of Indianapolis 500-mile winners are on display including the 2009 Dallara which Helio Castroneves drove to win the 2009 Indianapolis 500 as well as Brad Keselowski’s 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship winning car.





It was a trip down memory lane looking at all the cars and memorabilia from so many Indy 500 wins, included in the display was my all-time favorite Indy Car the 1977 Norton Spirit car driven by Tom Sneva that turned the first official lap over 200 MPH at the brickyard on May 14, 1977. My father Bill and I were sitting in the stands on that historic day and it remains one of the best memories of over 50 years of watching Indy Cars at the Speedway. Hearing Tom Carnegie announced over the echoing loudspeakers at the track, “It’s A New Track Record” as the massive throng cheered wildly is something that I will never forget.





Next it was back to downtown Tempe for lunch and check out the Tempe Festival of The Arts which had most of the central downtown streets blocked off for the huge art festival that just happened to coincide with the Innings Music Festival. There were over 350 artists displaying their work from all over the country and plenty of yummy food options, a beer garden, entertainment and even a sidewalk chalk drawing contest with dozens of competitors crating chalk art on the street. There was one particularly amazing musical act featuring two very young children who rocked the crowd with covers of current rock songs that were incredible.











Over at the festival, we arrived just in time to catch the set by a local band from Tempe that made it big in the 90s and is trying to make a comeback, The Gin Blossoms. I had heard from friends in Key West that they were sort of jerks when they played the Key West Theater, but there was no sign of that in their solid set of 90s hits like, “Hey Jealousy”.

Gin Blossoms









Up next were the bands Lord Huron and then the Decemberists. Both were really, really solid. I think we preferred Lord Huron, but the Decemberists were great as well. We had seen them a couple of years ago at Folks Fest in Colorado and they were very nuch improved this time around. I really loved their new songs from their just released new CD and it was a great set.

The Decemberists







The Head and the Heart is another band that we have seen a few times and this was perhaps the best we had ever seen them as well. They seemed to be energized by the awesome sunset setting and the enthusiastic response from the large crowd. We only caught half of their set as we wanted to head over to the small stage to catch some of White Buffalo, a band that we were totally unfamiliar with.

The Head and the Heart





The Decemberists





White Buffalo, is sort of like Phosphorescent in that terming them a band is something of a misnomer, White Buffalo is basically singer/songwriter, Jake Smith. Smith has a rich baritone voice and is something of a throwback to classic folk singers such as Dylan and Richie Havens. His set was really awesome and he gained a couple of new fans. I was unfamiliar with almost all of his songs except for one that was featured in the TV show “Sons of Anarchy”.

White Buffalo

White Buffalo



The headliner was another band that we were very familiar with and big fans of, The Avett Brothers. We had only recently watched the wonderful HBO documentary about them and their music and they were every bit as down home, yet mesmerizing as they seemed in the film. Brothers Scott and Seth Avett took turns on lead vocals and their incredible backing band was spot on. The show was just amazing and the crowd was incredibly appreciative and vocal throughout.

The Avett Brothers







Multiple time Grammy nominees, the Avett Brothers delivered a great set of their folk-infused rock that had the crowd dancing and cheering. They even managed to include my favorite song of theirs, “Murder in The City”. It was a perfect ending to yet another stellar day at the Innings Festival, which was quickly becoming one of my favorite festivals ever.

The Avett Brothers