Tempe, Arizona

March 24, 2018

Kathy 





Phosphorescent

Young the Giant

Tempe, Arizona

Spring Break means floods of tourists to Key West, but it also offers some pretty cool opportunities and while thousands were coming to Key West, Kathy and I needed to head out West to get a look at the landscaping progress on our property in Colorado Springs and as it happened there was a new music festival scheduled to take place in Tempe, Arizona around the same time we were needing to go. Having never been to Arizona and looking at the absolutely stellar line-up scheduled to appear at the festival we decided to fly to Phoenix, attend the festival and then drive up to Colorado taking in some of the Western sights along the way.

 







The trip got off to a rough start as weather up North caused a long delay and missed connection in Atlanta and so we ended up having to fly to Tucson instead and then driving the just over an hour drive to our hotel in Tempe. We made it late on the night before the festival was scheduled to begin and were awake good and early not quite having adjusted to the time change.

Bishop Briggs 

Bishop Briggs







The festival, the first annual Innings Festival was a baseball themed music festival, with the proximity and number of people in town for MLB Spring Training. Half of the teams in the majors hold their Spring Training with-in 50 miles of Phoenix, the entire Cactus League as it is called. The festival appears to have been scheduled to try and take advantage of that as well as the student body of Arizona State University which is located in Tempe. One of the good things about it was that the music did not start until later in the day, around 3 PM or so, meaning you did not have to spend 12 plus hours on site as you do at many festivals. It also gave us some time earlier each day to explore the area.

The Hole In The Rock 







Our first stop was at Papago Park, where we enjoyed the picture perfect weather and hiked the short trail up to the top of the Hole in the Rock. The park is 1200 sq. acres of land that hosts some of Phoenix’s most popular attractions including a botanical garden, zoo and hiking trails including the much celebrated Hole in the Rock. Hole-in-the-Rock is a series of openings eroded in a small hill composed of bare red sandstone. The sandstone was first formed some 6-15 million years ago from the accumulation of materials eroding from a Precambrian granite, long since eroded away. The rock formations have been eroded by water. An open, shelter-like chamber in the face of the formation communicates with the rear of the formation via a hole eroded completely through the rock. Another substantial opening exists in the “ceiling” of the chamber.



Young the Giant

Sylvan Esso



One of the most notable formations in the area, the Hole in the Rock offers beautiful views of Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe from the summit and the ease of the trail makes it a very popular hike for young and old. After the visit to the park it was over to the Tempe Beach Park and Arts Park where the Innings Festival was taking place. We arrived in time to see the first act, Mikky Ekko, best known for singing on and writing Rhianna’s 2013 hit, “Stay”, Ekko is quite a good performer in his own right. We were pleasantly surprised by his set.

Mikky Ekko



Eagles of Death Metal

Phosphorescent

Sylvan Esso

Next up was Bishop Briggs, another artist that we were not all that familiar with. She has a hit song currently playing on many stations including Pirate Radio in Key West, “The River” and she had a great cover on the latest 50 Shades of Grey movie of INXS’s song, “Never Tear Us Apart” that she played as well. Overall we were really impressed by the young singer/ songwriter from Scotland. She was great. We had purchased the best passes, Platinum VIP which allowed us all access and even access to the Crow’s Nest riser that is actually located on stage, towering over the main stage. It offered really cool and unique views of all the main stage acts and had stairs leading down to the Platinum Lounge which featured free drinks, and deliciously catered food from some of Tempe’s finest restaurants. It was fantastic. We also had free golf cart transportation between the two largest stages.

Queens of the Stone Age





Phosphorescent

That allowed us to get down to the VIP section in plenty of time to see one of my most anticipated acts, Phosphorescent. The band which is basically singer/ songwriter Matthew Houck is one of my favorites, I saw them a few years ago in Chicago during Lollapalooza and have been wanting to see more ever since. They did not disappoint, delivering a wonderful set that would remain one of the highlights of a truly sensational festival that was loaded with great music.

Young the Giant

Queens of the Stone Age







The rest of the evening was pretty damn stellar as well with great sets from the wonderful Sylvan Esso, Eagles of Death Metal, Young the Giant and Queens of the Stone Age. While I am not a huge fan of any of these bands, they all had truly impressive sets, especially Young the Giant and Queens of the Stone Age, either of which could have been the closer. It was just a great, great opening day of the festival, which only had three stages and thus had very little overlap and allowed us to get close up and personal with every band. The food was terrific and the set-up and organization was top notch.









Phosphorescent

Queens of the Stone Age