TVD Live Shots: Innings Festival at Tempe Beach Park, 2/21

TEMPE, AZ | Since 2018, the Innings Festival has been held in Tempe, Arizona, to celebrate the start of Spring Training for Major League Baseball. For the readers unfamiliar with spring training, the league is split in two, and half the teams train in Arizona and the other half in Florida. Taking advantage of the warm weather, Arizona natives and tourists alike are treated to a weekend jam-packed with activity. The Innings Festival has taken many shapes and sizes since 2018 and brings something a little different each year. We at TVD have been lucky enough to cover this festival two years in a row and have greatly enjoyed the weekend both years. This year brought us a rock and roll-inspired lineup with features covering the last two decades.

Bringing us absolute classics like The Killers and Fall Out Boy, to newer sounds like Jack Kays and Grace Bowers, there is plenty of entertainment featured at Innings Festival, even outside of the music. The festival has an entire section dedicated to just baseball. This includes bringing out legends of the game such as Jake Peavy and St. Louis Cardinals legend Vince Coleman, batting cages, a game to clock how fast you can pitch, and the ability to interact with the players. Truly melding the love of music and baseball, the festival offers quite a unique experience.

Tempe Beach Park is laid out almost in a big “U” shape. On the one side is “Home Plate,” the headlining stage. If you’re facing the stage, refreshments will be lining the left side, and VIP will be on the right. In the middle of that is a big open space to watch the show, almost as if a baseball diamond is set up. Tempe Lake lines the entire park, and there are kayaks you can rent to experience the festival from the water. The schedule of the day alternates by stage so you can either walk in between each or stay at one and secure a good seat for the next artist.

At 5:00 PM, one of my favorite bands to shoot took to Right Field. The All American Rejects play with an unmatched energy that is so fun to see. The band has been around for my entire life, and yet the two times I’ve seen them felt like they were fully in their prime. The band is timeless, and even as the music industry changes, there is something about their personality that will cement them in memory.

Another band who has been around with a similar timeline took to Home Plate stage next—Incubus. Another timeless band, Incubus is known for their alternative rock, pop-punk sound. Very nicely complementing the lineup, they sound better than ever. Journeying back over to Right Field, The Black Keys closed out that stage on Friday. The Akron, OH natives very deservingly headlined the stage. The “Blues Brothers” Dan and Auerbach and Patrick Carney have some of the most recognizable tunes out there and even with three additional members in the band, Patrick and Dan make a lot of noise for just two people. The Black Keys have been creating music for quite some time now, and they are still as legendary as ever. But for the fans, the night was just getting started.

It’s evident which band was deserving of the day one headlining slot—the second the sound board turned off the music playing between sets, the fans roared as pop-punk legends Fall Out Boy hit the stage. Coming out swinging with classics like “Sugar,” “We’re Goin Down,” and “Dance, Dance,” we were all immediately transported back to the early 2000s. One could argue a simpler time, it felt just right to go on a trip down memory lane with Fall Out Boy.

ALL AMERICAN REJECTS