More than 60 bands from around the country are coming to rock Tempe Beach Park this weekend for a two-day, five-stage party called the Tempe Music Festival.
The festival will be headlined by the "Love-shacking" B-52's, along with other local and national acts. Tribute bands like Creedence Clearwater Revisited and The Iron Maidens will also perform.
And making its first Arizona appearance will be the Jimi Hendrix Traveling Museum.
Bob Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix's first cousin who works with the museum, said the exhibit was founded in 1999 by the Hendrix family and has been featured at music festivals all over the country.
"Basically it's a timeline of Jimi's life," Hendrix said. "We wanted to have some way people could revisit him, and this is what we came up with."
Museum entrance is free with admission to the festival, and features clothing, guitars and documentary films from the legendary guitarist's life.
"It's a traveling museum of Jimi Hendrix, the greatest guitarist ever," Hendrix said.
Ken Koziol, president of Arizona Event Co., said when he first started planning this festival three years ago, he only anticipated having 30 bands performing on one stage. After working with local radio stations KUPD, KDKB and KSLX, the number has grown to 62 bands spread out on five stages.
"Through good fortune, it has really snowballed," Koziol said.
The performances will feature many mainstream classic and alternative hard rock acts.
"I guarantee when someone shows up at the event, they are going to be blown away by what they see," Koziol said. "This is the first of what we hope is many, many events like this."
Koziol, whose company also plans the Fiesta Bowl block party, said he hopes the music festival will grow every year as the city and Tempe Town Lake continue to develop.
"We're excited to host the Tempe Music Festival," said Mayor Neil Guiliano. "The festival will be a signature event that Tempe residents can be proud of and another excellent reason for Valley residents to choose Tempe as their destination."
The festival, held at Tempe Beach Park near Rio Salado Parkway and Mill Avenue, begins at 4 p.m. and will continue until midnight Friday, and 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday.
Advance tickets are available for $15 at all Valley Safeway locations and for $20 at the gate.
Reach the reporter at benjamin.honingford@asu.edu.
