The 7th annual Circle K Tempe Music Festival, featuring Kid Rock, 3 Doors Down and The All-American Rejects will take place at Tempe Beach Park on Friday and Saturday.
Event founder Ken Koziol said the festival, which was voted “Best Annual Music Festival” by readers on azcentral.com last year, distinguishes itself from other music festivals with its urban feel and abundant attractions.
“Coachella and other big ones like that are very campy, ‘destination’ festivals, where people go, set up, stay three to four days and don’t leave,” Koziol said. “We’re more of an urban festival. Tempe has really led the charge in urbanization of the Phoenix area.”
A lot of festivals just have stages and a band, Koziol said, and at the Tempe Music Festival there is a lot of other stuff going on.
“At $45 a day, it’s already a great value, but then you get all this other stuff, too,” he said.
The unique scenery of Tempe Beach Park is a large part of what makes the festival so special, Koziol said.
“The venue is just very unique, and that’s one of the things that sets us apart,” he said. “Let’s face it — we live in the desert. And when you go to Tempe Town Lake, it’s like you’re somewhere else. There’s grass and water and boats and seagulls — it’s great.”
Tempe Beach Park, along with marathon music festival Summerfest in Milwaukee inspired the creation of the festival nine years ago, Koziol said.
“Summerfest is the biggest music festival in the world — it’s like the state fair,” Koziol said. “It lasts 11 days on the shores of [Lake] Michigan. We would go out there year after year and steal ideas for the Fiesta Bowl New Year’s Eve block party.
“And then on Dec. 30, nine years ago, we were at Tempe Beach Park around midnight, Hootie and the Blowfish was performing, and we thought it looked just like Milwaukee during Summerfest,” he said. “That was the night we decided we should do something like that here. In 2003, we launched the festival.”
Although the festival will be competing with Country Thunder in Florence, Ariz., and Bruce Springsteen at the Jobing.com Arena this year, Koziol is confident it will be a good year for all the events.
“It’s unfortunate because all three of these events are excellent events for people to attend and they’re all great options,” Koziol said. “But I think we have different target audiences.”
The Tempe Music Festival boasts 15 acts, several bars, a VIP lounge, a kid zone and a marketplace and “wakepark” for professional wake boarders.
Perhaps the most groundbreaking attraction is the Red Bull Wake Lab, which is essentially a floating skate park.
“We wanted to do an experiment in wakeboarding with multiple water levels, various transfer lines and a huge wall ride, so you could do pretty much whatever you want,” said Wake Lab co-creator and wake boarder Parks Bonifay.
Pro athletes and four local wildcards, possibly from the ASU Wake Devils, will compete in the innovative new format for the duration of the festival.
For those more interested in basketball than X Games, the Bud Light Sports Bar on site will be showing the NCAA Final Four games.
Beach volleyball is also an option at the Corona Cove and Barefoot Sand Bar, located underneath the Mill Avenue bridge.
The Tempe Music Festival obtained permission from the City of Tempe to have open beer gardens, meaning there are no restricted 21-and-up areas for drinking.
“The alcohol will be free-flowing — we’re not going to cage people in like animals,” Koziol said. “Tempe kind of let us slide a couple of years ago and used us as an experiment.”
On Friday, doors open at 4:30 p.m. and acts include Pop Evil, Cowboy Mouth, Outlaws, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers and Kid Rock.
On Saturday, doors open at noon and acts include Red Letter Drive, Telescope, Wensday, Tongue Dried Sun, Vayden, Shiny Toy Guns, Mutemath, Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman, All-American Rejects, and 3 Doors Down.
The winners of SRP’s Garage Band Competition, which put high-school and college bands through several rounds of live performances and online voting, will perform the opening acts for The All-American Rejects and 3 Doors Down.
ASU’s The Season Premiere and four other college bands were still competing at press time for the 10 p.m. slot, 25 minutes before headliner 3 Doors Down takes the stage.
Tickets to Tempe Music Festival can be purchased at ASU Bookstores, and Circle K discount offers are available at Tempe Marketplace’s Guest Services.
There is also a “Buy One Ticket, Get One Free” discount coupon at Circle K with the purchase of an 18-pack of Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob Ultra or a 12-pack of Corona.
Ticket buyers can also save $5 with the purchase of two Red Bulls or Icelandic Glacial Waters or $10 with the purchase of a 20-pack of Coke or Dr. Pepper.
To redeem the discounts, people must bring their “qualified” Circle K receipt to Guest Services at Tempe Marketplace between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m. any day this week before the festival begins on Friday.
Those planning to drink at the festival will have the luxury late-night, light-rail ride or possibly a free taxi-cab trip.
In celebration of the festival, METRO light rail and several other event sponsors are “going the extra mile to ensure a safe event,” the City of Tempe and Tempe Music Festival announced in a press release.
METRO light rail will extend service hours until 12:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Additionally, other sponsors will distribute free taxi-ride coupons and 500 free METRO light-rail passes both days of the event, according to the press release.
Reach the reporter at melanie.kiser@asu.edu.
