Although only on its third year, the Innings Festival has quickly become an Arizona classic. The combination of baseball fans and music lovers makes for a mellow and diverse crowd.
The food vendors offered a variety of choices, including vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options for anything you might be craving. One of my personal favorites was Island Noodles and you can't forget the guava juice to go with it.
It wasn't hard to find entertainment throughout the day; Innings offered a number of different lounges to hang out in and tons of activities to check out.
The Zia Records pop up shop hosted artist signings during both days of the festival. On Sunday, fans waited in line at Zia's for over an hour to get memorabilia signed by The Struts before their show that evening. Because the line of fans was so long pictures were not permitted, but anyone who bought an album at Zia's was able to wait in line for the signing. I was lucky enough to get a CD signed by the band before seeing their show.
Signed CD by The Struts at Zia's Photo by Avery DeHaven
The opportunity to meet artists at the festival was especially exciting. Meet and greet tickets for a normal concert performance can often cost over $100, but Innings provided a chance for fans to meet the band for only the cost of a CD or vinyl album.
The Struts put on an incredible performance at the Home Plate stage at 5 p.m. where they played 10 songs and interacted with the crowd during every single one. Fans camped out in front of the stage for hours waiting for The Struts and the band put on a performance so amazing it was hard to leave when the show ended.
Your browser does not support the video tag. Lead singer of The Struts Luke Spiller s3.amazonaws.com
Following The Struts a little over two hours later on Home Plate, Rainbow Kitten Surprise (RKS) preformed at 7:20 p.m. The indie-pop band performed for an hour while fans spread out on blankets and enjoyed the music.
Immediately after RKS, Death Cab for Cutie performed at Right Field. The band's lead singer, Ben Gibbard was dealing with an illness, but tried to push through and perform anyway. After the opening song, Gibbard announced to the crowd that he would try his best, but eventually, his voice gave out and he left the stage after only fifteen minutes.
At 9:30 p.m. Weezer ended the festival on a high note over at the Home Plate stage. The crowd exploded with excitement as the band started the show with two hits "Buddy Holly" and "Undone—The Sweater Song." The band also performed four covers, two of which included Lithium by Nirvana and Take On Me by A-ha. Weezer closed the show with a two-song encore that started with "My Name is Jonas" and finished strong with "Say it Ain't So."
Weezer at Home Plate stagePhoto by Avery DeHaven
The 2020 Innings Festival was an incredible experience and I am already counting down the days until next year's lineup is released. So far Innings has dominated festival season in Arizona, I only wish there was an extra day to enjoy the experience a little longer.
