The Innings Festival Arizona has been an established event since 2018 featuring professional baseball players and music over two days. That event was expanded this year to bring the Innings Festival Florida to Tampa, FL on the grounds of Raymond James Stadium on March 19th and March 20th. The inaugural event would feature two days of music, food vendors, professional baseball player appearances, and so much more. The festival was produced by C3 Presents, who produces Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits Music Festival, and Shaky Knees. And it was a pleasure to be accepted to cover the two-day event!
On Saturday, March 19th, it was a great weather day for a music festival. The sun was shining bright, we had some cloud cover so fans weren’t baking in the son, and we were ready to have some fun at the Innings Festival Florida. The festival was being held on the grounds outside of Raymonda James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After parking, I collected my media credentials and head over to the press lounge where I got to see friends I hadn’t seen in two years. It was a really pleasure to re-connect with so many of my media friends and getting to cover the festival with them, along with making some new friends along the way. To me, festivals are the perfect place to meet new people who can bond over their same passions, in this case music and baseball.
The festival grounds were quite large with two main stages and one smaller stage. The main stages were used specifically for the music artists and the smaller stage was used for live tapings of “Off the Mound with Ryan Dempster”. Along with that, there were tons of food vendors, GA lounge, VIP lounge, Hydration Stations (which I thought were perfect in this Florida heat), Innings Festival merchandise booths, and fun sponsored booths including a Tito’s Handmade Vodka photo booth, a Corona virtual batting cage, Celsius lounge, Verizon lounge, and a Venmo viewing bar. Also, for the baseball fans there were batting cages and pitching cages where professional baseball players would be making appearances.
Of course, we can’t forget about the musical lineup the inaugural festival brought to Tampa, FL. Kicking off the day was the New York City rock band We Are Scientists on the Home Plate stage. Forming in 2000 out in California before moving out to Brooklyn, NY, the band hit immediate success with the release of their debut album With Love and Squalor in 2006. They would continue on their success with five more studio albums including their recent Huffy releasing on October 8, 2021. They came out full of energy that day rocking out with songs from their new album including “You’ve Lost Your Shit”, “Contact High”, and “I Cut My Own Hair”. They did a great job and was a great way to kick off the fest. Following up behind them on the Left Field stage was the Juno Award winning Canadian rock band The Beaches. The all female band formed in 2013 and released the debut album Late Show in 2017, which brought them the Juno Award for Breakthrough Group of the Year. The band so far only has one studio album and four EPs. But, this band knows how to rock out. The crowd absolutely loved them with great vocals and a fun rock sound. I’m looking forward to more music from them and maybe at some point a U.S. tour.
Next up over at the Home Plate stage was actor, novelist, and musician, David Duchovny. Most known for his role as Fox Mulder on The X-Files, after finishing the 11th season decided to not go back to acting so he could focus on writing and his music. David released his first album Hell or Highwater in 2015 and released two more studio albums including Gestureland released on August 20, 2021. The moment David stepped out on stage, the large crowd cheered loudly with some people calling out “Mulder!” David’s music reminds me of a lot of blues-rock with methodical slower guitars and bass sounds while David sang. He has a solid singing voice, but David really knew how to work the crowd, coming out on the ramp multiple times to get the crowd amped up. Some of songs he performed included “3000”, “Hell or Highwater”, and “Spiral”. But, following up on the other stage was the alt-rock band Wolf Alice. The UK band out of London formed in 2010 and released their debut album My Love is Cool in 2015. They were nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Performance for their single “Moaning Lisa Smile”. They followed with two more studio albums including Blue Weekend which was released on June 4, 2021. Wolf Alice lit up the stage, like they always do, with some awesome vocals hard-hitting music. They had a great selection that afternoon including “Smile”, “Formidable Cool”, and “Moaning Lisa Smile”.
If fans weren’t watching the music during the afternoon, they were over at the batting cages taking their hand at hitting baseballs or seeing who could throw the fastest pitch for the day. Legendary baseball stars Tino Martinez, who grew up in Tampa and played for the Tampa Bay Rays (named the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at the time he played with them), Brian Jordan, who ended his career playing for the Texas Rangers and was a safety for the Atlanta Falcons, Gary Sheffield, who finished his career with the New York Mets and is also from Tampa, David Eckstein, who finished his career with the San Diego Padres and played high school and college baseball in Florida, Ray Lankford who played the majority of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals, Andruw Jones, who finished his MLB career with the New York Yankees, and the legendary Lou Piniella, who won two World Series with the New York Yankees as a player, and won another World Series as a Manager for the Cincinnati Reds. He also won the Manager of the Year Award three times.
As the music continued we were greeted by the very popular Highly Suspect. The alt-rock band started in 2009 and released four EPs before they released their debut studio album Mister Asylum in 2015. The album was a critical success as was their single “Lydia” from the album. Both the album and single were nominated for a Grammy in 2016. Since then the band has only released two additional studio albums. And when they came to the stage, that roar from the crowd was massive. The energy and intensity High Suspect brought to the stage was was chilling and the crowd absolutely adored them. During their set they performed “Bloodfeather” and their two Grammy nominated singles “My Name is Human” and “Lydia”.
Next up was the hugely well-known rock band from California, Incubus. Forming in 1991, it wouldn’t be until 1995 before they released their debut album Fungus Amongus. But, it wouldn’t be until their third album in 1999 titled Make Yourself that would make them a mainstream success with singles “Pardon Me”, “Stellar”, and “Drive”. The album would go on to be certified Platinum twice. With 8 studio albums released it was no doubt they would make a huge splash at this festival and that they did. As soon as Incubus stepped out on stage the crowd went wild and when they opened up with the first three tracks from their double Platinum album Morning View, the crowd knew they were in for a good time. Those tracks, “Nice to Know You”, “Circles”, and “Wish You Were Here” are nothing short of amazing. And of course they had to perform the three singles from Make Yourself as well. Incubus left the fans wanting so much more.
And then it was party time when the Omaha, Nebraska band 311 hit the stage. The band formed back in 1988 and released their debut album Music in 1993. It wouldn’t be until their self-titled third album when they would achieve mainstream success with their singles “Down” and “All Mixed Up”. That album would go on to be certified triple Platinum. And it was nothing but success from that day forward. They currently have thirteen studio albums with their last one released was Voyager in 2019. It was dark by the time the band hit the stage and the fans were in a huge party mood and 311 was happy to keep it moving. Their stage presence and music gets the crowd moving around. And with songs like “Down”, “All Mixed Up”, “Beautiful Disaster”, “Amber”, and even a cover of The Cure’s “Lovesong”, it was just a spectacular performance.
Green Day was the last performance of the night. Overall, it was a fantastic day of music and baseball player appearances and a successful way to kick off the inaugural Innings Festival Florida.
Be the first to comment