With the new year coming up, it’s time to start making plans for the upcoming 2020 festival season. To get your prepared I’ll be highlighting the upcoming Arizona festival season. Take a look at what Arizona has to offer and tell me what you think. Perhaps some travel or a new festival is in your future.
On December 30th and 31st Arizona will be sending off the decade with Decadence Arizona. This lineup is stacked with headliners, like seriously well over half of the lineup. My most anticipated acts are two of my all-time favorite artists and producers, G Jones and GRiZ. But you can bet that this party is about to be hitting different because GRiZ will be teaming up with Subtronics for the world premiere of GRiZTRONiCS. Meanwhile, G Jones has been playing some serious heat off his new EP Tangential Zones. Another couple of special treats will be the Tchami X Malaa No Redemption set and Dab the Sky (Dabin b2b Said the Sky). The line up just gets sweeter and more indulgent with Space Jesus, Dillion Francis, Diplo, Skrillex, and Zeds Dead.
Decadence also includes two artists I think are vastly underrated, Arius and Whipped Cream. I had the pleasure of first seeing Arius at Phoenix Lights 2018 after being tipped off by a friend that this is a must not miss set. So for Decadence, I thought I should extend the tip don’t miss Arius! I discovered Whipped Cream at Phoenix Lights 2019 where “I left craving her deliciously sweet creamy vibes, whipped full of high energy trance blended with heavy hitters and metallic melodies.” But be warned Whipped Cream’s set will leave you wanting to lick the whisk. This party wouldn’t be complete without the Weird & Wonderful – an unpredictable blend of wild characters, circus performers, dancers, and visual stimulus. Finally stick around until 6 AM for Afterglow, featuring Fisher, the official Decadence after party.
The next big show in Arizona is Gem and Jam, taking place January 31st – February 2nd. After taking a year off, this festival in Tucson is shaping up to have a gem of a lineup and endless jam bands. Leading the lineup are Tipper and Big Gigantic. Tipper’s visuals are next level and not to be missed whereas Big Gigantic. Continuing down the lineup we have the Desert Hearts crew, need I say more? For those that know, well they know that the house party can’t stop won’t stop don’t stop at a Desert Hearts party. Getting jammier we have the Gem and Jam Grateful Dead Tribute Band, Twiddle, Billy Strings, and TH^3 comprised of members of the String Cheese Incident and The Floozies. Other gems include Manic Focus, Desert Dwellers, Thriftworks, Buku, Marvel Years, Blutech, Late Night Radio, and Nastyhumanz. Be sure to mine a little deeper into this multi-faceted lineup, there is more luster to be found.
Falling on Valentines Day (February 14th) is Crush Arizona featuring Audien, Carbin, and Habstrakt. Bringing the suspense is Jauz who will be coming in hot with his highly anticipated Dangerous Waters Tour. Finally we will all be crushin’ on Tynan, an Arizona native who has mastered the art of flexing back and forth between tender and savage beats. Check out his recent track Interdimensional Feat. Rouxx and before long you’ll be falling head over heels for this lineup.
Rolling back into the Rawhide late February is the Arizona Roots Festival. This two-day event is budding with talent including Damian Marley, Tribal Seeds, Kush County, and Collie Buddz. The California Reggae scene is well represented by artists including Rebelution and my hometown favorite The Expendables. Hirie pushes the boundaries between island reggae and pop and Phoenix local Fayuca brings a more Hispanic flair to Reggae. Team up with a buddy and grab a deal on a dub — of tickets of course.
Early March 6-8 is the legendary Mcdowell Mountain Music Festival (M3F). This music festival always hosts a diverse lineup which this year includes Bon Iver, Rufus Du Sol, The Funkhunters, and Justin Jay’s Fantastic voyage. Also always found at M3F are a wealth of string bands and this year is no exception, featuring Greensky Bluegrass and the Infamous Stringdusters. Rounding out the line up are Sofi Tucker, Snakehips, San Holo and Maddy O’Neal. Finally, be sure to check out the Shady Park stage on Sunday. After visiting Shady Park many times I “gnome” this stage is going to be hosting bangers all day.
Mid-March brings back AREZZONA, featuring none other than the space mom herself Rezz. While the support for this year’s show is still to be disclosed, last year’s show featured i_o and Drezo with a guest appearance by Ghastly. Rezz is someone that has been on my radar ever since I saw her at Goldrush 2017 where her hypnotic “red” vibes drew me in. There I was captivated by her red visuals and intense, Since then I’ve seen her at the Van Buren, Red Rocks (2018) and most recently at Imagine Music Festival. There she showed off a bit of her synesthesia displaying a more soothing, calming “bluer” side of her.
Finally on April 3-4 get ready to be abducted because Phoenix Lights is about to be upon us. This year’s festival features Afrojack, MK, NGHTMRE, and Walker & Royce with many more to be announced. While only a little bit of the lineup for this year is known, that makes this the perfect opportunity to grab tickets before tier prices go up. If past years lineups are any indication then I’d say it’s safe to say I’ll find a new favorite artist at this year’s Phoenix Lights. Grab yourself a spacesuit and strap in for one hell of a ride. Phoenix is about to get intergalactic yet again.