For Arizona fans waiting five months to see The Black Keys live in concert, Friday is almost here.
The Akron, Ohio-based blues rock duo will be among the headliners for the Innings Festival, which kicks off two weekends of music. The annual festival combines live music with the buzz of spring training and is perched alongside Tempe Town Lake with views of the adjoining Rio Salado and nearby Papago Mountains.
Fall Out Boy and Incubus join The Black Keys as headliners this Friday, followed by sets from The Killers, Beck, Gary Clark Jr., Boyz II Men and more on Saturday. Weekend Two, aka the Extra Innings Festival, features headliners The Lumineers, Kasey Musgraves, and Kings Of Leon on Feb. 28 and March 1.
The Black Keys had been slated to rock the Valley with a date this past September at Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix. That show was part of a 31-date North American tour in support of the duo’s latest album, “Ohio Players.”
But last May the Keys cancelled the whole tour.
The controversial move came amidst a split with their previous management company. While singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney haven’t shared specifics related to the cancelled tour, they more than hinted this month that the fraught relationship artists, management companies and venues have with one another allegedly played a role.
The fracas fueled numerous states, including Arizona, and the U.S. Department of Justice in 2024 to file a lawsuit alleging Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster have an unlawful monopoly on the ticket-buying industry.
“In any situation like this tour, we might’ve had to take one on the chin and find new venues to play in certain cities, but instead we were advised to cancel the whole tour,” Carney told Rolling Stone this month. “We were told … there were other venues being booked, and it was all going to get into more intimate rooms, and it would be great. But that wasn’t accurate. That didn’t exist.”
The nine-month-old lawsuit is still in its early stages, with no trial date set, Business Insider noted in January.
Festival goers take in the Innings Festival at Tempe Beach Park on Feb. 27, 2022, in Tempe.
(Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)
None of that has stopped The Black Keys’ creative juices.
The band’s upcoming album “No Rain, No Flowers” will come out later this year along with a new tour kicking off in May. The Keys were also in the Valley this past spring for another sports-related music show, when they, along with Leon Bridges and Mumford & Sons, performed at the March Madness Music Fest at Margaret T. Hance Park in downtown Phoenix.
Tickets are still available for the Innings Festival, which features three stages and more than 18 rock, pop and indie music artists.
For Weekend One, two-day general admission starts at $310 with one-day general admission going for $160. For Weekend Two, two-day admission starts at $285 and one-day admission is also $160.
Click here for tickets.
Musically Fed and M Culinary are partnering with local agencies such as Paz de Cristo, Resurrection Street Ministry, East Valley Man's Shelter, Salvation Army, and Arizona State University’s Pitchfork Food Pantry to fight food insecurity.
Founded in 2016, Musically Fed recently provided 2,513 meals to people in need throughout the Los Angeles area, including those affected by the recent wildfires.
Since 2018, Musically Fed’s efforts at Innings Festival, in partnership with C3 Presents, have resulted in the distribution of more than 10,000 meals.
Steve Stockmar
News Editor | Sun Life Magazine & Arts & Entertainment
YourValley.net
sstockmar@iniusa.org
Meet Steve
Steve Stockmar joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, and has been an Arizona journalist for almost 30 years. He serves as editor of Sun Life Magazine and contributes to West Valley communities where he focuses mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference.
Community: Every season Steve serves as a “buddy” with the Miracle League of Arizona in Scottsdale, has volunteered his time with Family Promise in Glendale, and previously served on the Ghostlight Theatre board in Sun City West.
Education: Graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a Journalism major and English minor.
Random Fact: Steve once won a 50-player live Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament.
Hobbies: Anguishing over his beloved Chicago Cubs and Bears; listening to Beatles and Grateful Dead music.
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