By Chyrisse Tabone, Rock At Night Tampa & Vlad T, Rock At Night Detroit
Festival Review: Innings Festival at Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida – March 19th-20th, 2022
The Innings Music Festival made its debut in Tampa, Florida March 19th-20th to coincide with Major League Baseball training games in Florida and coincidentally Spring Break for many students from around the U.S. The Innings Festival was founded by Tim Sweetwood, a promoter with C3 Presents, who also produces notable festivals like Austin City Limits Music Festival and Lollapalooza. Sweetwood initiated the Innings Festival in Arizona in 2018 and its most recent festival was held in Tempe in February.
Held on the grounds adjacent to Raymond James Stadium, the weekend of the Innings Festival was unseasonably warm like a hot June day. Many festival goers were seen wearing bathing suit tops, shorts, or hydrating themselves with cans of Liquid Death (mineral water packaged to resemble beer cans). For those in a partying mood, there were plenty of stands of more potent beverages, corn dogs, noodle bowls, and carnival fare.
On Day 1, the festivities began promptly at 1:30 p.m. with concerts alternating between the Home Plate (main) stage and Right Field stage. Concertgoers also had the opportunity to meet, greet, swing a bat, or have memorabilia signed by baseball legends such as Lou Piniella, Ozzie Smith, Bucky Dent, and more recent players.
Saturday’s music fare began with New York City rock band We Are Scientists followed by Toronto-based The Beaches. Actor/musician David Duchovny echoed a theme which was heard throughout the weekend—gratitude to be performing after a long hiatus. Before introducing a recently penned song “Stay Until” he said, “We haven’t played in front of an audience in two and a half years—and it feels good.” He has actually been on Rock At Night’s radar since his 2018 album Every Third Thought.
From across the pond, Wolf Alice, another band that we’ve been covering since 2016 performed a rousing set of punk rock flavored tunes, unlike some of their more shoegaze music. Unfortunately we missed most of Jimmy Eat World (we took the opportunity to use the wonderful media facility C3 provided) but caught an unexpected surprise—Highly Suspect. Hailing from Massachusetts, the alt rock band with an occasional prog rock lead guitar twist, was glad to be in Florida’s warm weather. They put on a banger of a set and we couldn’t help but notice Johnny Steven’s support of the Ukraine with “Fuck Putin” written his Strat guitar.
Brandon Boyd of Incubus was in great form, sweating and pulling his shirt over his head, as he belted out song after song. Considering the world’s hiatus due to COVID, it gave the song “Agoraphobia” new meaning. The band performed a lot of old favorites including “Warning” and “Pardon Me”.
The day later acquired a real upbeat feel with the onset of rap rocksters 311 before Gen X’ers and their offspring were singing “Bohemian Rhapsody” in the crowd while waiting for Green Day. Before an introduction of “Blitzkrieg Bop”, Green Day came out like a rocket launcher singing “American Idiot”. Our favorites of the evening included “Know Your Enemy” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”.
Day 2 of the festival began with Neon Trees (sorry, we missed Liz Cooper), which had us dancing in our heads (if not on our feet). Again, the sun was blaring and sapped the energy from many, we assume, as they appeared to watch the concerts rather than actively dance to the music. The mood was very chill as Skip Marley wooed the crowd with reggae beats before spicing it up with Latin-tinged music from the band O.A.R. They had a killer horn section and performed a rousing rendition of Led Zeppelin’s cover “Fool in the Rain”.
By 6 p.m. 90s mainstay Goo Goo Dolls performed hits like “Slide” and “Iris”. Lead singer John Rzeznik expressed how good and therapeutic it felt to be performing in front of a live audience. Next up, and probably our personal favorite of the day was Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats who had the crowd dancing (finally) to “Baby I Lost My Way (And I’m Going Home)”, “S.O.B.” and “Love Don’t”.
As the sun dropped (so did the temperature by 20 degrees), the mood became funkier and chill with Austin favorites Khruangbin. The festival ended with more crowd dancing to indie rock stalwarts The Lumineers. The band performed songs from their recent album Brightside such as “A.M. Radio”, “Reprise”, and of course, “Brightside”.
Overall, we felt the festival was very successful between the attendance numbers to the lineup and top notch organization of the event. There was easy entry, plenty of facilities for everyone, including a water bottle refill area, great signage with crowd instructions, and the concert timetable was to the minute. If you look on their website, there is even a Lost and Found section in case people lost/found cell phones, keys, etc. during the weekend. Remarkable!
We at Rock At Night truly hope this is the start of an annual festival in Tampa. Come back in 2023!
PHOTO GALLERY
DAY 1
In Order of Appearance
DAY 2
SOCIAL MEDIA
I grew up in a household full of rock music, studied journalism in college, and then became a scientist.Although my science career has served me well, music has always played a major role in my life. I grew up reading "Creem" magazine; I play several musical instruments as a "hobby";and it seems a camera has always been in my hand. Now, I am combining what I love the most--music and photography--serving as editor of Rock At Night. I travel between the US and UK seeking my dream! My motto: life is short...no regrets. Chyrisse
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