The world of sports and music rarely collide in a cohesive way, but a few February events do it perfectly: the Super Bowl, the WM Phoenix Open and the beginning of spring training, which marks its start in the Valley with the annual Innings and Extra Innings Festivals in the final two weekends of February.
Innings, the festival to kick things off, will be hitting Tempe Beach Park for three days, from Feb. 20 to 22. For its seventh year, the festival will feature a lineup of chart-defying alternative acts like Blink-182, Cage the Elephant, Mumford and Sons, Public Enemy, Sublime, Twenty One Pilots and more.
This year, the festival will span three days, Friday through Sunday, with doors opening at 12 p.m. and the festival concluding at 10:30 p.m. each day. Though the festival has been a full weekend in previous years, its last two editions were on a Friday and Saturday.
Hosted by the Major League of Baseball in collaboration with C3, the organizers of major players like Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival and Governor's Ball in NYC, Innings Festival brings a smaller-scale level of production to Tempe, with thirty artists playing across two stages. Home Plate serves as the main stage, with Mumford & Sons, Twenty One Pilots and Blink-182 headlining each night. Meanwhile, on the Right Field, acts like Big Boi, Myles Smith, Peach Pit and Public Enemy will play.
In addition to the music, there’s a slew of speakers and activities at three staging areas– Left Field, Speed Pitch, and Batting Cage– available for the classic baseball fan. MLB players Brandon Crawford, Eric Karros, Jake Peavy, Shawon Dunston and Torii Hunter will make appearances, while ESPN analyst Jess Mendoza and baseball pitcher Ryan Demster will return to do live interviews on “Off the Mound,” held all three days on Left Field.
Innings Festival isn’t simply beloved to baseball and alternative and rock music fans. With the festival located in the heart of downtown Tempe, the annual event attracts countless college students and the local Tempe community, who are there to enjoy music, conversation and celebrate the turn of the season.
Though the music festival is hosted to celebrate the start of spring training, it comes at a point of a seemingly early blooming spring in Arizona. The weekend of Innings is expected to hit between highs in the upper 60s to low 70s while hitting lows in the high 40s, and no chances of rain yet, making it a comparably ideal time to enjoy an outdoors festival and particularly views of Tempe Town Lake, clearly visible from the Beach Park.
With the event being composed partially of atmospheric sets and others of laid-back speeches and activities, the venue mirrors that duality, behaving as immersive and inviting. The grassy stretches offer plenty of room for guests to sit and dance, while there is plenty of bench seating throughout. There are also several food vendors throughout to purchase from, though many have complained about high prices in the past.
While Tempe is a drivable city, heading to Innings can often get crowded. Rideshare services are recommended due to an unavailability of parking directly outside the venue. Still, if you choose to drive, there are many public parking lot or garage options available in downtown Tempe that are walking distance to the park.
With Twenty One Pilots, Sublime and Public Enemy having released music in 2025 and Mumford and Sons having released content earlier this year, performances at Innings are guaranteed to deliver both fresh material and crowd-favorite hits. Paired with the fest signaling the return of baseball season and the first flush of spring, Innings promises a weekend fueled by sunshine, excitement and plenty of dancing.