Tempe Beach Park was transformed into a dreamy landscape of sunset views, grunge tees and good vibes, as the seventh iteration of Innings Festival returned to the venue for three days between Feb. 20 to 22, the festival’s longest run since its debut in 2018. 

Like a proper alternative festival, the style in the crowd represented a wide variety of different subcultures. Attendees wore bandanas and bralettes, taking a note out of the 2016 festival playbook.  Ravers brought pashminas and sprouts into the crowd, soft-modern, Kawaii-inspired and goth punk all existing, not competing, together in one space.

“Whether it's music taste or the way you dress, [alternative culture] is still out there, and I think it’s really cool it’s still out there,” Jordan Montgomery, an Innings attendee, said. 

The festival, which took place across Friday, Saturday and Sunday, offered a wildly eclectic mix of artists, from pop-punk band Blink-182 to ska artist Sublime to rap legends Public Enemy and Big Boi. 

But upon inspection, the lineup commonalities lie not in sound but in feeling. This year’s Innings Festival brought guests from across the country, from the Midwest to even some international attendees, all seeking a certain era of music that undeniably devotes itself to a specific alternative scene while encapsulating the feeling of a music festival that reflects a past decade.

“[2016] was such a defined era and I didn’t realize it until I was like, out of it,” Allison Yager, another attendee, said. “It’s almost a simpler time. You don't think of the issues you had ten years ago. You think of the good times.” 

Take, for instance, the Day One lineup. Reminiscent of a more 2000s-2010s hipster/indie era, Friday brought artists such as Goo Goo Dolls and Mumford & Sons to the main stage. 

That night, acoustic and electric guitar, strong drum solos and vocals full of emotion filled the area. Hearing songs like “Iris” and “I Will Wait” performed live felt like a hopeful refrain. 

But it wasn’t just the headliner who brought a special sort of nostalgic energy. Indie pop-rock artists Peach Pit and Grouplove may have both taken the stage while the sun was still up, but both effortlessly captured the crowd with their high-energy performances. Peach Pit was perfectly ethereal, singing fan-favorites like “Magpie” and “Alrighty Alphrodite” while Grouplove’s performance of “Tongue Tied” felt straight out of a movie. 

The second day of the festival brought a more modern era of alternative culture to the main stage. With Twenty One Pilots and Cage The Elephant playing sets at the end of the night, night two brought artists who defined the early 2010s

Cage The Elephant, a nostalgic mix of garage band and indie pop, provided a wide range in their set, from “Cigarette Daydreams,” which was soft and melancholic, to the harder-edged “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked.” 

Meanwhile, Twenty One Pilots drew out alt-rock fans from across the decade, from millennial to even some gen Z who attended with parents or friends. In their 90 minute set, the band managed to keep those who were standing dancing and those sitting, on the edge of their seats. 

From a quirky “Josh Dun is my dad!”  chant led by band’s frontrunner Tyler Joseph, to climbing various structures and singing on tall platforms to performances across their discography including the recently viral “Dragpath” and their career-defining hits like “Ride,” “Heathens” and an explosively-memorable performance of “Stressed Out,” their set proved why Twenty One Pilots has gone down as one of the more memorable alternative culture staples of the 2010s. 

While both alternative music fans tend to associate the word “alternative” to the alt-rock genre,  alternative was originally used to define music that isn’t as celebrated in the mainstream, and Innings Festival did a great job of recognizing this. Particularly, night three paid homage to the roots of a debatably unique alternative yet often overlooked subculture–hip-hop. 

Artist Big Boi of the legendary OutKast, a duo who often experimented with musical and cultural boundaries, and hip-hop group Public Enemy, known for their industrial-funk sound and pro-Black, anti-establishment messaging, performed sets on the Right Field stage stage, drawing in sizable and diverse crowds, many of whom were die-hard hip hop fans, bopping hard and singing along to all the words to songs like “Ms. Jackson” and “Fight The Power.”  

The final night of the festival culminated in a throwback to a prime era of 90s subcultures. Ska-punk fans got to enjoy a sunset Sublime set, with “Santeria” hearing the echo of the crowd singing along. Sublime’s lead singer, Jakob Norwell, managed to blend emotion and wistfulness with cheery, danceable melodies in a way that clearly had the audience hooked and was reminiscent of the band’s original lead singer, Jakob’s father, Bradley Norwell. 

The weekend as a whole was full of talent and charm. From the moment they stepped on stage, their signature mix of punchy pop-punk and irreverent humor electrified the crowd. Classics like “All the Small Things” and “What’s My Age Again?” had the entire audience singing at the top of their lungs, while newer tracks proved the band still has plenty of creative fire left.

“Blink-182 has had a special place in my heart since I was little,” attendee Sierra Susha said. “They were the first ever band I saw at Coachella and they don’t play very often anymore.

From heavy rock to acoustic indie pop to hip-hop, Innings Festival embraced the true spirit of an alternative music festival–bringing a little something to fill many niches. In doing so, it spotlighted the many subcultures of previous and current decades that shape the sound of alternative music today, proving that the scene isn’t one-dimensional but a vibrant crossroads of sounds, styles and stories that all deserve the main stage.

“This lineup was perfect,” Susha confirmed. “[Innings] did so good.”