The full lineup is out for this year’s Beale Street Music Festival, which takes place Friday, April 30th – Sunday, May 2nd at Tom Lee Park. There is probably less contemporary star power than usual in this year’s lineup, but a healthy selection of vital current bands who should be good fits for the live outdoor setting, most notably The Flaming Lips, The Drive-By Truckers, and Band of Horses. Set times have not been announced, but we do have the initial lineups for each stage on each day.
Friday:
- Guitar god Jeff Beck continues his recent comeback with a Friday night slot at the Beale Street Music Fest.
Cellular South Stage: Neon Trees, Mutemath, 30 Seconds to Mars, Limp Bizkit.
Early Read: Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit) will rap-rock like its 1998 and Jared Leto (30 Seconds to Mars) will look pretty, but Utah-based Neon Trees, whose polished, poppy modern rock is somewhat similar to fellow Westerners The Killers, might be the most interesting bet here.
Sam’s Town Stage: Blues Traveler, Jeff Beck, Widespread Panic.
Early Read: The guitar/jam-band fan’s haven. Jeff Beck, who paired up with Rod Stewart in the Jeff Beck Group and also served a stint as lead guitarist with the Yardbirds, is a legit classic-rock guitar god, though he never found a strong a vehicle for his talents as contemporaries such as Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. Beck just released his first studio album in nearly a decade with Emotion & Commotion. His strong riffs should be a welcome respite in-between the more expansive jamming of Blues Traveler and Widespread Panic.
Budweiser Stage: Al Kapone, The B-52s, The Goo Goo Dolls.
Early Read: This gets the “Most Schizophrenic Lineup” Award. Local fave Kapone is better live than most rappers of his ilk. The B-52s are former new-wave underdogs who have ossified into a party-band institution. The Goo Goo Dolls are modern-rock hitmakers a few years past their peak.
Blues Tent: Joanne Shaw Taylor, Jimmy Thackery & the Drivers, Kenny Neal & Band, Coco Montoya.
Early Read: Kenny Neal, the leading light of a prominent New Orleans blues family, might be the best bet here.
