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RiverBeat’s Musical Memories

Memphis music fans have strong opinions. Take the avid listener and Memphis Flyer reader who approached one of our writers while chilling near the Ferris Wheel at RiverBeat Music Festival last weekend. “I can’t believe it’s accepted to just play a backing track while an artist performs!” he said, noting that, as far as he could tell, that’s exactly what Busta Rhymes and Ludacris did during their sets. While it is indeed a common practice, especially with hip hop artists (but increasingly in other genres), did anyone else care? Given the enthusiasm with which those artists were greeted, it’s hard to claim that they did.

Missy Elliot’s show at RiverBeat (Photo: Bob Bayne)

Take the ecstatic reception that Missy Elliot received for one of the best performances in the history of either Beale Street Music Festival or RiverBeat. Using only pre-recorded tracks, her Friday night headliner was a highlight of the weekend. While stage productions have become more elaborate in the “post-Beychella era,” too often that comes at the expense of the music. But Missy was firing on all cylinders — literally. After cartoon versions of Missy’s various phases introduced the show on the big screen, a car that looked like it was designed by Syd Mead appeared on the stage.

“Oh,” we all thought. “Missy’s going to drive around in the car.” No, reader. She WAS the car! The first of five costumes she wore in the course of the night was a Transformer-inspired drip which drew gasps from the assembled thousands. The rest of the evening was a parade of hits and bangers which drew heavily on Missy’s turn-of-the-century work with Timbaland. Surrounded by a crack cadre of dancers and MCs, she made a case for herself as one of the most important and influential artists of the last 30 years.

The Hypos (Photo: Joshua Timmermans & Noble Visions)

Yet most of the remaining standout performances of RiverBeat reveled in good old fashioned instrument-playing, such as Saturday’s set by The Hypos. This band, which includes Memphians Greg Cartwright and Krista Lynne Wroten, is a living tribute to making records in the traditional way, with a combo playing finely wrought songs in a room (and they’d been doing just that prior to their festival appearance, with Matt Ross-Spang), focused on the sound of the human voice, sans autotune. The pro sound system of the Bud Light Stage showed off all these strengths in their best light, including the group’s stellar harmonies.

Artist after artist took to the festival stages as if to prove that musicians playing instruments can still wow an audience. Anyone who saw the virtuosity of MonoNeon‘s set won’t forget his command of the bass Fender created in his name, droopy sock and all, complemented by a crack band and conjuring up a vibe close to George Clinton’s party-down approach, with an extra dollop of jazz in the mix. The bass virtuoso put on a low end clinic, taking the supporting instrument and shredding like a lead guitar. It was magical!

MonoNeon (Photo: Joshua Timmermans & Noble Visions)

Local heroes FreeWorld also wowed ’em at Tito’s Pavilion stage, with their saxophonist’s home brew synth sax stealing the show (until his laptop crashed). They also arguably represented Memphis history more deeply than any other group, with front man Richard Cushing calling out the late Herman Green before they played one of Green’s compositions from his tenure with the group, “Earth Mother” — not to mention a sizzling version of “Green Onions” which benefited from the presence of a real Hammond organ in that stage’s backline.

FreeWorld brought the synth-sax sounds (Photo: Chris McCoy)

The Neckbones were a standout Oxford Mississippi band from the 1990s who played a searing reunion set on the Mempho Presents stage. Tyler Keith, who co-fronts the band, brought his larger than life stage presence to the small stage, exclaiming “let’s have a moment of NOISE.” Mid-afternoon latecomers turned their heads and drifted over for a face full of Mid-South punk. As purveyors of ragged-but-right garage rock, they were the only band who offered that sound at the festival this year — and the only band who could have offered that sound, though Deaf Revival brought their own brand of chunky molten metal to the same stage earlier that day.

Then it was finally time for Public Enemy. In a weekend full of classic hip hop acts, PE stood out for the cultural impact and razor sharp live set.  Memphis-based multi-instrumentalist Khari Wynn, who used to be PE’s musical director, opened the set with a Hendrix-inspired take on the Black national anthem, James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” It was a gripping reminder of the historical sweep of Public Enemy’s aesthetic, and Wynn’s presence in the band for the rest of their set only toughened up their sound.

Chuck D and Flava Flav were in rare form. Chuck D called Busta Rhymes and Ludacris “our nephews,” rapped over AC/DC samples, and delivered epic readings of “Welcome to the Terrordome,” “Shut ‘Em Down,” and their 2020 anti-Trump anthem “State of the Union (STFU).” During “He Got Game,” Chuck D amended the line “fuck the game if it don’t mean nothin'” to “fuck the president if he don’t mean nothin’,” to wild cheers.

Public Enemy truly embraced Memphis as well, with Chuck D saluting both the Mid-South Coliseum and the great Isaac Hayes, and referring to his bandmate, Flava Flav, as the “heir apparent of Rufus Thomas.” The set concluded with a welcome message of unity from The Flav, who exhorted the crowd to raise peace signs.

After the intense workout of Public Enemy, The Killers, one of the slickest and most popular bands on the planet, had their work cut out for them. Perhaps that’s why they opened with “Great Balls of Fire,” which they had clearly learned in soundcheck. It was a humanizing moment, reminding us that, for all of the expensive production values and Vegas residencies, The Killers are, at their heart, a rock band coming home to the holy city of rock and roll.

And, it must be noted, The Killers represented the “live bands over pre-recorded tracks” concept well, especially guitarist Dave Keuning. The triumph of pure musicianship continued on the festival’s closing day as well. One reason for that was the focus on down-home gospel at the Mempho Presents Stage, starting with octogenarian Elizabeth King, still as powerful as ever, accompanied by her son Zack McGhee on bass, drummer Tavion Robinson, as well as Will Sexton on guitar and (Memphis Flyer music editor) Alex Greene on keys. Later, the Jubilee Hummingbirds also appeared, before The Wilkins Sisters brought the house down for the day.

Elizabeth King and band, with her daughter and granddaughter on background vocals (Photo: Chris McCoy)

The Wilkins Sisters and Salo Pallini, the quirky, genre-defying instrumental combo, were the only local bands to be featured in both last year’s and this year’s RiverBeat, but the latter made their big stage debut this year. For this year’s RiverBeat, they had the welcome addition of singer Alexis Grace, who added shimmering texture to the songs from their album Sirens of Titan, then blew the crowd away with a soulful rendition of Portishead’s “Sour Times.”

They were followed on the Bud Light Stage by one of the great revelations of RiverBeat, La Lom, a trio of ace players from the City of Angels (and it’s been said their name indicates they’re an “L.A. League of Musicians”). Their subtle and surprising instrumentals captivated the afternoon crowd with no effects, fireworks, or grandstanding — just finely-tuned musicianship of the grooviest, slinkiest kind.

Khruangbin (Photo: Joshua Timmermans & Noble Visions)

The best double feature of the festival involved running back and forth from the Bud Light stage to the Pavilion stage on Sunday afternoon, trying to catch both Texas glide-rockers Khruangbin and Afro-beat legend Sean Kuti and Africa 80. Khruangbin’s soaring but simple instrumentals were flawless and precise, drawing a huge crowd. With a captivating, retro set design, moody lighting, and subtle choreography, they had the crowd in the palm of their hand with the inspiring musicality of their arrangements.

Moreover, Khruangbin’s bassist, Laura “Leezy” Lee Ochoa, who was dressed for Wimbledon but had moves akin to Tina Weymouth’s shimmies with the Talking Heads, was but one of the badass female bassists at the fest this year, the other being Gayle.

Gayle (Photo: Joshua Timmermans & Noble Visions)

With a huge, rocking stage presence, she wielded her four-string axe like, well, an axe, and exuded pure pop-punk rage, especially when lamenting an ex in her 2022 hit, “Alex.” “I gotta break up with Alex/It’s gotten way too dramatic … Ba-da-da-da-da!” Admittedly, some of our sensitive writers at the Flyer found such lines both triggering and oddly alluring.

Meanwhile, Sean Kuti battled through Khruangbin’s sound bleed to get his crowd moving. Kuti, the 42-year-old son of Afrobeat originator Fela Kuti, bounced from player to player, calling for solos over the twisty, infections beats from his rhythm section. He is legit one of the best front men in the business, and has been for years.

Anderson .Paak (Photo: Joshua Timmermans & Noble Visions)

And finally, speaking of the highest standards of musicianship and a commitment to featuring a live band, Anderson .Paak & the Free Nationals brought the weekend to a perfect close with some inspired playing. As .Paak exclaimed halfway through the set, “I still believe in real instruments played by real people and fuck that AI shit!” And his drumming alone revealed the power of such an approach. But he also brought the charisma and humor of a born performer, even appearing in drag at one point as he belted out some soulful R&B, before settling into a look more reminiscent of L.L. Cool J for the rest of the show. His set was a tour de force, and the people lingering late Sunday night didn’t want RiverBeat to end.

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Music Music Blog

RiverBeat Rising

With the new year barely begun, many of us are still recovering from holiday indulgences, just trying to get it in gear. Not so for the magical elves at Mempho Presents, who have clearly been working overtime to book yet another stellar spring music lineup.

Following last year’s successful debut, RiverBeat will return to the banks of the Mississippi River this May 2nd through 4th, with Missy Elliott, The Killers, and Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals headlining this year’s celebration. Other notable acts include Benson Boone, Cage the Elephant, Khruangbin,  Ludacris, Public Enemy, and many more. 

As is now standard Mempho practice, the lineup is heavy with local Memphis musicians. Producer Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell will be returning this year with Royal Studios Blues Jam featuring Bobby Rush, Duwayne Burside, Garry Burnside, Kent Burnside and Kinney Kimbrough. WYXR  will be presenting the Memphis Rap OGz featuring local artists La Chat, Crunchy Black, Al Kapone, Skinny Pimp, DJ Zirk, Gangsta Pat, and DJ Spanish Fly. And the festival’s Sunday Gospel Celebration is also back, featuring local Memphis gospel legends The Wilkins Sisters, The Sensational Barnes Brothers, The Jubilee Hummingbirds, and Elizabeth King.

“RiverBeat is more than just a music festival — it’s a celebration of Memphis’s rich musical heritage and its vibrant future,” Jeff Bransford, Festival Producer at Mempho Presents, noted in a statement. “From blues and soul to rock and hip-hop, we’re looking forward to our second year as we continue to elevate Memphis’ position as a premier destination for live music and cultural experiences.”

The festival has implemented significant improvements for 2025, including two main entry points — the newly optimized North Entrance that puts attendees immediately in the heart of the action, and the Butler Street entrance, designed to enhance Downtown accessibility and support local businesses. The festival grounds will feature the return of a Ferris wheel, family-friendly activities, diverse food vendors, and nightly fireworks displays.

While some of the national acts featured have long employed local musicians, as when local axe man Khari Wynn plays guitar for Public Enemy, many full-fledged local acts will also appear, such as MonoNeon, FreeWorld, Iron Mic Coalition, Lina Beach, Salo Pallini, Black Cream, Joybomb, Jombi, Deaf Revival, the Neckbones, and Asheville-Memphis hybrid band The Hypos.

Three-day general admission tickets go on sale today at a discounted rate of $199 and VIP at $849, including all fees. The daily lineup will be announced in early February along with sales of single-day general admission and VIP tickets. Visit RiverBeat.com for more information.

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Music Music Blog

Sunday Funday at Beale Street Music Fest 2019

Chris McCoy

Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real

Ideal weather and a stacked lineup brought ’em out in droves for the sunny finale of the 2019 Beale Street Music Festival.

I didn’t make it to Tom Lee Park in time to see Keith Sykes’ homegrown Memphis set, but by the time I was approaching the festival grounds, the crowd was bulging and the din was palpable. There are sellout crowds, and then there are sellout crowds. Already, this was as big a crowd as I had ever seen at music fest, and it was only going to get bigger.
My friend from Nashville who was going to be joining me for Sunday didn’t make it, so I was going into the maelstrom alone. Since I was on the clock, trying to cover as much of the festival as possible, I thought my solo mission would be an advantage. It would be a lot easier to position myself for some good pics and to see what was going on. Boy howdy, was I wrong.

At first, things worked out pretty well. I schlepped up to the side of the Bug Light stage for the last few songs from Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real. They’re a solid, folk-infused classic rock outfit, and the afternoon crowd was lapping it up. They’ve been Neil Young’s backup band for a while now—they stood in for Crazy Horse for Neil’s epic “Down By The River” set in 2016 — so when they closed with “Rockin’ In The Free World,” they knew how to make Young’s barn-burning call to countercultural arms land like a punch. How well that song has aged! “We got a kinder, gentler machine gun hand” is about mass shootings now. “That’s one more kid/That will never go to school/Never get to fall in love/Never get to be cool” could have been written about immigrant family separations.
Chris McCoy

Rodrigo Y Gabriela

Probably the most challenging act on the bill this year was Rodrigo Y Gabriela. The pair of former metalheads from Mexico City could be viewed as the world’s most successful buskers. They built a reputation touring Europe after relocating to Dublin, Ireland, as teenagers. Expanding the realm of flamenco guitar, the pair’s instrumentals are, as an old guitar player friend of mine used to say, technical as a nuclear plant. Garbriela Quintero, who provides the rhythm support for Rodrigo Sanchez’s melodies and improvisational flights, manages to simulate an entire band’s worth of sound with only her right hand and a nylon-stringed classical guitar. The highlight of their set was an expansive version of Pink Floyd’s “Echoes.” How did a Sunday afternoon festival crowd react to a flamenco arrangement of a 23-minute song originally written as a secret soundtrack to the “Jupiter and Beyond The Infinite” sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey?  They loved it! Did not see that coming.

Chris McCoy

Hamish Anderson at the Blues Tent

Over in the Blues Tent, Australian gunslinger Hamish Anderson was playing. Anderson was definitely of the White Stripes-influenced generation of guitarists, and given that seminal band’s debut to Memphis, it was a good fit for the festival.
Chris McCoy

That’s Paul Janeway of St. Paul and the Broken Bones hanging off the VIP tent. It would have looked a lot cooler if I had been closer.

As the press of humanity intensified, Alabama soul stirrers St. Paul and the Broken Bones took the festival to church. Singer Paul Janeway, dressed in a black feathered cape, tested the range limits of his wireless microphone by leaping into the crowd and attempting to high five as many people as he could. After moving through the VIP tent, he sang the final verses of his set hanging from a pole above the throngs. Reader, I could have gotten some spectacular photos of that moment had I not been on the opposite side of the stage.
Chris McCoy

The Claypool Lennon Delierium

One philly cheesesteak later, I was well positioned for The Claypool Lennon Delirium. Sean Lennon and the Primus bassist have been quietly concocting full-on psychedelic prog rock albums that sounds pretty compelling in person. They’re also kind of a snapshot of the music biz in the modern festival era: A supergroup spinning off the friendly space rock of the Flaming Lips and MGMT. To be fair, it worked great in the moment, and the level of musicianship was very high. It provided a great soundtrack to the spectacular sunset.
Chris McCoy

Sunset over Tom Lee Park

Gary Clark Jr.’s moment in front of the absolutely packed Bud Light stage reminded me of my first Beale Street Music Festival, where I saw Stevie Ray Vaughan fight off rain squalls with “Couldn’t Stand The Weather.” The band was rock solid, and Clark’s absolute command of his guitar was inspiring.

As Clark’s set wound down, I headed north to the Terminix stage. I was determined to meet pop on its own terms, and that meant getting as close to Cardi B. as humanly possible. In her red sequined catsuit and rainbow wig, the most successful female rapper in history was all carefully calculated swagger. To all the done-up ladies in spandex who thought it would be a good idea to wear heels to day three of an outdoor music festival colloquially known as “Memphis In Mud,” she was exactly what they needed at that moment.
Chris McCoy

Hoopers get set for Cardi B

At no time was I closer than a quarter mile from Cardi B.

When I discovered I was actually being pushed backwards from the stage, I decided to bail about halfway through to check out The Killers, for the sake of journalistic completeness. It would turn out to be a fateful mistake. The FedEx stage was hosting about 75 percent of the Cardi B crowd, which meant it was bursting at the seams with revelers. After trying to absorb the Killers for a couple of songs, I called it a night and started making my way toward the south exit — just in time to get caught in the swirling climax of Cardi B’s show. Then, as the show ended, I, along with approximately 10,000 others, were pinned against the eastern line of fences and hospitality tents as the crowd was given conflicting instructions on which way to go. The crowd control was nonexistent at the choke point, save for a lone security guard at the Budweiser tent who yelled “Keep moving!” without specifying a direction. For about 10 minutes, it felt like a legitimately dangerous situation, verging on a stampede, until enough people at the head of the line had cleared out to release the pressure on the back ranks. It was an unfortunate ending to an otherwise successful Beale Street Music Festival. 

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Music Music Blog

Stalwart Flyer Reporter Hits Bonnaroo!

Bianca Phillips, whose byline is familiar to many Flyer readers, braved the sun and crowds to report on all the fun you couldn’t have! Among the highlights were Mavis Staples and Eminem, but there were many more magic moments for those who fell under Bonnaroo’s spell. Journey with Bianca in our exclusive tour…
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Music Music Blog

Bonnaroo’s Sweet 16

aLIVECoverage

Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, celebrates its Sweet 16 this year as the festival opens this Thursday, June 7 and runs through Sunday, June 10. That teenage energy is somewhat evident in the line-up, which, unlike years past, lacks an impressive veteran rock band headliner.

The 2018 lineup — headlined by The Killers, Muse, and Eminem — may appeal more to Millennials and Gen-Xers without much to offer for older Baby Boomer festival-goers. In recent years, the festival has wrapped up with performances by Paul McCartney, U2, Phish, Elton John, and the remaining members of the Grateful Dead. But, Eminem will close out the main stage on Saturday, promoting his new album, Revival, which has been widely criticized as a mediocre release that fails to adapt to the changing sounds of hip-hop. Long-time fans will surely be hoping Eminem plays plenty of his late ’90s classics, as he did at his last Roo performance in 2011. Andrew Jorgensen

The Killers close out the festival on Sunday. They’ll likely perform works from 2017’s Wonderful Wonderful, but they’ll certainly get the most fan reaction from 2004 breakout hits, like “Mr. Brightside” and “Somebody Told Me.” Andrew Jorgensen

Other lineup highlights include indie folk rockers Bon Iver, pop-country crossover artist Sheryl Crow, rapper Future, emo rockers Paramore, and electronic acts Bassnectar, The Glitch Mob, and Kaskade. Click here for the full line-up.

Those looking for more of a rave experience than a rock festival can dance the night away at the Kalliope stage, featuring both well-known and obscure DJs spinning into the wee hours of the morning.

Andrew Jorgensen

Bonnaroo is so much more than music though. The festival offers plenty in the way of cultural activities, and this year they’re pushing new “Campground Experiences” at plazas located across the general campgrounds. Family game nights, yoga, puppet-making workshops, and even a Roo Run 5K are among the highlights, along with the old standards — a water park, a Ferris wheel, a food truck court, a craft brew tent, and more.