red lights


concert reviews	basement tapes	cd reviews	interviews	features

Beale Street Fest doesn't let rain dampen
the many amazing performances

2018 Beale Street Music Festival
Tom Lee Park
Memphis, TN
May 4-6, 2018

Franz Ferdinand

Margo Price

Jack White

Review and photos by Frances Sealy

2018's Beale Street Music Festival (BSMF) was a fabulous eclectic musical extravaganza that did not dampen fans' expectations in spite of a lotof rain two out of three days. The rain was very light on Friday, but Saturday's rain turned into hail at one brief point in the day. The good news is that the weather did not cause the music to halt. There were many high points during the festival and here are our favorite moments.

Friday

Headliners, Queens of the Stone Age, brought their metalicious rock to the large stage on the opening night. Their set was heavy with tunes from their latest album, Villains. The Josh Homme led group also hit their 20-year catalog of music. Other heavy rockers of the day included Third Eyed Blind and Clutch.

Pop diva, Alanis Morissette, drew a large crowd for her set closing the day. Her first song was plagued with sound problems during the first song that had Morissette struggling to hear the sound monitors. After the first song, she picked up an electric guitar and proceeded to give the fans everything they expected from the '90s rock icon.

Margo Price brought the country element to the festival. She is a novice to the BSMF, but not a stranger to Memphis. Price has recorded her last two critically acclaimed albums at Memphis' Sun Studios. Her set included her original songs with covers of Dylan's "Most Likely Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine," Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance," and Merle Haggard's "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink."

Icelandic band, Kaleo, delivered the goods with their blues flavored rock set. The band performed their A/B album in almost its entirety. JJ Julius Son's swampy vocals were better than the recordings. The band's guitar, harmonica and bass were impeccable.

Robert Randolph and the Family Band closed the Blues tent for the night. Their performances are always an electric revivalist experience. The crowd was very much apart of the experience jumping up, clapping, and singing. Randolph never fails to deliver.

Saturday

Tucson's hometown band, Calexico, started the day with their brand of rock pulling in Latin, Spanish, and the American Southwest influences. The set was filled with music from their 22-year career including their new album The Thread That Keeps Us.

Scottish band, Franz Ferdinand, gave a blistering, mesmerizing show. Lead singer, Alex Kapranos played every trick in his repertoire to surprise and captivate the crowd. The band formed a titanic chorus line of guitarists to end the set with "Take Me Out."

David Byrne brought his American Utopia tour to BSMF. Byrne has been hitting many of the major festivals that include Coachella and New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. This performance included everything from the tour including the box-like stage set up and props. Byrne and his 11-piece troupe of players were in constant motion throughout the 'art-rock' performance.

Jack White closed the day with his blues soaked tour de force performance. His 21 song set included rock and roll songs from his new album Boarding House Reach as well as songs from his White Stripes and The Dead Weather days.

Gov't Mule, Ludacris, Vance Joy and Action Bronson were worthy honorable mentions for great sets of the day.

Sunday

Sunday was the only sold out day of the festival. Some would attribute that to the beautiful weather. Others would say that the crowd was there to see Post Malone. Post Malone released his new album on Friday and it has skyrocketed to the top of Billboard's charts making chart history.

Valerie June started the day with a set that seemed to be a homecoming for the artist. Born in Jackson, TN, she moved to Memphis in 2000. She looks like a model out of the pages of Vogue and yet her voice and music takes you back to the Americana roots music of Appalachia.

Before June played, New Orleans band, Tank and the Bangas delighted the gathering crowd with their jazzy, hip-hop, funk and anything else they wanted to deliver. Their energy was infectious and magnetic.

The Flaming Lips never fails to dazzle a crowd no matter where they perform and this set was no different. There was everything from giant mushrooms, a giant pink robot, a mega rainbow, and a huge neon unicorn used as props. Canons on each side of the stage spewed confetti into the crowd while huge giant helium-filled balloons were thrown in the crowd. It was a jaw-dropping experience for everyone there. Coyne and his six musicians brought a sound as rich as their records, from folk strumming to prog beats, and lush, Mellotron-like symphonic harmonies. Somehow the great music seemed secondary to the insane flash of the stage show.

The most anticipated set of the day was Post Malone. The crowd at the stage was estimated to be 30,000 and many of the fans had been waiting since 100 p.m. Malone modestly walked on stage sporting multiple tattoos, diamonds in his teeth, wearing a tee-shirt, jeans and sneakers. Many of the songs in set were from the new album as well as his first album, Stoney.

On the next stage over, Erykah Badu closed the festival with her Neo-Soul performance. She arrived some 45-minutes late for her set that didn't 'sit' to well for the crowd. Her outfit was very eccentric as she wore one of her classic large hats, a skirt that was hidden by at least two coats, and a huge wig of hair. Add large party glasses and it was hard to see the person underneath all of the clothes and accessories. All of the adornment on Badu could not hide the magnetism of the star. Many of the songs in the set were from her 20-year old breakthrough album Baduism.

Luke Combs, Juicy J, MisterWives, Odesza, Love Light Orchestra were runners up and worthy honorable mentions for the best of the day. BSMF was absolutely outstanding this year.

Beale Street Music Festival - Menphis, TN - May 2017