As you lock in your plans for the coming festival season, don't overlook Bluff City. The annual Beale Street Music Fest goes down May 5-7 just a couple hours' drive to our west in Memphis' Tom Lee Park, and offers solid mainstream headliners, a fairly diverse undercard ... plus Bush, Sum 41 and Alter Bridge, if they're your thing.Â
Across the bill's top tier are Kings of Leon in the wake of their latest album WALLS, jam stalwarts Widespread Panic, mumble-rap-non-fan Wiz Khalifa and grunge Gods Soundgarden, one of the last remaining Titans of Seattle's heyday (Kim Thayil's guitar work could always use more credit, IMHO). The undercard includes a mix of national names, some with Nashville connections (Sturgill Simpson, Jill Scott, Deer Tick) and some without (Snoop Dogg, Dawes, Ludacris, Ani DiFranco, Jimmy Eat World, GRiZ, Drive-by Truckers, Peter Wolf).
There's some great regional flavor in the mix, too: see Memphis blues and soul man Preston Shannon; Louisiana's Marcella and Her Lovers, led by Marcella Simien, daughter of Grammy-winning zydeco artist Terrance Simien; and Colombian-born, Mississippi blues-inspired guitarist Carlos Elliot Jr., to name a few. Memphis in May International Festival, the month-long series of events of which the BSMF is a part, salutes a different country each year, and this year's honoree is Colombia. Pardon me while I salivate at the thought of arepas stuffed with barbecue.
General admission passes start at $115, and links to various tiers of tickets are here.Â
