Tempe throws first 2-day, 60-band festival
By THOMAS BOND
Get Out
March 13, 2003

Ken Koziol, vice president of Arizona Event Co., knows a thing or two about staging large-scale events his firm organizes the annual Fiesta Bowl Block Party in downtown Tempe. The seeds for this weekend's Tempe Music Festival were sown during preparations for one of the annual New Year's Eve events.

The idea came to my brother Kevin my partner and I a few block parties ago when the city opened up the (Tempe) Beach Park, Koziol says. When we put up the stage for Hootie & the Blowfish and we were doing a sound check the night before, my brother and I looked at each other and said, This is the most beautiful venue in town for a concert. That was the start of the idea.

After noodling around with the thought for a couple of years, preparations for the first Tempe Music Festival began in earnest last spring when the Koziols were approached by classic rock station KSLX (100.7 FM) to stage a show involving tribute bands to the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and other acts on its playlist.

The thing started snowballing from there, and KUPD (97.9 FM) and KDKB (93.3 FM) all came on board, and other sponsors like Fender. And it grew from one night with a handful of tribute bands to two days and over 60 bands, Koziol says.

Unlike the Block Party, which started small My entertainment budget in 1987 was $3,000! Koziol says, laughing and grew into one of the largest New Year's Eve events in the nation, the Tempe Music Festival is starting big from the get-go, with plans to grow larger in coming years.

We hope the growth of this festival mirrors the development of the growth of the Tempe Town Lake area, Koziol says. Eventually, we see expanding the event along the waterfront as there are more condos and retail stores there and having eight or nine headliners.

That suits Tempe just fine.

We believe in the future that the Tempe Music Festival will become just like the largest music festivals in the United States and people will come from all over the country for it, says Kris Baxter, the city's economic development marketing coordinator. This event is really going to grow every year.

About 20,000 people are expected to attend each day this weekend, barring circumstances beyond Koziol's control.

War or rain could crush us, he says. We're hoping and praying for peace and sunshine.

Contact writer Thomas Bond at or .

Tempe Music Festival
Where: Tempe Beach Park, Mill Avenue and Rio Salado Parkway
When: 4 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. Saturday
How much: $5-$15
Info:

MUSIC LINEUP FRIDAY
MAIN STAGE
4-5:30 p.m.: Azz Izz
6-7:30 p.m.: Gary Hoey
8-9 p.m.: The Classic Rock All Stars
9:30-10:30 p.m.: Lit
11 p.m.-12:15 a.m.: The B-52s

KUPD STAGE
5-5:30 p.m.: TBA
6-6:30 p.m.: Autumns End
7-7:45 p.m.: Thieves in the Temple
8-8:45 p.m.: Neveready
9-9:45 p.m.: Soul on Strings
10:15-11 p.m.: Theory of a Deadman

FIELD OF DREAMS STAGE
4-6 p.m.: TBA
6-8 p.m.: Industrial BMX and in-line skate demo
8-8:45 p.m.: Metal Gods (Judas Priest tribute)
9:15-10:30 p.m.: Iron Maidens (female Iron Maiden tribute)
11 p.m.-12:30 a.m.: Sticky Fingers (Rolling Stones tribute)

OFF THE ROCK STAGE
4:30-6 p.m.: Jeds a Millionaire
6:30-8 p.m.: Walkin Cane Mark
8:30-10 p.m.: Mogollon
10:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m.: Cold Shott & the Hurricane Horns featuring Small Paul

UNDER THE BRIDGE STAGE
4-6 p.m.: Mega Radio DJ dance mixes
6-8 p.m.: Wonderbread
8-9 p.m.: Mega Radio DJ dance mixes
9 p.m.-midnight: Boogie Knights
Midnight-1 a.m.: Mega Radio DJ dance mixes

SATURDAY
MAIN STAGE
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Whos Your Daddy
1-2:15 p.m.: Beatles Classical Mystery Tour
2:30-2:45 p.m.: Nudnicks
2:45-3:30 p.m.: Twist & Shout (Beatles tribute)
4-5:30 p.m.: Greg Koch & the Tone Controls
6-7 p.m.: The Paladins
7:30-9 p.m.: Rail
9:30-10:30 p.m.: Monte Montgomery
11 p.m.-12:15 a.m.: Creedence Clearwater Revisited

KUPD STAGE
Noon-12:30 p.m.: Crushed
1-1:30 p.m.: Lifted
2-2:45 p.m.: Signal to Noise
3:15-4 p.m.: Ph8
4:30-5:15 p.m.: Outspoken
5:45-6:30 p.m.: Project 86
7-7:45 p.m.: 30 Seconds to Mars
8:15-9:30 p.m.: Trapt
10-11 p.m.: Ra

FIELD OF DREAMS STAGE
Noon-2 p.m.: Pro level BMX bike and in-line skate demo
1:50-2:10 p.m.: Ray Barbee
2:30-3 p.m.: The Weeds (featuring Frank Hirata)
3:25-4 p.m.: Gudamunkas (featuring Tas Papas)
4:20-5 p.m.: PowerFlex 5 (featuring Salba)
5:20-6 p.m.: Operatic (featuring Jesse Fritsch)
6-7 p.m.: Extreme athlete autograph session
6-7:30 p.m.: Dream Police (Cheap Trick tribute)
8-9 p.m.: Heartbreaker (Pat Benatar tribute)
9:30-10:45 p.m.: Led ZepAgain (Led Zeppelin tribute)
11:15 p.m.-12:30 a.m.: TNT (AC/DC tribute)

OFF THE ROCK STAGE
11 a.m.-1 p.m.: The Scones
1:30-3 p.m.: Young Country
3:30-4:15 p.m.: Nick Sterling
4:45-5:45 p.m.: Far From Grey
6:15-7:15 p.m.: Second Sight
7:45-8:45 p.m.: Sunday Afternoon
9:15-10:45 p.m.: JD Simo & Dirty Pool with Hans Olson
11:15 p.m.-12:30 a.m.: TBA

UNDER THE BRIDGE STAGE
11:15 a.m.-noon: Royal Dance Works
12:15-1 p.m.: Hispanic Ballet Folklórico
1:15-2 p.m.: Dance Network
2:15-3 p.m.: On Stage Dance Academy
3:15-4 p.m.: Michalas Dance Magic
4 p.m.-1 a.m.: Energy Radio DJ Energy Dance Mix

All acts and set times subject to change.