This weekend! This weekend! This weekend! Mesa Amphitheatre – the official venue of 8123 Festival! Go, go, go!
Every year in the deserts of Mesa, Arizona, The Maine hosts their signature festival, in which fans come from around the globe to experience their catalog, but also the catalogs of their peers. The event, appropriately known as 8123 Fest, is everything you could want and more from The Maine (and friends); the excitement, shenanigans, laughter, and crowdsurfing found at any of these acts’ respective shows is expanded upon all weekend long.
This year, 8123 Fest is being held January 17-18, so that means two full days of rock music and fun, featuring multiple artists revered in the scene. It’s a melting pot of the band’s own influences, as well – there are pop-leaning artists, punk-fueled bands, and alternative styles throughout. Everything that makes The Maine who they are, talent and all, is represented.
Furthermore, the festival this year is having pop-up shops, social clubs and cocktail lounges, as well as a variety of non-profit organizations there to spread the word about their respective causes. 8123 Fest has the modernity of Sad Summer Fest, the nostalgia of When We Were Young Fest, and the edginess of Warped Tour, all wrapped up in one alongside a beautifully tight-knit fanbase and the dry air of Arizona to boot.
We had the chance to chat with a few of the beloved acts who are playing this weekend and round-up some highlights. Check it out:
The Maine
Now, of course this feature wouldn’t be complete without a snippet from the main act! 8123 Festival was created by The Maine and doesn’t exist without them. It’s the band giving their fans a weekend to come together and pay homage to the legacy they have helped create. When we interviewed the band at When We Were Young Festival in the fall, drummer Pat Kirch said this about the upcoming weekend: “I think 8123 Fest is our goal of doing a Comic Con, basically. Just everything The Maine, all in one weekend, having everybody come in. This year we expanded it to be a two-day festival. It just happens that it’s the 10 year anniversary of American Candy and the end of the album cycle for the self-titled record, so the first night we’ll do that and the second night we’ll just do a normal festival set. We’re pretty pumped. For us, it’s the best weekend of the year. It’s the first 200 people in the front row at all of our shows, from all throughout the country, all in one place.”
Garrett Nickelsen (bass) chimed in to say that “the weather in January in Phoenix is pretty nice!” Continuing, he said, “There are not very many festivals you can do in the winter. The fact that we get to do that is pretty cool.”
Songs to pay attention to ahead of 8123 Fest this weekend:
Real Friends
Pop punk band Real Friends are scheduled to play at 8123 Festival, as well, and coming off of a momentous 2024, this is a great way to start 2025 for the band. They dropped their new album Blue Hour, which was met with critical acclaim (as well as warm fan reception) almost immediately, plus it was the band’s first album since 2018, and their first one with new vocalist Cody Muraro. When discussing the record and how it impacted their year, bass player Kyle Fasel said, “I think it’s been really cool! I’ll be the first to say we’re very grateful to be able to do that. I was just talking today about bands I loved growing up. There were certain bands that had a two-three year window – they were in and out. To be able to do this for as long as we have has been really rewarding. I think with our class of pop punk/emo bands, everyone can probably guess who they are, but there are like 10-12 who we came up with, and I think there’s a longevity to a lot of those bands. I think it’s because we’ve all gone into different lanes. We’re not all exactly the same. That’s something that’s cool about our corner of the pop punk/emo world: everyone went off into their own avenues; whether that be more pop, more rock, or just heavier. I’m just really grateful to somewhat reinvent Real Friends this far in and make the record heavier leaning.”
Muraro shared, “I had a fan come up to me at our last show and was being very nice. One thing I took away from it was, they said, ‘Blue Hour was exactly what I want to hear in this scene right now and something I think is missing.’ To me, that was a very nice compliment because I think that is a big goal that I know I had. I’m pretty sure I speak for everybody when I say we really wanted this record to be timeless. We wanted something that didn’t sound like 2013 Real Friends or 2024 pop punk. I think there are different sounds in different generations. I don’t think you can say Blue Hour sounds like these other records; I think it really is its own thing. I do believe this record is a little different than a lot of what’s happening in our genre right now.”
Songs to pay attention to ahead of 8123 Fest this weekend:
Grayscale
Another band slated to perform at this year’s incredible festival is Grayscale. The band is about to release their first album in four year on January 31. Titled The Hart, the Pennsylvania group already debuted the record live at their Christmas show at The Fillmore in Philadelphia, but fans near and far are anxiously waiting to hear the studio versions of every single track. (From what we’ve heard and what we’ve discussed, there are no skips on this long-awaited record.)
When asked about 8123 Fest, vocalist Collin Walsh told us that Real Friends has been actual friends with The Maine for quite some time, even touring with them! “We’ve been friends with them for a while! We’ve toured with The Maine. “They’re close friends of ours,” he said. “I talk to Pat [Kirch] fairly often. They’re just wonderful people! We’ve written with John [O’Callaghan]. We wrote a song called ‘In Violet,’ and John was part of that song. [They’re] the kind of people that have always looked out for us. We’re very excited to be doing this with them! We’re fans of Bad Suns, The Starting Line, Charlotte Sands. There’s a lot of good artists on this! We’re really excited to do it. I know it’s an important festival for them. It’s going to be amazing.”
Songs to pay attention to ahead of 8123 Fest this weekend:
The Starting Line
The Starting Line is another band that helped define the pop punk scene throughout the early-and-mid 2000s. That’s right, despite being mentioned on Taylor Swift’s 2024 album, The Tortured Poets Department, the band has been making waves since long before then. Their music reminds us of images of baggy jeans from a health textbook in 2002, one that has been vandalized by students of years past. Nevertheless, nostalgia is not the only reason that this band is so special – the hooks they’ve written are still some of the best the scene has heard. They are memorable for a reason, and some of the catchiest music made in rock music have come from this band. There has been personality and charisma found within everything The Starting Line has done, even if they haven’t released a full length record since 2007’s Direction. The band is still incredibly active, though, and played When We Were Young Festival back in October, performing Say It Like You Mean It in full to a packed crowd of longtime fans. They’re also scheduled for Slam Dunk Festival this May, Emo Nite Brooklyn’s 10th anniversary party, and, of course, are taking the stage at 8123 Fest. Everything The Starting Line does is great, but their set is sure to be a highlight of the weekend.
When asked about the festival, vocalist Kenny Vasoli was quick to give voice to the excitement he and the band feel. “It’ll be nice to get out there,” he said. “We love the organizers of this event, so we’re happy to be a part of it and definitely excited to get out of the cold weather and into the warm. I just got back from walking my dog and it’s like 29 degrees, so it’ll be nice to feel my hands again for sure!”
Songs to pay attention to ahead of 8123 Fest this weekend:
Bad Suns
Finally, another notable band playing this festival that deserves recognition is Bad Suns. It’s genuinely hard to believe that their seminal album, Language and Perspective, dropped over a decade ago. Since then they’ve tackled the alternative rock genre head on. They are four albums deep, getting frequent airplay on rock radio, and generating buzz with every release. Currently, they have over one million monthly listeners on Spotify alone, and trust us when we say that those listeners and fans are diverse. They span across multiple genres and styles, so that makes sense, and every record offers more than a new perspective to the masses on what rock music can sound like. Everything has an invigorated sound and a vibrant aesthetic. The Mystic Truth LP sounds nothing like the Disappear Here LP, yet both are perfect releases from the band. If any reader likes upbeat rock that feels like a lively summer day, Bad Suns is perfect for you. Anyone in the Arizona area should check out their set at 8123 Festival, too – make it a priority!
Songs to pay attention to ahead of 8123 Fest this weekend:
FOR TICKETS & MORE INFO ON 8123 FESTIVAL, VISIT THE FEST’S WEBSITE!
