Who are this year’s Mempho headliners?
Grammy-winner Beck, hip-hop supernova Post Malone, French pop group Phoenix, acclaimed soul singer Janelle Monáe and rap great Nas are among the big names set to play the second annual Mempho Music Fest at Shelby Farms Park.
The concert event — presented by Big River Productions — is set for Oct. 6 and 7, and will include more than 25 acts performing on a pair of stages.
Beck and Phoenix will headline the first night of the fest Saturday, with Post Malone — who recently headlined a sold-out show at the Beale Street Music Festival — and Nas closing out Sunday. Other notable names set to appear include Monáe, Mac DeMarco, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Rich the Kid, Larkin Poe, Milky Chance and Sam Lewis.
As it did during its inaugural year, Mempho will also present a wide array of noted local and regional acts. This year’s lineup will include performances by Mid-South favorites Juicy J, Project Pat, Lucero, Eric Gales, The Bar-Kays, Don Bryant & The Bo-Keys, Big Ass Truck, Love Light Orchestra, Talibah Safiya, The Como Mamas and Cory Branan. Royal studios head Boo Mitchell will lead a special performance saluting the legacy of Royal and Hi Records that will feature William Bell, Bobby Rush, Frayser Boy, members of Hi Rhythm and more.
Among the other special festival sets will be a “Stones Throw” performance led by Chuck Leavell, music director for the Rolling Stones, and will feature noted several current and former members of the Stones’ touring company including bassist Darryl Jones, vocalist Bernard Fowler and saxophonists Tim Ries and Karl Denson.
The Mempho Music Fest is the brainchild of Big River head and Memphis native Diego Winegardner, the son of the late Roy Winegardner, longtime chairman and CEO of Holiday Inns Inc. The younger Winegardner is an East Coastbased entrepreneur and hedge fund manager.
The Mempho advisory board includes several notable industry names, among them Boo Mitchell, former Ardent/Compass Point Studios engineer/ producer Terry Manning, and Rolling Stones/Allman Brothers Band sided Leavell.
Financial support for the festival comes from what Winegardner has described as “several prominent and wellrespected Memphis families and philanthropists.” First Tennessee Bank, International Paper, Orion Credit Union, nexAir, el Jimador Tequila, Jack Daniel’s and Duncan-Williams are also serving as sponsors.
The inaugural Mempho Fest in October 2017 was both a creative and logistical success. Shelby Farms proved a viable
Two-day passes are $159; single-day passes are $89. VIP and Super VIP packages also are available. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit Memphofest.com setting for a multi-day concert event, and the performances — by Americana superstar Jason Isbell, hiphop artist Anderson .Paak and a reunited Booker T. and the MGs, among others — were well received. Winegardner and his team were sufficiently encouraged by the results to build toward an even more ambitious follow-up.
“We are thrilled to be back at Shelby Farms Park for year two,” Winegardner said. “We couldn’t be more excited to announce this year’s lineup, which includes an extraordinarily diverse roster of today’s hottest artists, legends of rock, funk, and soul, as well as a healthy dose of local Memphis talent.”
Although pleased with last year’s setup and execution, Winegardner notes there will be some changes to the formatting and presentation, starting by moving the festival from Friday/Saturday to a Saturday/Sunday schedule. Also, the event’s second stage will be shifted and expanded.
“Our second stage is going to be a lot more prominent than it was last year,” Winegardner said. “It’ll be a bigger stage, a bigger production, and feel more like the main stage. We are actually moving it to another field, in a slightly different part of the park as well.”
Winegardner also notes this year’s festival will offer overnight camping and VIP “glamping” options. “We will have different levels of camping and accessibility, and working on finalizing those packages,” he said.
A Mempho Music Festival pre-sale — specially priced and available to those who purchased tickets for last year’s event via a promo code — will start at 10 a.m. Monday. Tickets for the general public go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday and are available at Memphofest.com.
Diego Winegardner