50 bands in five months at Mesa Amphitheatre?
With its goal of having 50 bands perform in five months at the Mesa Amphitheatre, the new Humdinger Festival is really, well, a humdinger.
Presented by Danny Zelisko Presents, Stateside Presents and the city of Mesa, Humdinger Festival will be a family-friendly monthly outdoor music festival held through June featuring music, food trucks and affordable prices.
The kickoff show is on Saturday, Feb. 23. It features 10 acts, including Fairy Bones, Doll Skin, Sara Robinson Band, the Pistoleros, Bear Ghost, Jim Bachmann, Banana Gun, Michael Nitro and the Runner Up.
Waffle Crush and Casa Rey’s will be this month’s food trucks. Regular concessions will be open, too.
“The whole point is to give the Valley a sampling of the best groups out there,” promoter Danny Zelisko says. “It makes it possible to go out and have a really
good time for not a lot of money.”
Tickets are $12, no fees or taxes, and they’re on sale at mesaamp.com, the Mesa Amphitheatre box office or 480-644-2560. Children 12 and under with an adult are free.
From 2 to 8 p.m., the acts will perform for about half an hour each. The goal is to have 50 acts perform in five months, but Zelisko said the comfort zone for now is about eight acts per month.
But Zelisko mentions that Mesa’s willingness to host local music means a lot, too.
“We just celebrated our 40th anniversary, and we’ve had some strong acts over the years,” Mesa Amphitheatre booking manager Curtis Ray says. “To be able to know the city gets behind local music is great. All the big acts at one point performed in garages ... so we’ll be able to help good local music and provide a stage with equipment.”
Zelisko says he wants the dates to be as close to a month apart as possible. So the next concert will be on Saturday, March 23, and they’ll dive right into the new lineup when it’s announced after Saturday’s concert.
“I hope locals will come support whether it’s the whole day or an hour or two,” Zelisko says.