Riverbeat organizers plan for bigger future music fests
With the first Riverbeat Music Festival in the books, the event’s organizers, Forward Momentum, are just beginning to assess the event.
The festival, which took place May 3-5 at Tom Lee Park in Downtown Memphis, was headlined by Odesza, the Fugees and Jelly Roll and essentially replaced the long-running Beale Street Music Festival, which was suspended after years of financial losses and diminishing attendance numbers.
Memphis businessman Kevin Mceniry, who founded Forward Momentum — which also stages the fall Mempho Music Festival — told The Commercial Appeal that the inaugural edition of Riverbeat laid a solid foundation for the future of the event.
“In terms of attendance, we attracted 30,000 fans last weekend,” Mceniry reported of the festival’s three-day total. “We are incredibly proud of that, given that we had six months to put the festival together and it was our first outing as Riverbeat.”
According to Beale Street Music Festival organizers Memphis in May, the 2023 event at Tom Lee drew some 37,000 fans, while 2019 pre-pandemic music fest drew a reported 107,000.
“Tom Lee Park, along the Mississippi, is an extraordinary urban venue that is perfect for festivals with multiple stages, but it does have a smaller capacity, so we will aim for 22,000 per day as the goal in the future,” Mceniry said, adding that, “we are grateful to Boo Mitchell, the Fugees, Odesza and, of course, Jelly Roll and all the artists that performed. We intend to build on this lineup year over year.”
Mceniry said having a music festival at Tom Lee — specifically one with the approach Riverbeat took — is vital to the city’s civic identity. “Memphis needs a signature music event in May to draw fans and visitors to the city; it’s the lifeblood of our economy,” he said. “Beale Street Music Festival had two straight years of record declines, so we had to bring something new and different to the party. Riverbeat takes advantage of the extraordinary venue at Tom Lee Park on the banks of the Mississippi and brings a modern, inclusive, high-production festival to Memphis.”
But Mceniry noted that every festival needs the opportunity to develop its brand and identity. “The music festival business is hard,” he said. “The idea is not to make a lot of money but to build something sustainable over time that the city can be proud of.”
Forward Momentum already has confirmed plans for a 2025 return for Riverbeat, and Mceniry hopes this year’s festival is the start of a new tradition.
“Our vision is to produce a show with multiple music genres and big talent that is accessible to families, hard music fans, and those looking for a VIP experience,” he said. “We accomplished that, and everyone who came has been really positive about the experience.”