The story is the same. Visit Arizona, fall in love with its weather and natural beauty, and be inspired to relocate to the Valley.

C3 Presents’ promoter, producer and talent buyer Tim Sweetwood had a similar sentiment. After being “dragged” to Cactus League Spring Training from Atlanta, Sweetwood saw Tempe as the perfect spot for a music festival.

Thus, Innings Festival was born. This year, the Spring Training-adjacent Innings Festival is Feb. 20 to Feb. 22, and Extra Innings Festival falls Feb. 27 to Feb. 28 at Tempe Beach Park and Arts Park. More than 28 rock, pop and indie artists will hit three stages. Performers include Mumford & Sons, Goo Goo Dolls, Luke Bryan, Shaboozey, Blink-182, Twenty One Pilots, Kane Brown, and Phoenix native Dierks Bentley.

Diehard baseball fans are invited to Ryan Dempster’s Off the Mound, a “talk show” during which he interviews current and former players like Mark Grace and Darryl Strawberry. The All-Star Baseball Jam is hosted by guitarist/former pitcher Jake Peavy. Musicians such as diehard Cubs fan Eddie Vedder have jammed with them.

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“We’re always looking for the right home [for festivals] that has flair, a theme or story that can go along with it,” Sweetwood said.

“I was blown away that, on any given day during Spring Training, there are an extra 300,000 people in town, and there is no ‘entertainment’ to go around.”

In its eighth year, the festival celebrates music and Spring Training, attracting more than 25,000 fans each day. C3 studies show Valley residents purchase about 95% of the tickets. Out-of-towners book hotel rooms and transportation, filling cities’ coffers.

“There is a definite economic impact. A lot of people forget about that,” Sweetwood said. “There are elevated rates on Uber. So, they’re making money.”

For the third year, C3 is hosting Extra Innings, a second weekend that allows the firm to spread its musical wings. Innings Festival primarily focuses on pop and rock acts, while Extra Innings hosts primarily country musicians.

Sweetwood said the festival also unites fans during a divisive time.

“There are opinions out there, right?” Sweetwood said. “Typically, we find at our festival that those walls break down. Everybody’s coming there for the same reason. It doesn’t matter your background, your color, your creed, your opinion. That falls to the wayside.

“You’ll find you’re standing next to a person who wants to watch Lord Huron, or they want to watch Sublime or Shaboozey. I look forward to the camaraderie, the happiness, and the smiles that come with that.”

Vertical Horizon Innings Festival, Saturday, Feb. 21

Vertical Horizon lead singer/guitarist Matt Scannell was encouraged to throw his hat in the ring — or the field — for Innings by Public Enemy’s manager. The legendary hip-hop group performs Sunday, Feb. 22.

“She said this is her favorite festival of all the festivals,” Scannell recalls. “She adores it. I’m really excited to do it.”

Wearing a Los Angeles Police Department-branded Dodgers baseball hat, Scannell admits he’s a fair-weather baseball fan. The Massachusetts native watched the Falmouth Commodores, which spawned future Major Leaguers like ex-Diamondbacks outfielder A.J. Pollock, and centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who played for the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

“When I was a kid, we went to see the Red Sox,” he continues. “Carl Yastrzemski was the big guy. But I wasn’t very good at sports, so the guitar became my obsession. The writing was on the wall.

“Guitar has been an incredible constant in my life. It was a strange adjustment for me when my hobby became my vocation. But it hasn’t been difficult to maintain my enthusiasm for music.”

He and Vertical Horizon scored hits like “Everything You Want,” “Best I Ever Had” and “She’s a God” in the 1990s and 2000s.Vertical Horizon’s most recent Valley gig was in September at the Mesa Arts Center with Toad the Wet Sprocket.

“I feel it’s a bit of a minor miracle that we’re still able to do this thing and play these shows,” he says.

“We are thrilled to play songs that hopefully lots of people know. We will just be grateful to be there.”

Lola Kirke, Extra Innings Festival, Friday, Feb. 27

Multihyphenate entertainer Lola Kirke isn’t necessarily a baseball fan, but she has long campaigned to play Innings.

“It’s such a cool festival,” says Kirke, the daughter of Bad Company/Free drummer Simon Kirke. “I’ve always been jealous of people who were doing it.”

While ball isn’t her thing, In-and-Out is on the docket for the Nashville/New York resident.

“That’s a West Coast thing,” she said with a laugh. “It’s always an exciting stop.”

Kirke is a country-rock singer-songwriter, actress, and author whose latest album, “Trailblazer,” is especially personal to her. The fifth album was written while she was working on “Wild West Village,” a memoir about growing up in New York surrounded by “larger-than-life” characters. 

“It also sifts through all of that to fine your authentic identity,” she says. “The record has a similar through line.”

As an actress, Kirke has appeared in “Law and Order: SVU” (2013); “Mozart in the Jungle” (2014-2018); “Three Women” (2023) and “Sinners” and “Atropia” (both 2025).

“I love characters,” Kirke says. “I love collaboration, which I think is a huge part of being an actress, and something that has really served me in making music. It’s an incredibly collaborative art form.”

For 2026, Kirke plans to write a book, start a new album, and “do a lot of acting.” She will continue to push back on projects that lack depth, as well as social media.

“I just do what inspires me,” she says. “I think, especially in this age where identity is so flattened by social media, we need to provide as much depth as we can. That’s just what we have to do.”

Watching her father perform with Bad Company and Free was inspirational. Becoming an entertainer was second nature to Kirke.

“I didn’t know anything else,” she says. “There was always music playing in our house. Listening to music with him [her father] in the car and hearing his old stories was a great time to connect with him.”

Information: inningsfestival.com