Our list of unmissable acts for the McDowell Mountain Music Festival (aka M3F Fest) paid out like a bondsman on Thanksgiving. Most of the sets we set out to see delivered as expected and provided plenty of highlights. As in most concert experiences, the human element is key. After all, we go to concerts because we’re social animals and good jams help our bonding experience (some people will say they go for the music, they lie, they’re people watchers, creepers like rest of us).

It was a jam-packed weekend with tons of great acts and chill vibes. No artist rants/meltdowns, very little or nonexistent drama. Cops were where they should be, on the outskirts of the fun (except for a few narcs roaming around checking that the doobie puffers behaved well). For the most part, people held their liquor, sans a few youngens who were barfing their fries on designated puke areas, aka any dark corner.

These are some of the acts that made our butts clench and we felt the need to tell you about:

Andy Frasco & the U.N. – Was off the hook! Wait, does that reveal that we’re 90’s kids? Should I say fresh or phat, raw anyone? I guess cold or savage AF is more timely. Maybe we’ll stick to cool. This afro-wearing jew (we only reference that he’s Jewish because he made it a point to let people know and we thought it was hillars) kept the crowd dancing throughout the entire set as he practically snorted beers and threw the remnants at photographers.

Wyves – No te pases de verch! This band from Mesa is like Vicente Fox says, “fucken great!” Tons of rock & roll, bad-ass presence all around, surely an act to chase wherever they play. Plus, the singer’s entire outfit, including the slick hat, was on point! Actually, the whole band was dressed like something we’d put on Instagram.

Cut Copy – Yes, it’s Cut Copy and they’ve proven to be good. Although we must say, the set was too safe. People were diggin’ it, but at times got distracted by other things like winged fairies, flags or drones.

Phoenix Afrobeat Orchestra – PAO, PAO, PAO, PAO! I say gat dam! This local fav never disappoints and always leaves us wanting at least one more song. ¡Una más y no jodemos más! Their show was mad fun and fired up the crowd just right for the rest of the festival since they were one of the first bands to play on Saturday.

Father John Misty – Because Father John Misty.

Lucky Chops – Holy shit this band made us lose our chanclas! An entire brass section and a tarola make the most amazing tunes. They are like an EDM version of los taka-takas or techno banda like our good friend Gil would say (¡un saludo primo!).

Washed Out – We just can’t with this band. Seriously, sick visuals, massive sound waves, and all around festival candy, just like the one wide-eyed people were on.

White Denim – Every festival requires a garage/prog/psychedelic/revival rock band. This act from Austin, TX nailed it every time and blew people’s minds for a minute. “Whoa bruh, this band is like chiseling my brain bruh,” said some Vuarnet-wearing dudester.

Mura Masa – This was a crowd pleaser show, and we don’t at all mean it facetiously. I mean, How many instruments does this fool play?!

Big Gigantic – Están pesados estos batos ¿eh? This band is “huge” in every way: sound, trippy light show, not at all for peeps who go to shows with earplugs and cross their arms while everybody else is losing it.

Gorgon City – If Selena and Beetlejuice had a baby it would look like the woman who came out to sing during Gorgon City’s set.

Dr. Dog – We know we had fun because of the bits and pieces people have told us about our experience (substances got to us before we started walking over there)… apparently we had too much fun and got a bit overexcited. Good times, good times.

Seratones – We love a fierce woman who can make a Stratocaster scream.

Nick Murphy – We’ve been fans since Thinking in Texture, so watching him play at a festival in La Phoenikera was special. We shed a tear…Just one though not more, no hay pa’ que ser tan dramáticos.

Our favorite part of the festival (aside from the music, duh)

We were pleasantly surprised at how green M3F Fest was compared to other festivals and how clean the whole place was kept throughout the day. One of the coolest things they did was sell beer in hard plastic collectible cups and give a dollar discount on the next beer you bought using the same cup!

I mean, some people still threw away those cups and for some reason decided not to take advantage of the discount, but the festival can’t plan for idiocy, right?

Although we think there’s room for improvement like no styrofoam, having solar panels, or less plastic for that matter etc., we saw more of these efforts here than in similar events we’ve been to.

We also liked how well organized it was and how most of the shows didn’t overlap. There were very few bummer moments of “man, I have to choose between bands!”

Lastly, people man, the peeps are what we think makes a festival great, and people were pretty chill, just vibin’ and having a blast.

Our biggest take away

We couldn’t help to notice that the festival clearly targeted a specific demographic and it was not people of color. No outreach to other communities that are part of the makeup of the city? Come on now; even Magoo sees that (no, not Jeff Sessions).

Although foodies weren’t disappointed, we couldn’t fathom the fact that there were no foods from other communities in La Phoenikera. This could’ve been an excellent opportunity to showcase small food vendors that offer other options, maybe Ethiopian or Peruvian? I mean, not even tacos or fry bread is borderline sacrilegious.

Even if you don’t care about Latinxs and other POC (or care to ignore us), you must care about money and about raising the maximum amount possible for charity (the festival donates all their proceeds to a non-profit organization). If you haven’t put two and two together about how much Latinxs spend on food, entertainment, and cultural events, you’re obviously behind the ball, and you need some advisors ASAP (meaning us).

Shit talking aside, here’s a gallery of some of the moments we captured during the festival.

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