The annual Memphis in May celebration kicks off tonight with the three-day Beale Street Music Festival. Over 60 bands will grace the four stages located in Tom Lee Park on the banks of the Mississippi River in downtown Memphis. This year’s lineup includes acts George Clinton, the Foo Fighters, Jerry Lee Lewis and the Indigo Girls.
A number of Mississippi State students are attending the music-filled weekend before finals begin. Those planning to make the trip to Memphis this weekend agree that people keep returning to the festival because of good times and good music.
Quentella Henderson, a native of Byhalia, said she wants to go back to the festival because it is a wild party.
“Walking around downtown there’s just so much to see,” Henderson said. “You would think because it’s a blues town that younger people wouldn’t like it, but they have different clubs and scenes for every culture. It’s like a big melting pot in this one town with all kinds of people just having fun together.”
Henderson said people never know who they might run into on Beale Street, which she referred to as “a Bourbon Street in the making,” and she mentioned one year when NBA star Penny Hardaway was letting people take a tour of his limo. She also said police enforcement was strict for underage partyers.
“It is fun, but they do have police enforcement,” Henderson said. “If you’re on Beale Street after a certain time and you’re underage, they make you get off the street and they will take you to jail if you don’t cooperate.”
Jackson, Tenn., native Matt Nelson said he had been going to the festival since he was a freshman in high school eight years ago. He said he was excited about getting the chance to hear Gov’t Mule and the Steve Miller Band, and that he believes the festival has a strong appeal for the college crowd.
“It draws a lot of the music that we listen to,” Nelson said. “You get a bunch of people the same age in one area with a lot of great bars and great music, and they’re going to have a good time.”
Memphis native Lauren Jennings, who has been to the festival for the past four years, said she keeps going back for the variety of music.
“They have headline bands and the little bands that are good but don’t get much notice,” Jennings said. “So, they get a chance to be seen. Plus, you get three days of music for, like, 40 bucks, and it’s so big that you can walk around, you can go play on Beale Street or you can just sit there in Tom Lee Park and listen to the music.”
Jennings said she has seen most of the bands scheduled to perform this year, but that G. Love & Special Sauce, as well as Sister Hazel, put on a good show.
“And you’ve got to love Journey,” Jennings added.
Morgan Stotelmyer from North Rock, Ark., said she was excited to see Gov’t Mule and O.A.R. perform this year. She also summed up the opinions of many of the college students heading north for the Beale Street Music Festival this weekend.
“I go to Memphis in May because of the atmosphere,” Stotelmyer said. “I get to see a lot of great bands in a great location at an affordable price.”