Mill Music Sessions brings concerts back to Tempe’s most iconic landmark

Some Valley venues boast built-in spectacle, perfect for amping up a concert’s atmosphere. Topping that list is Tempe’s Hayden Flour Mill. The 107-year-old landmark’s towering silos set an epic backdrop for shows at its outdoor event space, including the new Mill Music Sessions.

The free, all-ages concert series, launched on Oct. 24, features notable Valley bands performing at the base of Hayden Mill. The runs through January and is the brainchild of local promoter Ryan Eland, who says Mill Music Sessions has a larger goal.

Namely, helping restore Tempe’s reputation as music hub and recapturing some of its ‘80s and ‘90s heyday as a concert destination.

“The overall purpose is to just bring more music back to Tempe,” Eland says. “I want to see Tempe become a music city again.”

‘There’s a hunger for music’

Tempe has a substantial live music legacy. Decades ago, its downtown was home to iconic Mill Avenue rock bars, such as Long Wong’s, that hosted influential bands like the Gin Blossoms and The Pistoleros.

While the area’s live music scene has dimmed considerably in the ensuing years due to redevelopment, Eland believes it can blow up again. Mill Music Sessions is a first step towards that goal.

“I think over the years it’s been priced out. There’s been a lot of beloved venues that have shut down,” Eland says. “But there’s a hunger for music (in Tempe). People still want it.”

Live music is alive and well in Tempe with concerts at rock bars like Yucca Tap Room and in unexpected spaces. Over the last few years, Eland has been involved with both types of shows. He helped provide sound for recent editions of the Ditch Music Sessions, a DIY concert series launched in 2020 by neighborhood activists Paul and Julie Kent. Over the summer, Eland also promoted a jazz jam series at Tempe’s Darkstar Theatre.

“I’ve been providing live sound for the Ditch Sessions, which are these grassroots kind of pop-up things into different neighborhoods around Tempe,” Eland says. “With the jam sessions at Darkstar, we did three of them and had a few hundred people over the course of the night coming through, hanging out, buying drinks and listening to jazz.”

While live music will always be a part of Tempe, Eland believes there could be more, particularly downtown. Its benefits are many, Eland says.

“People want more of it and depending who you talk to, you’re going to get a different reason for why they want music downtown. You talk to economic development (people), they’re going to say it brings money. You talk to people like me and it’s about how it brings more foot traffic downtown and supports local businesses that are there. But also, I just very much believe in the community gathering aspect of live music and how it can help people.”

How Mill Music Sessions was born

The event came about after Eland pitched the concept of a limited concert series at Hayden Mill to the city and the Downtown Tempe Authority in 2024.

“I basically said, ‘Hey, I’d love to start working on some more live music downtown.’ And the Hayden Flour Mill became the focal point for it,” Eland says. “I went through a couple rounds of negotiation with the city to get the contract to a place where it felt good for all of us.”

City of Tempe officials approved funding for three concerts as a pilot program, with Eland leading the project and booking local artists and bands.

He also reached out to the Tempe Arts and Music Coalition, a local nonprofit that champions Valley creatives, to help launch the first Mill Music Sessions in October. The event benefitted TAMC and also featured the work of seven local artists.

“I approached them and said, ‘Hey, we’d love to let this be a benefit for you guys,’” Eland says. “And they were also able to provide a liquor license as well through the state of Arizona that allowed us to sell liquor on site. So we worked together to basically make this happen.”

Jacqueline Swan, TAMC’s president, says the Mill Music Sessions dovetailed with TAMC’s mission of fostering local creatives.

“We’re trying to incubate more art and music in Tempe in unexpected places or an unexpected way,” she says. “So to be able to activate a historic site like Hayden Mill with live art and live music was just the kind of thing we wanna be doing.”

Hayden Mill ceased operating in 1998. Numerous plans to redevelop the landmark have been proposed over the decades, but none have become a reality. In 2011, a portion of the property was transformed into an event and green space incorporating history displays and an outdoor stage.

The space has hosted live music and local bands over the last 14 years, including a concert series put on by Phoenix promoter Psyko Steve Presents in the 2010s. Eland says the mill’s towering silos make for a “fantastic” backdrop for shows.

“It’s definitely the coolest venue in Tempe,” Eland says. “I personally would love to see that place be regularly used as a public use space. I think it would be cool if it (had) a regular concert series there. That’s really what my hope and my vision is for this (event). And who knows where it might lead eventually.”

The first edition of Mill Music Sessions “went off great,” Swan says. More than 1,000 people turned out for the event, which featured sets from Wyves, Banana Gun and Big Finish.

“It felt really great to be able to come together with this team of locals and do something that felt a little bit different from what’s usually going on (downtown) Tempe and was really only focused on art and music,” Swan says.

Eland is hoping for a similar turnout at this month’s edition of Mill Music Sessions on Sunday, Nov. 30. Tempe rock band Farmer Wilson will headline, with two additional bands being announced in the coming weeks. Patrons are encouraged to bring blankets and chairs for the lawn area of Hayden Mill’s event space.

A third edition of Mill Music Sessions is set for Jan. 31.

Mill Music Sessions. Nov. 30 and Jan. 31, at Hayden Flour Mill, 119 Mill Ave., Tempe. Admission is free.