Tempe Jam celebrated its fifth year with music, fun

On Saturday, Nov. 8, the City of Tempe hosted its fifth annual Tempe Jam at the Tempe Sports Complex.

Good vibes ruled the night. From the main stage, brass sounds and soulful vocals filled the air. But this event is not only about the music. People lounged in the grass, sharing laughs and bites of food. Kids ran around the field with glowing lanterns in hand. Parents held little ones up to a large telescope to get a better glance at the stars. Teenagers gathered around a computer built in the 2000s, utterly entranced by a past world of video games. 

“Tempe has such a rich history of music and nurturing the up-and-comers,” Christina Haase, public relations rep for the City of Tempe, said. “And you can kind of discover your favorite band and then watch them as they grow.” 

The event got its start during the COVID-19 pandemic and focused primarily on putting on an intimate performance of local artists for the community to enjoy. Since then, the family-friendly affair has grown to become more like a community festival, with vendors, art and food, nearly filling the field’s capacity, which is 2,500.

This year’s event featured a range of musical talent and performance artists who took over the mainstage and nearby grass fields from 6 to 10 p.m.. The night kicked off with the Tempe Playlist, a playlist of music from 51 local musicians, emceed by Arizona State University’s college radio station, Blaze Radio.

Performances included the soulful Teri Tobin & Friends, EDM pop-lockers and glove artists Good2Go, the recently Grammy-nominated Mega Ran, and hooper/flow artist Evalina Tinklepaugh. 

Tinklepaugh was a performer at both this and last year’s Tempe Jam. She has been hooping since childhood and practicing circus and flow arts since 2010.

“To put that spark of joy of circus (and) flow arts into others’ eyes is such a joy,” Tinklepaugh says. “I hope this art brings them (attendees) as much happiness as it brought me.” 

Outside of its performances, the event provides a variety of art, education, and activities for all age groups to enjoy. From a historic video game station hosted by the Tempe History Museum, to a station of telescopes where attendees could stargaze, to a wide range of DIY activities from a create-your-own lantern station, booths to design your own pins and totes, and giant bubbles where people left positive messages, jokes, and doodles.

Just a bit further, there were plenty of food trucks — from Korean to Mediterranean to tacos to classic fair food like funnel cake and ice cream. These trucks were immensely popular with attendees — lines stretched from where the trucks rested in the lot all the way back to the edge of the field. Some trucks even sold out of food before the event’s end. 

The night culminated with a DJ set by Alice.km, accompanied by a flashy drone show, creating stars, astronauts and other space-inspired visuals in the sky. Between her groovy, deep house tracks and the vibrant, glowing sky, it was a proper grand ending that saw most of the crowd moving, including several kids who came to the front of the stage to bounce around and hula hoop.

“Having events like this that are just open for the community is amazing,” Alice.km said. “It gets to showcase artists in the city who are contributing to the art scene here. It’s like, it’s a beautiful thing, and I think it’s important.”

More photos from the fifth annual Tempe Jam hosted by the City of Tempe: