The Best and Worst of Zona Music Festival

Best: The Vibes

As a lifelong resident of Arizona (or thereabouts), you get used to a little rain. Maybe you don't always love it, but it comes infrequently enough that you have to make a small, slightly begrudging space for it during certain parts of the year. And that tendency came in extra handy on Saturday as most of the day was met with a steady stream of rain, which resulted in huge mud puddles, fewer places to sit, and lots of shivering attendees. (Fun fact: it was actually a record-breaking day for rain, so big congrats, ZONA.) But we're a persistent bunch in this slice of desert, and while the weather may have been an issue logistically, the whole thing made for some genuinely great vibes. People huddled around spare heaters, gracious bands thanked attendees for their soaked commitment, and people engaged in lots of communal gathering (even if it really meant sharing sweet, sweet body heat). It ultimately created a setting that felt like we were actually all in it together, and gathered there to celebrate something essential through all the endless muck. It's the sort of reaction you’d want when things don't go as planned, and proof that the right attitude can make something fun and endearing — no matter how damp your socks may have been. Christopher Coplan

The Worst: Food Options

There's an important distinction to make here. The food I sampled was actually quite good; the Mega Churro, for instance, was a bright spot of sugary warmth in an otherwise rainy Saturday. And the same goes for some cheese fries I had that really hit the spot considering the gross and muddy conditions across Sunday. But the main issue is that the food options often felt a little underwhelming. It was a lot of the same foods you'd see at almost every other fest, which feels a little disappointing considering the sheer wealth of culinary eats we have in the Phoenix metro area. (There was, for instance, just one birria truck at the fest, and that mostly seemed like it for "exotic" foods.) And, of course, that's not even mentioning the prices; $15 for a grilled cheese sandwich is both highway robbery and the distinct side effect of when you choose specific vendors and don't open some of the spaces for smaller, more affordable options. (And, not to harp on the Mega Churro again, but for $5 I'd expect something a little more "mega" in size.) Good food is great and all, but it felt more like a carnival over a rich representation of this specific city's massive, endlessly diverse culinary culture. CC

The Best: Mingus Stage

The layout at the fest was a little odd. (More on that later.) The two biggest stages, Nicks and Ronstadt, were close enough that there was some bleed-over with regards to the sound. And the Eddy stage, which was tucked back under the bridge and thus perfectly isolated, still had to share space with the local vendors. As such, the Mingus stage may have been the automatic contender for the weekend’s best stage. It was just close enough to enjoy the amenities, but far away enough that there weren't always issues with the sound (generally speaking, of course). It also had some pretty great "seating" available, with fans commandeering the steps and other architecture of the park near Burton Barr library to enjoy and help spread out the crowd. But more than all of that, it also had one of the more robust and diverse lineups, with everything from cumbia (Tatiana Crespo) to pure punk (Destroy Boys). A stage like this was vital in encapsulating what the fest did best, and it exemplified the credibility and promise of the event at-large. And like its namesake, the Mingus stage was totally cool and ahead of the curve. CC

The Worst: Lineup Changes

If you're at a music festival, band dropouts are to be as expected as overly drunken patrons and long lines at the bars. But these complications can feel especially devastating if you're a first-year festival, and ZONA had quite a few such shakeups. Tegan and Sara dropped out due to COVID, and they were followed quickly by Waxahachee and Kevin Morby for similar health reasons. And there were even some reschedulings, like when Pom Pom Squad got bumped to Sunday afternoon from Saturday. Are these ultimately a big deal compared to, say, super muddy conditions or sound issues or other logistical hiccups? Maybe not so much. But they do tend to annoy and irritate fans, and that makes folks either extra-grumpy that same weekend or somewhat hesitant to return for subsequent festival editions. Plus, the tiniest changes can throw off people's itineraries, and that can affect who sees other bands. It's proof that while people expect certain things from fests, it doesn't always mean they have to be so accepting of every single inconvenience. CC

Best: Video Games

It’s a festival, and so you’re supposed to have fun with other people and maybe do a little posturing to add to your personal quotient for coolness. But if there’s an entire tent of nostalgic video games made available, not even James Dean himself would be hip enough to avoid an extended visit. On day one of the fest, when the rain got bad enough, the video game tent was a sturdy refuge from the mud and rain. And barring either of those as issues, it was a great place to waste 30 minutes between sets. Ultimately, though, the games served as a reminder of the fest’s all-ages inclusivity and its commitment to remaining unabashedly true to our fair city. (We have, despite some more recent closures, a pretty decent roster of great video game bars across the Valley.) Sure, being hip is great and all, but the organizers spoke volumes when they made just as much room for rock ‘n’ roll badasses as they did Mortal Kombat. Plus, we’re pretty sure that Zoltar the Fortune Teller may have predicted Saturday’s nasty weather. CC

The Best: The Attitudes of the Artists

Plenty of fans were varying levels of irritated and outright infuriated about some of the weather on Saturday. The bands, meanwhile, who perhaps ran a slightly higher risk of being electrocuted and/or slipping on stage, had a much better attitude about it all. Some of them cracked wise about the conditions and possibilities of electric shock (Phantom Planet), and others even tried to stoke those intense feelings in the name of fostering great art (TV Girl). Either way, almost all of them expressed some baseline of gratitude and appreciation, and that sure went a long way in uniting everyone in the (less than perfect) moment to actually celebrate what genuinely mattered (art and community). Maybe it didn’t always have the same kind of soothing effect across every single stage, but such a level of care and engagement felt like a great way to try and build something important about the fest despite some of these logistical issues/concerns. Plus, with this being the inaugural edition, it seemed like the bands took this moment very seriously, and that made ZONA feel extra vital so early on. Huzzah to good people! CC

The Worst: The Layout

A lot could be said about where the four stages ended up, and how that created quite a bit of bleed-over with sound. But that’s sort of a thing a lot of urban fests contend with, and this can be excused for being minimal enough. But there were other such kerfuffles that felt a little more substantial. For instance, there was a VIP section near the Nicks stage that was pretty sizable, and yet it never really filled all that much beyond for select bands. The same issue occurred around another VIP area around the Ronstadt stage; they both ate up vital space that could have been opened up a bit more to the general public. Then there were the issues of not nearly enough space for sitting or eating (at least away from the food trucks), and lots of wasted space near the back of the festival grounds and near some of the rows of food trucks. It’s an especially irksome issue when you consider the layout for M3F is normally pretty well done and both functional and accommodating to everyone. It’s a minor issue in the long run, but it meant that things weren’t always so optimal and that fans had to find workarounds when that’s normally for organizers to manage. And it often demonstrated a clear emphasis on the VIP population, which mostly came in the face of the undercurrent of community and family at the fest’s core. CC

The Best: Entry (and re-entry)

Packing a bag for an all-day festival can feel like you're going off into the woods. Resources will be scarce, so bring what you know you'll need and what you hope you don't. Originally, Zona decreed that only attendees with VIP wristbands would be allowed re-entry into the festival (a little elitist, but not the point). Then, the deluge came, and when faced with scads of soggy concertgoers who were unprepared for record-breaking rain, the festival posted on social media that all passholders would be allowed re-entry. And then on Sunday, even when there was no rain, they said the same thing. Allowing re-entry to a festival lifts some of the angst involved with being somewhere all for hours in an environment where one unexpected event can ruin your day. And when it was time to enter (or re-enter), Zona seemed to escape the bottleneck that makes for infuriatingly long lines at events like Innings Fest. Every time we showed up, we got in quickly and with a minimum of hassle. It's a good thing when your festival attendees don't walk into your event frustrated and stressed. Jennifer Goldberg

The Worst: The Mud

I was at Woodstock '99. I got muddier at Zona Fest. It's no one's fault. Record-breaking rain plus bone-dry soil plus thousands of people treading around equals an inevitable mess. The small, gooey patches of mud that I gingerly tried to avoid on Saturday because it wasn't solid ground became the best places to walk on Sunday, because much of the festival space had turned into a soupy pit that splashed onto your clothes with every step. It became a deterrent for some people — "I want to stand closer for Japanese Breakfast, but I'd have to cross the mud field to do it, so I'll hang back here" — while others just went with it. (We saw one guy in rain boots happily stomping and splashing in the worst of it.) With just about two months to go, before the Super Bowl, it was painful to see the damage done to Hance Park, and we hope it'll recover. We know our shoes won't. JG