The inaugural Mempho Music Festival took over Shelby Farms Park in Memphis, TN over the weekend, successfully bringing together an eclectic mix of music, food, and nature. It was clear from the start that Mempho’s goal is to preserve the rich musical history of Memphis, and its founders proved their commitment to making it an integral part of the Memphis cultural scene for years to come. At 4,500 acres, Memphis’s Shelby Farms Park felt like the obvious home for this new-natured event and demonstrated the perfect backdrop with a delightful mix of sun, shade, and natural bowls of acoustic sound.

The gates opened on Friday with a performance from the Stax Academy Band on the main stage, and immediately the roots of Memphis presented themselves. The second stage, affectionately dubbed the AutoZone Stage, then hosted local rock and soul blues band Dead Soldiers. From there, the energy of Southern Avenue lifted the main stage to new heights as the Memphis natives, rooted in soul, funk, and rock-and-roll (signed by Stax Records), served up their musical gumbo to a field full of attendees. Fourteen-year-old guitarist Brandon “Taz” Niederauer joined the band for an impressive version of “Come Together” by The Beatles that left the crowd with their jaws dropped, wanting more. While Dan Luke and the Raid, Star & Micey, and Rev. John Wilkins held down the AutoZone Stage, Memphis was treated to a high-energy night of headliners in between. No music got left behind.

Watch Taz perform a raging “Come Together” with Southern Avenue below, courtesy of Sidney Smith:

Young pop vocalist Bishop Briggs captured hearts during her sunset performance, before joining Cold War Kids for their recently released collaboration “So Tied Up.” When it became time for Cage The Elephant, Mempho Music Festival was experiencing their largest crowd yet. Full of non-stop energy, rock-and-roll ballads, and wild stage presence, Cage The Elephant delivered a righteous performance that held the crowd in the palm of their hands–ultimately gaining new fans in addition to those already hip to their Grammy Award winning musicianship.

Watch Cold War Kids & Bishop Briggs perform “So Tied Up” and Cage The Elephant perform “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked,” uploaded by bigconcertfan.com:

As the main event ended on Friday night, the festivities continued at Minglewood Hall with a special “Mempho All-Stars Play Dead” set, featuring Oteil Burbridge (Dead & Company, Allman Brothers Band, ARU), Steve Kimock (RatDog, Phil Lesh & Friends), Robert Randolph, Eric Krasno (Soulive/Lettuce), Brandon “Taz” Niederauer, Jeff Sipe (Aquarium Rescue Unit), Wally Ingram (Timbuk 3, Stockholm Syndrome, David Lindley, Cheryl Crow), Ike Stubblefield, Peter Levin (Gregg Allman Band), Papa Mali (7 Walkers), Eric McFadden (P-Funk Allstars), DJ Logic, Leslie Mendelson, Lamar Williams Jr. (Les Brers), and MonoNeon. Playing through Grateful Dead tunes until about 3am, the highlight presented itself once again in the form of fourteen-year-old Brandon “Taz” Niederauer who sat in on “I Know You Rider” mid-set.

Watch a clip of “I Know You Rider” below, courtesy of Matt Hodges:

On Saturday, the gates of Mempho opened once again to the rocking and rolling of young rockstars, School of Rock Memphis and Under The Radar, on the AutoZone Stage. The local talent continued with sets from Devil Train, Chinese Embassy Dub Connection, Objekt 12, and Marcella & Her Lovers, before JoJo’s Slim Wednesday–a side project of Widespread Panic‘s JoJo Hermann closed the second stage.

Meanwhile on the main stage, Mississippi based rock band The Weeks got the party started before handing it over to Hard Working Americans. The Saturday field was strong by mid-afternoon, when Robert Randolph & The Family Band took fans to church for his gospel/soul/funk show. As promised, Booker T. Jones led a masterful Stax Revue, featuring a journey through Soul, Blues, and R&B. The set was a presentation of Booker T.’s hits with the MG’s, featuring a ten-piece big band with three lead vocalists, a three-piece horn section and Booker’s usual rhythm section. It was especially meaningful to hear Booker T describe the songs, their origins, and related stories as he took the audience on a boundary-pushing musical journey of Stax Records through his own eyes. Following Booker T’s set, Steve Cropper & Friends joined the stage in what eventually turned into a mini Booker T & The MG’s reunion, featuring Oteil Burbridge (Allman Brothers, Dead & Company), Eddie Floyd (wrote “Knock on Wood” with Cropper), John Popper (Blues Traveler) as well as legendary keyboardist Lester Snell (Isaac Hayes, Shaft, B3 organ), drummer and cousin to Al Jackson, Steve Potts, trombonist Victor Sawyer, and tenor sax player Jim Spake. During this set, Jason Isbell joined the stage for Otis Redding‘s “Dock of the Bay,” even whistling the famous outro. The back-to-back sets served as tributes to Memphis music and Stax Records, and was executed to perfection–especially considering the songwriters were the ones performing them.

Anderson .Paak took the stage next, delivering a refreshing burst of energy with all his hits “Glowed Up,” “Come Down,” “Heart Don’t Stand A Chance,” and more from his 2016 Malibu. The Free Nationals provided just as exciting of elements as the frontman himself, proving the collective nature behind these musical outputs. To close the main stage, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit performed mostly original songs, half of which came from 2016’s The Nashville Sound. Toward the end of the set, the southern gent performed an acoustic version of “Even the Losers” by Tom Petty, who recently passed away, before closing the show with a full-band “American Girl.”

The party quickly shifted back to the second stage for the festival’s final performance, a tribute to Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks, and Col. Bruce Hampton by the “Mempho All-Stars.” With Lettuce/Soulive guitarist Eric Krasno as the Musical Director, the band featured a rotating cast of musicians, including bassist Oteil Burbridge (Dead & Company, Allman Brothers Band), guitarist Steve Kimock, harmonica player/vocalist John Popper, steel guitarist Robert Randolph, drummer/percussionist Jeff Sipe, drummer/percussionist Wally Ingram, guitarist Papa Mali, guitarist Eric McFadden, vocalist Leslie Mendelson, keyboardist Peter Levin, vocalist Lamar Williams Jr., bassist Tad Kinchla, banjo player Rev. Jeff Mosier and bassist MonoNeon. This particular super jam presented a new energy of Allman and Col. Bruce regulars, from “Dreams,” “Whipping Post,” “Liz Reed,” and “Please Call Home” to “Yield Not To Temptation” and “Lovelight.” For many on the stage, this set served as a therapeutic coming together of family and friends who lost these musical mentors earlier in the year. The love was mutual between band and audience, as the music became the center-point to a collective energy  greater than the sum of its parts.

At the end of it all, the festival’s goal to unite music, food, and nature in a new home in Memphis proved a great success. While thunderstorm conditions were expected to hit the venue, the festival remained dry for both days. Memphis natives expect the festival to become an annual event, as the founders too, plan to make a triumphant return in 2018.

Enjoy the full gallery below, by Phierce Photo and Faces of Festivals.