It may not feel like it but fall is here. Practically anywhere you walk in the south it still feels like summer and one of the non-weather related things people associate with summer is music festivals. Despite the page turn of the calendar into October there is still quite a bit of life left in the 2025 music festival scene.
Music fans from all around the mid-south will travel to Memphis this weekend for the 8th incarnation of the Mempho Music Festival. The festival is held at the Radians Amphitheater on the grounds of the exquisite Memphis Botanical Garden and runs October 4-6.
Past years lineups have included a melting pot of genres that could satisfy even the pickiest music lover. Jack White, George Clinton, Brandi Carlile, Post Malone, Nas, My Morning Jacket and the Wu-Tang Clan are just some of the artist to grace the Mempho Fest stages. The festival is orchestrated by Forward Momentum and Mempho Presents who also promote the new and successful Riverbeat Music Festival and SmokeSlam barbecue festival on Tom Lee Park in Downton Memphis.
The 2025 rendition of Mempho Fest will play out over three stages as well as a dome that will be home to multiple DJ performance throughout the weekend. Indie rock favorite Father John Misty along with rising country artist Tyler Childers and the psychedelic rock favorites The Flaming Lips will serve as the festivals headliners in addition to the legendary jam-band and Mempho Fest icons Widespread Panic. The Athens, GA based outfit will close two nights of the festival on Friday and Saturday delivering two completely different sets for fans to enjoy.
Jam and funk bands are sprinkled heavily throughout the lineup in addition to Widespread Panic. New Orleans’ Galatic and Colorado’s Leftover Salmon will both take the stage on essentially kicking off this years Mempho Fest. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner Mavis Staples brings church to the garden on Saturday. The R&B and gospel singer is guaranteed to have everyone feeling a little higher.
Festival goers will find themselves “Runnin’” on Saturday to catch Los Angeles hip-hop group The Pharcyde as this could be their only chance to catch the group in Memphis. Personal beefs and legal disputes have troubled the foursome over the years. Nashville based and Grammy winning singer songwriter Sierra Ferrell will help close out the festival on Sunday before Tyler Childers brings everything home. The multi-genre multi-instrumentalist Ferrell is bound to have all of the attendees clapping their hands and stomping their feet with her unique sound.
The Indendia Dome will present some of the best DJ’s from all around Memphis including Bizzle Bluebland, DJ Gee Honey and DJ Livin’. The festival taking place in Memphis means that food will play a large part in the weekend. Expect to find some great Memphis barbecue and numerous flavors of chicken wings as well as vegan and gluten-free options for all of the music lovers in attendance.
Tickets are still available for Mempho Fest and can be purchased at MemphoFest.com. Single day and 3-Day tickets are all available as are a select number of VIP ticket options.
