the world that they’ve become best friends with,” Kirch says. “They might plan a vaca- tion or something to see each other, but most of the time it’s them coming out to Arizona to hang out with each other and other people at the festival itself. So I think we’ve seen so many people planning three or four days in addition to the festival — like, just to go on a road trip up to the Grand Canyon or just hang out in town at a hotel and connect with other people that are like-minded and share the same interests.” In fact, some attendees have “tran- scended” their fandom and see 8123 as a kind of semi-regular personal trek. “There’s thousands of people that would’ve probably never come to Arizona that now are coming here often,” Kirch says. “We have fans that moved here after coming to the first festival. People have decided to switch schools in the middle of college because of their experience that they had out here. It’s been really great to just welcome people into our hometown.” It’s something that the band have noticed, too, and it’s part of their continued desire to organize 8123 Fest. “I felt that so much during the last fest,” Nickelsen says. “People that were just as excited to see friends that they normally don’t get to hang out with. But then also, ‘I get to hear songs that I’ve loved for almost two decades.’ It’s such a dream to be a part of.” A cultural powerhouse But the effect of 8123 Fest isn’t just about forging lifelong friendships. It’s had a huge influence on the arts and culture scene of the Valley as well. “It’s definitely one of the largest proj- ects we work on,” says Chilton. “Of the 10 largest shows I’ve ever done, four of them are 8123 Fest. So it has helped us grow. Each one has been bigger than the last one, and it’s been very beneficial and it’s defi- nitely helped us grow as a company.” Kirch, meanwhile, sees 8123 as just another important contribution by The Maine, a trend he wished would land the band a bit more credit in the industry. “I think a lot of things we’ve done across the band’s entire career, if Taylor Swift would have done it, it would have been the talking point in the entire world,” Kirch says. “We did a 25-day free tour across the U.S. in 2015. Every single show was free. If a larger artist would have done that, it would have been creating headlines.” Kirch adds, “I think seeing a band like The Maine do this, hopefully it inspires other local artists to have similar goals. They’re constantly being emailed by other bands that have been inspired by them being so ambitious with some of these ideas. I think it’s created a larger impact on the music scene. And we always try to give back with these vessels. If you look at the lineup, we’ve added six local bands to get them in front of a new audience that maybe they would’ve never played in front of.” For his part, Chilton thinks 8123 has helped facilitate a growing trend of artist- curated festivals. “Their first one was in 2017, and that really was the start of a trend of artists doing these,” Chilton says. “Now, you’ve even got Camp Flog Gnaw with Tyler the Creator, and Wilco has even done them (with Solid Sound). There’s lots of artists that have done them successfully. The trend for the last five to 10 years has been away from the big mega-festivals and toward more boutique festivals. And I think one of the ways to do that is the artist-driven festival. It takes a certain kind of artist, and The Maine definitely put a lot more work into this. It is more time- consuming for their team than other things.” Once again, though, The Maine are doing things a little differently than some other bands/artists. “I think there are a lot of artists that are doing these curated festivals that do a really great job at it,” says Kirch. “I think there’s other people that have caught on to the trend and are doing it for maybe the wrong reason. For us, it’s not really about what other people are doing, but what our fans want to see from us, or what type of new experience we can surprise them with or shock them with that makes the band continue to be interesting.” Of course, The Maine aren’t just doing this for the friendships and good vibes. The whole of 8123 has been massive for their career. Chilton, for example, points to the Sad Summer Festival, and how the band are co-owners for that traveling event. “So, 8123 Fest is the proof of concept for that concept,” says Chilton. “So what this has done for The Maine has completely changed their career in a positive way, even though it wasn’t the biggest show and it was a small boutique thing. But I think it really changed a lot of people’s perception of the band and proved like, ‘Oh, wait, they’re a headliner.’ They were doing the numbers, just people didn’t see it.” Chilton adds, “They’re a band that used to have a hard time getting on major festi- vals. And now festival buyers and promoters see them as a festival band. And 10 years ago, other than Warped Tour, the band wasn’t really perceived as a festival band. Even though they were bigger than ever, they were not necessarily perceived that way; now they totally are. You saw they just got announced (recently) for Boston Calling.” For the future So, given the massive power attached to 8123 Fest, you’d expect the band want to grow the concept. But as both Chilton and Kirch explain, that’s not necessarily as feasible. For one, the band doesn’t play in Phoenix for a year before the fest; making it annual, then, would mean they could never play local shows, explains Chilton. Meanwhile, an annual event would likely be a strain for the bands’ many fans. “We have over 70 percent of people that are flying into Arizona for this,” (Photos by Lupe Bustos) >> p 14 Fans of The Maine hang out during 8123 Fest. The Maine will play two special headlining sets for 2025. More The Maine headlining action from 2019,
