Arizona’s biggest and most prestigious home-grown music festival is going big – like, pre-pandemic big – in 2025.
Organizer Wespac Construction released the lineup for the 22nd annual M3F Festival on Tuesday, and it’s a doozy, harkening to the event’s heyday in the roaring 2010s. Electro-rock trailblazers LCD Soundsystem and French house legends Justice will headline the 100-percent nonprofit festival March 7-8 at Steele Indian School Park in Phoenix, with a lavish down-ballot menu that includes indie rock favorites Alvvays, Sylvan Esso, Girl Talk and Dev Lemmons. Neo yacht rockers Summer Salt, Valley-born singer-songwriter UPSAHL and four-piece Latin band Luna Luna help round out the diverse, two-day bill.
Arguably, it’s the gaudiest assemblage of talent at M3F since 2016, when Beck, Animal Collective, Kid Cudi and The Avett Brothers held top billing. The festival was known as McDowell Mountain Music Festival at the time and was a three-day affair.
Now in its second year at Indian Steele after a groundbreaking, decade-long run at Margaret T. Hance Park, M3F promises to regain some of that pre-pandemic luster this spring, while continuing its mission of supporting Valley charities. The M3F Fund raised $750,000 for Phoenix Children’s, Habitat for Humanity and other Valley charities in 2024.
For a full description of the 32-band lineup and ticket information, visit the official M3F website at m3ffest.com.
