Some sweet spring sunshine poked through the Memphis gloom for a beautiful second day of RiverBeat Music Festival on Saturday. The stunning weather brought even more fans and excitement to Tom Lee Park for a lineup that included the neon lights and fast EDM beats at the Orbit Stage to rap legends on the Bud Light Stage to a rock-centric end to the day with The Killers. Once again, Atlas jumped in the pit for all the fun- these are our favorite moments from day two!
Hypnotic Electronic Captivates the Crowd
Singer, songwriter and producer Two Feet celebrated the sunny day with a stunning set that had the fans absolutely mesmerized at the Bud Light Stage. The soft-spoken multi-instrumentalist crafted his set with not a note out of place, stopping attendees in their tracks as they walked by. Preferring to let the music do the talking, he spoke sparsely between songs and made more than a few new fans by the end of his set.
Another wild card for the afternoon was Stephen Wilson Jr.- and make no mistake, he is his father’s son. The indie rock-inspired country singer clearly and proudly pulls from a plethora of influences in his music and that translated to one heck of a good time and a much-deserved slot on the main stage. Our highlight of a captivating and fun performance was “Billy” and the song clearly had the fans ready to sing along as well.
Between sets, attendees had plenty of activations to explore and food to try- from Memphis barbecue to the very popular corndogs. The festival also boasted locally sourced artwork as part of the fabric of the event and fans could be seen posing for photos and capturing colorful videos along the pathways between stages. A bird’s eye view of the grounds could be found high in the sky atop the event’s Ferris wheel which offered a stunning sunset perspective over the Mississippi River. Those interested in shopping explored the various vendors with their vinyl offerings, clothing and much more. From the music to the sightseeing, a full day was still ahead on Saturday.
Hip Hop Eras Represented on the Bud Light Stage
The final two acts on the Bud Light Stage pulled rap stars from today and days past to represent the culture and close out day two. Despite a late start, Flo Milli jumped into her set with vigor and had the fans immediately hyped up for her performance. She packed so much material into a shortened set that those in the audience didn’t miss a thing even with the delay. Flo Milli’s rhymes carried across the park and made sure to let everyone know that she is absolutely that bitch.
Public Enemy engraved their place in hip hop history at the beginning of their career and now Chuck D and Flavor Flav are carrying that torch into their 60s and showing newcomers how it’s done. The field was packed with fans of all ages- some who’d seen the duo at the start and plenty from the next generation eager to remember this moment. The set began with “Lift Every Voice and Sing”- aka The Black National Anthem- as the crowd and the band onstage lifted their fists in somber unison.
Flavor Flav and Chuck D had no shortage of energy during their time onstage, keeping the chugging beats behind them steady as they marathoned through “Can’t Truss It”, “Welcome to the Terrordome” and “State of the Union (STFU)”. The duo’s political and social messages continue to ring true decades later and clearly resonated with the Memphis audience. “Fight the Power” shut down the stage for the night and cemented Public Enemy’s influence on the festival and the culture.
Rock Bands Take Center Stage
There was plenty of soul, R&B and hip hop on the RiverBeat lineup but it was rock music that stole the show on Saturday. The weird and wonderful Cage the Elephant sent off the sun with a stellar golden hour performance that left the audience in awe. By the second song, guitarist Brad Schultz was already off the stage and onto the barricade to riff right alongside the delighted fans in the front row while singer Matt Schultz threw his entire body into “Cry Baby”, “Cold Cold Cold”, “Neon Pill” and more.
The band is pure, unfiltered rock ‘n’ roll and they brought that element of the unexpected to RiverBeat’s penultimate performance. The large crowd grew in size as the set continued, waving their arms on command and twanging along to the hit song “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” (inserted into the middle of the set to let their other material shine even more). The band thrashed away at their catalog for over an hour and left fans breathless by the end as the perfect precursor to the night’s main event.
Twenty years into their career and The Killers are still one of the greatest modern rock bands to grace a stage. The Las Vegas natives chose to open their RiverBeat headliner with a rollicking cover of Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire” before launching into “Somebody Told Me” to really get the energy levels through the roof and heat up an admittedly frigid night on the river. Singer Brandon Flowers was dressed to the nines as always in a dusky blue suit and took full command of the stage, moving the band and the fans at will through a performance littered with hits and a few deep cuts for the diehards.
Ninety minutes later, the audience was swaying and shouting to “All These Things That I’ve Done” and practically begging the band for more. They were happy to oblige, with an encore that introduced the “Spaceman” to the setlist before the fireworks played off the forever classic that is “Mr. Brightside”. Some attendees looked sideways at the addition of The Killers to this lineup but their set slotted into the energy of the festival with ease and there’s simply no denying the band’s star power and impact. Day two was a rousing success from the weather to the music and had everyone energized to return for the final day of the 2025 RiverBeat Music Festival.
The Killers photo credit: Chris Phelps
