Tomorrow is the Viva PHX music festival downtown, featuring 103 bands from 34 different cities, on 20 different stages. The festival has grown a lot since its inception.
Viva PHX started as a way to kind of send off bands from Arizona that were going to play at the SXSW festival in Austin.
It’s put on by a music promotion company called Stateside Presents, which is owned by Charlie Levy.
Levy also owns a few downtown Phoenix music venues: Crescent Ballroom and Valley Bar. And he’s opening a third one called The Van Buren. He’s also opening an arts and cultural center downtown.
And over the last five to ten years, there has been a lot of development of a concentrated downtown music scene. Many people would say that this downtown scene is anchored by venues like Crescent Ballroom and Valley Bar. So I sat down for a conversation with Charlie Levy about Viva PHX but also about where he thinks the Phoenix music scene is at.
