100 Bands, 500 Songs: Trunk Space's 'Indie 500' Begins Friday In Phoenix

By Mark Brodie, Steve Goldstein
Published: Friday, September 20, 2019 - 11:04am
Updated: Friday, September 20, 2019 - 5:12pm
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The "Indie 500," a marathon of a music festival, is one of those "wouldn’t it be funny" ideas that was actually carried out.

“So probably 10 years ago now, I was like, ‘Man, there’s a race, the Indy 500, and indie is a style of music. It’d be funny to do an Indie 500 where there’s 500 songs,'” said Stephanie Carrico, owner of the Trunk Space in downtown Phoenix.

That’s what started the Indie 500, currently in its sixth year, which starts Friday. There will be 100 bands, playing 500 songs as quickly as they can.

“We call it a race and we try to beat last year’s time, you have to depend on each other I think in a way that’s different than a normal show,” she said.

For Carrico, it’s a lot of work every year, some of which she’s managed to pass off to volunteers this time around, but she said it’s all worth it when she gets to watch the kind of community it creates.

“People have met good friends there, so I definitely think it can build that,” she said.

If you want to go check it out this weekend, it might take some preparation.

“It’s $10 for a wristband, people sometimes have brought sleeping bags and slept in the courtyard on the grass,”Carrico said.

Whether you stay and sleep on the grass or just come for a few songs, Carrico said she hopes it offers a uniquely Phoenix experience.

“I hope people get to see some music, some performers they’ve never seen, it’s crazy that we can pretty easily book 100 bands.”

She also said her favorite time of the festival is early in the morning, “because you have a bunch of people who have been up all night, seeing music as the sun comes up is such a cool thing that we don’t normally get to see.”

The Indie 500 starts Friday afternoon at Trunk Space and ends Sunday morning at 2 a.m.

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