New lakeside music festival with 22 bands is coming to Phoenix. Here's Luna del Lago info

Ed Masley, Arizona Republic

Updated May 17, 2023 at 4:00 AM·7 min read

It wasn't long after celebrating the 10th anniversary of Apache Lake Music Festival in October 2019 that Brannon Kleinlein, the man behind that annual high point of the local music calendar, found himself scouting locations to either take that festival to the next level or launch a whole new concept.

The inaugural Luna del Lago Festival, which brings 22 local and national acts to Pleasant Harbor at Lake Pleasant in Peoria the weekend of Nov. 3-5, finds him splitting the difference, preserving the spirit of Apache Lake while expanding the concept well beyond its local roots.

In some ways, even Kleinlein sees it as "a natural extension" of what they had going for a decade at Apache Lake Marina & Resort. It's at a lake. A lot of the same organizers are involved.

"That being said, I don't want people thinking we're just trying to revamp the exact same formula we had out there," he says.

"Apache Lake was specifically for Arizona-based artists that had some sort of connection with Arizona, where this is a situation where we're opening it up to national bands, which is a good way to help build the festival, build the attendance and, hopefully, over the years, keep bringing in bigger bands."

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Headliners include Spafford, Monophonics and the Brothers Comatose

The inaugural Luna del Lago will be headlined by two San Francisco bands (the Brothers Comatose and Monophonics), another from Aberdeen, Maryland (Ballyhoo!) and the jam-rock pride of Prescott, Arizona, Spafford.

"That wasn't necessarily on purpose, but I think it worked out great that with the history of Apache Lake having local bands that our main headliner happens to be a band that formed in Arizona," Kleinlein says of Spafford's placement on the bill.

"That's probably a smooth transition going from Apache Lake and having Spafford be the headliner, a band that's played Apache Lake. That will be a great building block in the transition over to this new festival."

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Complete Luna del Lago 2023 lineup

So who else is playing the inaugural Luna del Lago festival? Here's the complete list:

Spafford
Monophonics
Ballyhoo!
The Brothers Comatose
Arise Roots
Black Joe Lewis
Emily Wolfe
Sensi Trails with Kyle Rising
Kyle Smith
Vandoliers
GrooveSession
The Higgs
The Black Moods
Banana Gun
Wyves
Bear Ghost
Sydney Sprague
Kush County
The Deadbeat Cousins
Las Calakas
Fayuca
Las Chollas Peligrosas

Kleinlein says he did his best to come up with a 50/50 mix of national and local acts to preserve "a little bit of that connection to Apache Lake while also opening it up to touring acts."

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Why the festival left Apache Lake

Kleinlein says there were several reasons behind his decision to look beyond Apache Lake.

"One was the difficulty of getting to Apache Lake," he says.

"It already was kind of a trek out there, taking the forest service road 88 past Tortilla Flats. And then, if you remember from 2019, that road was actually closed, and it's still closed to this day, so people had to go the back way, which takes even longer, past Roosevelt Lake. They had a big storm that washed out that road, and it still hasn't been fixed."

Another reason for the move is Kleinlein felt the festival had outgrown the location, drawing crowds of 1,500 in its last two years.

"From a facility standpoint, they were kind of tapped out the last few years, as far as infrastructure and how many more people they could hold," he says.

"The parking lots were pretty full. The campgrounds were full. From a staffing standpoint, they were pretty maxed out as far as being able to keep up with the bars and the kitchen and stuff like that. A little bit has to do with it being kind of out there in the middle of nowhere. It's already hard enough to staff bars and restaurants in town."

A change of venue became more of a necessity after Apache Lake Marina & Resort was sold and Kleinlein couldn't come to an agreement with the property's new owners.

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Why Pleasant Harbor at Lake Pleasant is an ideal location

One thing Kleinlein knew he wanted in a new location was the thing he always liked about Apache Lake.

"I definitely liked the vibe of a lake," he says. "I thought if I could find a lake to do it at, that would be great."

He saw that Pleasant Harbor was hosting a fair number of events, so he started attending some of those events, including last year's AZ Rockabilly Festival.

"These are events that have 5,000 to 10,000 people at them," he says. "And also, the lake has a dedicated event coordination staff that when they have big events out there, their job is to help organize, coordinate and work with the promoter. I was very impressed with what I saw out there."

The other thing the new location offered was room to grow.

"They had the facilities and infrastructure for me to be able to take an event out there and have the opportunity to grow over the years and potentially add more stages, add more people," he said.

It also had location in its favor.

"Lake Pleasant is probably the easiest lake to get to in town," Kleinlein says. "It's pretty much all straight highway — up the 17, then Carefree Highway west."

The new location allows the festival to bring in outside vendors, which Apache Lake did not.

"So this is gonna be more of a traditional kind of camping and music festival, where you're gonna see food trucks, you're gonna see artisan, craft and vendor tents all around, you're gonna see the beer gardens, VIP areas," Kleinlein says.

"Also, we're gonna have two big outdoor stages running one after another, whereas Apache Lake just had one outdoor main stage and a little small stage."

How to get tickets to Luna del Lago Festival

Tickets are on sale now at eventbrite.com.

A three-day general admission pass is $129. A three-day VIP pass is $250.

Luna del Lago is accepting applications through its website for vendors, sponsors and volunteers.

Set times will be announced in the fall.

"It's a new concept and a new location," Kleinlein says. "But we're certainly hoping that the people that were loyal to Apache Lake over 10 years will try this out and come out. And I do think they will. So I think they'll enjoy it."

For more festival information and updates, visit lunadellagofestival.com.

Camping at Luna del Lago

On-site camping options consisting of RV sites, car camping and tent camping are available at lunadellagofestival.com.

"When we announced the festival name and that this festival was coming back in January, immediately people started buying camping spots," Kleinlein says. "All the RV hookup spots have already been sold. But there are still plenty of RV spaces out there for dry camping."

It's hard to say how many people will decide to camp out at the lake, though.

"With Apache Lake, it was so far away and a tougher drive, you were kind of committed to camping if you went out there," Kleinlein says.

"It wasn't the most ideal situation for you to go for the day and then drive back at night. This is 45 minutes from downtown Phoenix. So it's essentially no different than going to a Cardinals game in Glendale. You can drive home after the event and sleep in your own bed."