Photo Credit: Kyle Dehn for M3F Festival

Through more than two decades of unforgettable performances for a good cause, M3F Festival has become a staple of Phoenix’s music scene. From its homegrown origins as McDowell Mountain Music Festival in 2004, M3F has burgeoned into one of the Southwest’s premier jam and electronic music events and a champion for the community, donating over $6 million to charities across the Valley to date. Last weekend, the festival brought its program to new heights with one of its most eclectic and star-studded presentations yet.

M3F Fest 2025 was set off with a surprise: on Friday, Phoenix saw its heaviest day of rain in nearly a year. While certainly a shift from the city’s usual hot and dry climate, sun showers only added to the day’s excitement and set a dramatic backdrop well-used by early acts like emo up-and-comers Late Night Drive Home, mellow indie-rockers Summer Salt and melodic house staple Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. 

An early highlight came from DJ Falcon, who cut through the storm with a festival-ready translation of his French touch sound that remixed Prince’s “Uptown,” spotlighted French favorites like Mr. Oizo and Alan Braxe and bookended the set with mashups of Daft Punk and footwork classics. As a stunning sunset gleamed through the clouds, day one’s program picked up with pop-star antics from Ricky Montgomery on the main Vista Stage, Slow Pulp’s spirited shoegaze on the side Daydream Stage and a slamming set from jam scene favorite LP Giobbi on the Cosmic Stage, which presented excellent DJs and electronic acts through the festival.

As alt-pop sensations Alvvays stepped into the spotlight, vocalist Molly Rankin said they’d been “looking forward to a reprieve from Canadian winter, but I guess we brought it with us,” before tearing into a high-powered set. BadBadNotGood followed on the Daydream stage with the “Mid Spiral Experience,” which saw the jazz pathbreakers mixing new cuts with longtime favorites like “Confessions” and Kaytranada collaboration “Lavender.” At the set’s midpoint, the group reflected on opening for the great Roy Ayers at their third-ever performance, then honored the late jazz-funk legend with a powerful performance of “Everybody Loves the Sunshine.”

Friday’s headliner was LCD Soundsystem, who walked out under their massive disco ball to the same Ayers classic. To set off a highly-anticipated Spring Tour and year that may well bring a long-awaited new album, the James Murphy-fronted electronica octet coyly commenced a run through fan-favorites with “You Wanted a Hit.” The band honored another inspiration by teasing Kraftwerk’s “Radioactivity” in “I Can Change,” then roared through “Daft Punk Is Playing at My House,” “Home,” “Dance Yrself Clean” and more before sending the crowd off into the night with “All My Friends.”

Saturday’s bill began with promising younger acts like hyperpop duo Frost Children, upbeat indie-pop group The Strike and 12-piece soul band Goldwax Revival. With the Arizona sun gleaming above, Monster Rally opened up an oasis with improvised bass and guitar lines over beats stitched from sweltering exotica and tropicalia records.

In the late afternoon, Eggy arrived on the Daydream Stage as a welcome reflection of M3F’s jam roots. After lighting up the crowd with a warm and mellow run through “Trixieville” and loosening up with a precise, melodic treatment of Big Thief’s “Time Escaping,” the torchbearing quartet found a deep groove on recent entry “A Moment’s Notice,” then built steam through a fiery, high-flying finale of “Golden Gate Dancer.” LEISURE followed on the Vista Stage and gave attendees a moment of just that with slick, balmy indie-R&B before the top billings.

When Sylvan Esso took the Vista Stage for M3F’s penultimate set, electropop innovators Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn made it clear that they were enjoying the festival just as much as the audience was. Between classics like “Hey Mami,” “Ferris Wheel,” “Die Young” and “Coffee” –and birthday shoutouts to Sanborn–Meath regularly reminded the crowd: “Hell yeah! This is fun as hell, y’all”

The electrifying energy that Sylvan Esso left was waiting onstage for the legendary French touch duo Justice, whose headline performance was heralded by a warning for the intense effects to come. Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay wordlessly walked to the center of a titanic array of lights and screens and quickly commenced a rapid-fire set that merged their Grammy-winning 2024 album Hyperdrama with selected favorites from their broader canon, including “Stress,” “Audio, Video, Disco” and “We Are Your Friends.” Coupled with mesmerizing effects, the electronic veterans’ festival finale was a nonstop party that had listeners jumping, thrashing and “D.A.N.C.E.”-ing until every last drop of energy was spent.

In keeping with its foundational mission, 100% of the proceeds from M3F Festival 2025 will fund educational, arts and environmental charities around Phoenix. Read about the festival’s charity initiatives in an interview with Festival Manager Rachel Blanchard here, and learn more about M3F Festival at m3ffest.com.