Whenever SWOMP has the opportunity to cover a music festival with multiple stages, ongoing musical performances and few breaks in the action, there’s always a band that catches us off guard and leaves us pleasantly surprised.
For the Innings Festival 2025 in Tempe, Arizona, the band that took home this award was Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s Boyz II Men.
Going into their Right Field stage performance on Saturday, February 22, 2025, we expected a heartthrob-type set, with lots of finger snapping and tears gushing from the audience, as the group belted their way through a greatest hits collection of 90’s rhythm and blues and soul.
However, the band blew us away with not only their pristine singing abilities, but with their dynamic, rock-pop-infused, high-energy set, fully displaying their talent and musicianship.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ve seen any of you before,” Shawn Stockman, the tenor in the group, told the audience.
“That’s a good thing. I thank y’all so much for being here and being part of our experience. This is a humbling experience for us. We’ve been doing this for 30 years. It’s so nice to know that we haven’t met everybody on the Planet Earth yet.”
Stockman added: “We’re honored to be amongst all of you. Not just all of you, but all of these amazing bands and amazing artists that are a part of this whole entire festival. It is our duty to make sure that you remember us before our show is through.”
Stockman added that the band only had one rule for the evening.
“Enjoy yourselves,” he said.
“Just take in this music that we’re trying to give you tonight and just appreciate it for what it is. If you feel like moving, then move. If you feel like singing, then sing. If you feel like hugging your significant other, or a stranger, doesn’t matter to us as long as everyone is having fun.”
The tribute medley of “A Change Is Gonna Come” / “Are You Gonna Go My Way” / “American Woman” / “Locked Out of Heaven” / “Come Together” / “Purple Rain” was jaw-dropping and touching.
“Not only have we lost some greats, the losses have kind of hit home really close to Boyz II Men,” Wanya Morris, one of the vocalists in the group, told the audience.
“We really didn’t know if we wanted to do this anymore. But, we come on a stage right here and we look out in this audience right now, we realize that we’ve got a responsibility for real music.
Photographer Ismael Quintanilla III captured these stunning photos from their performance:
Follow the band at https://boyziimen.com/.