This was their second show of the year, the first being the day before in Albuquerque, where they took the stage alongside pop band Cannons, who also performed at Innings Festival. 

Finish Ticket is no stranger to festivals, especially after playing at the Chicago-based festival Lollapalooza this past summer.

“It’s like summer camp for bands,” lead singer Brendan Hoye said. “At festivals, everyone comes in open-minded. People are there to just enjoy and discover new music.”

Drummer Gabe Stein agreed, saying that “the atmosphere is palpable.”

Before the festival, the band was a stranger to Tempe. They’ve played shows in the Valley, but this is the first time Finish Ticket has ever played a concert in Tempe. 

“We didn’t know what to expect, and it turned great,” said Hoye. “This was a really fun show and we had a great time.”

The band said that they would like to come back to the Valley again soon, but they aren’t sure what the future holds since their music is currently being restricted by their label, Better Noise.

In a post shared on their Instagram account in December 2023, they revealed that they have a full album ready to share, but their label keeps pushing it back and they don’t know when they can put it out. The post led to some feedback from fans, which guitarist Alex DiDonato said is “moving the needle.” The band asked fans to keep it up in the hopes that this could lead to new music being released for streaming sooner. 

For now, Finish Ticket’s avenue for sharing their unreleased tracks is by playing them live, which the band did in Tempe with their song “Let You Go.” 

At the beginning of February, they released a live and unplugged version of the song on their Instagram, which the band hopes is something that fans can expect more of. 

For the band, playing a song live while still recording a song is the ideal situation. Testing out new music and seeing fan reactions also helps boost morale and keep the band in high spirits.

“It’s fun for us to run new songs and try new things out because doing the same songs all the time can get monotonous,” DiDonato said. 

The band shared that the setlist was designed to keep the audience pumped up.

“We spend a lot of time crafting sets in general because we love going to shows, we love a lot of aspects of performances,” Stein said.

“We did throw a ridiculous song in there,” Hoye said.

The song he was referencing was their aptly-themed cover of “Marlins Will Soar” by Scott Stapp of Creed, which tied in nicely with Innings Fest’s baseball theme.

“It was our one chance, and we thought it was funny so we learned it,” Hoye said. “I don’t think anyone in the crowd really knew what was happening, but we did it for us.”