Immersive music festival's return to Arcosanti sells out in 72 hours. Here's what we know

FORM festival announced its return to the Arizona desert ecocity Arcosanti for a 10th anniversary celebration the weekend  of Oct. 4-6, 2024.

Three days later, the event was sold out.

This despite the fact that no other details, including any hint as to what artists may be playing, had been shared.

The experimental arts community near Cordes Junction in central Arizona last hosted FORM in 2019, when headliners included Florence + the Machine, Anderson .Paak & the Free Nationals, Kaytranada and Skrillex.

Other highlights included Fred Armisen's musical comedy and a powerful performance-art piece titled "Knot" by Black Lives Matter activist Patrisse Cullors, exploring the ways Black women are bound by society.

FORM began accepting early bird deposits for the 2024 festival on Friday, March 8.

Three days later, it shared the news on Instagram that there were no more tickets left.

FORM organizers 'insanely grateful' for festival goers' support

“Speechless,” the post read.

“We know what a huge leap of faith it is to secure a ticket and begin planning travel for a destination festival 7 months out (that hasn’t even announced a lineup). We are so insanely grateful for your support. FORM has truly been a labor of love for all involved since the start.”

FORM is more of a cultural experience than what people tend to think of as a music festival, with Arcosanti, an experimental community about 70 miles north of Phoenix, as a breathtaking backdrop. 

Italian-born architect Paolo Soleri began construction on the town in 1970 as an experiment to demonstrate how urban conditions could be improved with minimal use of natural resources and harm to the environment.

FORM began as a record release celebration

FORM was launched in 2014 by Hundred Waters as a three-day, free-by-application experience that also served as a record release celebration. The event grew exponentially in its six years at Arcosanti while reimagining what a music festival could be, with no VIP sections and no overlapping sets in a weekend devoted to intimate performances, immersive art and other community-driven activities.

Festival goers, performers, volunteers and Arcosanti residents continued to share in the creative journey as they brought in headliners including Charli XCX, Fleet Foxes, Beach House, Father John Misty and Solange.

“It takes tremendous efforts to organize this intimate of an event in such an intentional and remote location as Arcosanti and it takes equally tremendous courage from the artists who perform to break from the mold of “festivals” and join us...and that generally results in exponential pay-cuts for those artists to be a part of this unique festival format,” the festival’s Instagram post on Monday, March 11, read.

“The magnitude of this is not lost on us. But what began as an album release party for Hundred Waters in 2014 has steadily evolved into a global gathering of some of the most brilliant and beautiful souls we’ve ever seen. People who want to collaborate, learn, participate, organize, dance and use this tiny festival as a springboard for something much much greater. We are filled with so much happiness and gratitude for the support we’ve received over these last 72 hours since releasing tickets and cannot believe we are now saying that there are no more passes available for FORM Arcosanti 2024.”

As the festival grew, it drew attention far beyond the desert, with articles appearing in publications ranging from the New York Times, in an article cleverly titled, "FORM Arcosanti, a Music Festival That Thinks Small," to Vice. 

Pitchfork declared it “a festival for the future” while Fader proclaimed it “America’s most unique festival.”

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on X @EdMasley.

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