Index Fest Rises Again, Sort Of

Untapped Festival, the 5-year-old Texas beer and music festival, announced last week that it is rebranding as Index Fest. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because it is.

Spune Productions, which founded and then sold Untapped, also founded a music festival called Index Festival in 2012. It made waves during its three-year history, which saw a performance by Girl Talk in 2013 and Local Natives in 2014.

Then in 2016, Spune announced Index Festival was on hiatus but might return in the future. Now it has, but in name only.

The company that now owns Untapped, B-Weiss Entertainment Group, has bought the name Index Fest from Spune to use in their rebranding.

“I purchased the name from Spune because it seemed a perfect fit for what we were planning to do,” Brad Weiss, Index Fest’s new owner, says. “The festival is going to be an 'index' of our favorite beer, music, food and more.”

Untapped was first created as a craft beer and indie music festival and has brought stellar acts including The Flaming Lips, Delta Spirit and Dr. Dog to Dallas since it began in 2012. The new Index Fest will expand Untapped Festival's vision to include quality food and art.

“I had so much fun working on the production of Untapped Festival for the past three years, and I’m privileged to have the opportunity to bring even more culture and culinary delight to cities across Texas,” Weiss said in the Thursday press release announcing the news. “We’re building on Untapped’s enormously fun and flavorful craft beer and music programming with elevating additions in food and arts. I can’t wait to share it with communities all over the state.”

The new festival will make its rounds in five Texas cities this year. Dates have already been announced for Austin on May 13 at the Austin American-Statesman, Fort Worth on June 3 at Panther Island Pavilion and Dallas on Nov. 11 at Fair Park. San Antonio and Houston details are TBA. Tickets range from about $25 to $100. Index Fest will be open to all ages.

“To me, this represents the next step in the continued improvement and evolution of Untapped Festival,” Untapped co-founder Corey Pond said in the press release. “I’m excited to continue to curate an amazing list of breweries and beers for Index Fest. I think this year’s offerings should be the best yet.”

Find more information about Index Fest on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.