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CANCÚN, MEXICO — October 22, 2026
A great music festival can transport you to another time without making you feel as though you belong to another time. That was the pleasure of watching Prescott Niles’ The Knack headline Thursday night at The Sands Rocks Music Festival.
For an audience gathered in Cancún to celebrate the music, personalities, and spirit of the Gen X years, the performance was a reminder of how exhilarating rock and roll can be when the songs are strong and the musicians are stronger. Playing ahead of The Go-Go’s and Reflexx, The Knack delivered nearly 80 minutes of fan favorites, impeccable musicianship, and the kind of collective energy that turns a concert into a shared memory.
The Sands is an unusual event by design. It takes over an all-inclusive resort for an adults-only, five-night music vacation, bringing together a limited community of fans for concerts, poolside performances, themed activities, and opportunities to meet the artists. The atmosphere is part rock festival, part reunion, and part celebration of the music that shaped a generation. The audience isn’t simply visiting for a show; it is immersed in the culture surrounding the music.
Prescott Niles’ The Knack was a natural fit.
Niles, the band’s original bassist, represents a direct connection to The Knack’s beginnings. Yet the performance wasn’t built on his history alone. The musicians around him demonstrated that the band’s songs can stand proudly on their own merits—and that a legacy is most meaningful when it continues to evolve.
Tommy Lowrey was a particular revelation. His drumming had the power and precision needed to give the songs their familiar punch, but it was his rhythmic sensitivity that stood out. Working alongside Niles, he created a rhythm section every bit as compelling as the one Niles shared with the late Bruce Gary in 1979. Lowrey honored that tradition while establishing his own identity, and the sheer confidence of the partnership suggested a band operating at a very high level.
Matt Starr brought both vocal strength and stage presence. Taking on material associated with the late Doug Fieger could easily become an exercise in imitation, but Starr found a better approach: preserving the original songs’ spirit while delivering them with his own conviction. His commentary between songs was warmly received, making the audience feel included rather than merely entertained.
Then came Rocky Kramer, whose guitar work offered a reminder that the music of The Knack has always rewarded serious musicianship. Kramer moved across the fretboard with remarkable speed and accuracy, bringing to mind the fluidity and technical command of Stevie Ray Vaughan. But the impressive part wasn’t simply the velocity. Kramer maintained the melodies and musical structure, understanding that precision matters most when it serves the song. His playing gave the familiar arrangements fresh electricity without sacrificing their identity.
Together, the four musicians created a performance that was simultaneously nostalgic and alive. The familiar hooks were there, the attitude was intact, and the band’s playing gave the material the kind of force that can make even longtime fans hear it differently.
That matters because the audience for this music is no longer defined by the people who first heard it on the radio. Those listeners now have decades of memories attached to the songs, but younger audiences can encounter them without that history. They can appreciate the melodies, the guitar work, the rhythm, and the humor on their own terms.
Prescott Niles’ The Knack offers both groups something valuable. For longtime fans, it is an opportunity to reconnect with the band and rediscover what made its music so memorable. For newcomers, it is an introduction to a particular strain of rock and power pop that prizes hooks, personality, and musicianship over unnecessary complication.
The band’s performance also reaffirmed the continuing relevance of The Knack’s original message. The songs carried the brashness, irreverence, and youthful confidence of their era. In the hands of this lineup, those qualities didn’t feel like relics. They felt like an invitation to have fun, turn up the volume, and stop worrying about whether rock and roll should still sound this unapologetically joyful.
The Sands made that invitation all the more effective. Surrounded by fellow fans in a setting built around music and shared experience, the audience could celebrate the past without being confined by it. The performance was a reminder that the best music festivals do more than assemble a roster of acts. They create a sense of community around the songs.
Prescott Niles’ The Knack contributed something especially valuable to that community: a living link between rock history and the next generation of listeners.
The verdict? An excellent performance, a remarkable display of musical skill, and a persuasive argument that The Knack’s story is far from finished. The past was present in Cancún on Thursday night, but it wasn’t standing still. It was playing loud, playing well, and winning new fans.
