Written by Elisha Gud
Photos by Justin Zangerle and Elisha Gud
If you had told me weeks before going into California Roots Music & Arts Festival that it would be one of the hottest music festivals that Memorial Day had to offer across the nation..I probably wouldn’t have believed you. But upon arrival into the beautiful town of Monterey, California—the birds and the bees were a buzzin’, and you could see flocks of festival goers walking up and down the streets with smiles on their faces and herbal aromas filling the air. It was a feeling like something out of a movie from the late 90’s, early 2000’s. This cannabis friendly music festival was about to set the weekend on fire.
The festival set up is one of the easiest you’ll see, getting in and out is easy and stress free, and the cleanliness of the grounds and the attendees that occupy it is incredible. The Monterey Fairgrounds has hosted some of the most iconic festivals in music history such as the famed Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. The festival lasted three days and drew in a crowd of over 50,000 people. The festival included the first major performances from legendary musicians such a Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Mama’s & The Papas and is where Janis Joplin made her big break. This era launched the movement known as the Summer of Love and as the first of its kind set the bar for future festivals to come such as WoodStock and now California Roots Music & Arts Festival.
Fortunate Youth
This historic site has seen some of the greatest musicians known to man including Billy Dean, Carlos Santana, Sarah Vaughn, and Bob Dylan. Now California Roots has given us a chance to see top notch performers such as 311, Atmosphere, Slightly Stoopid, Stephen Marley, Rebelution, Iration, Dispatch, Ozomatli, Trevor Hall, Tash Sultana, Xavier Rudd, Tribal Seeds, The Original Wailers, Fortunate Youth, Tropidelic, Chronixx, Mike Love, The Ries Brothers, New Kingston, Steel Pulse and more join those iconic legends as the history of the fairgrounds and events that take place there continue to evolve throughout the years.
Atmosphere
Friday’s music was stacked with tunes from newer artists I had never heard of before but also included a performance by Atmosphere which capped off the night, and Iration as the Friday night headliners. The day started off with an Ohio favorite—Tropidelic and The Movement. From there the afternoon moved on into sets from Ocean Alley, Sammy J, Brother Ali, Hirie, Alpha Blondy, Chronixx, E-40, and Steel Pulse. Atmosphere killed it with some tunes from his earlier albums and of course two crowd favorites, “Yesterday,” and “Sunshine.”
Trevor Hall
Going into Saturday, which was the chillier of days in Monterey, the lineup consisted of some newer artists with a good mix of classic reggae musicians as well. Opening up the morning with tunes were The Ries Brothers, Anthea, Xiuhtecatl, The Hip Abduction, The Holdup, and Fortunate Youth. Trevor Hall and festival favorite Nahko Bear made an appearance on stage, while Stephen Marley held it down in the afternoon and into the evening where Ozomatli and Dispatch prepped festival goers for headliners J Boog—whom it was overheard by a lot of festival attendees as a festival favorite. As the sun went down it was time for Rebelution to take the night on into the late hours with familiar tunes for everyone to get down to.
Mike Love
As Memorial day is a long weekend, the festival offered a day packed with music for Sunday. Starting out with New Kingston and The Darenots on a beautiful sunny day, Sunday would prove to be one of the best days of music, sun, and fun for the weekend. The day continued on with Raging Fyah, Mike Love, The Original Wailers, and Tash Sultana who completely wowed the crowed with her rock and roll grooves and beach vibe tunes. Tash’s popular track “Jungle” had the crowd dancing and singing along with her the entire set. After Tash, The Green carried on and Xavier Rudd played us into the sunset. The epic view of smiling faces when Rudd played “Into The Sun,” will forever be a picture engraved in mine and I’m sure as well as everyone else’s memories. The evening went on and eventually ended with Slightly Stoopid, Tribal Seeds, and a mind blowing rock and roll set from 311.
The Haven Sisters
The musical acts and talent were not the only thing this festival had to offer. With outstanding vendors, art, and top notch yoga sessions there was more than enough to do around the grounds. Live artists and painters The Haven Sisters took over the Lemon Tree Art Retreat with a sacred space to learn, paint, and connect with others that wanted to practice their skills or acquire some new ones. Before learning how to paint, Ben “Good Vibes” Spellman joined attendees at The Cali Roots Stage for guided yoga classes on both Saturday and Sunday to stretch and connect before dancing the days away.
Weed Maps Village
Throughout each day on top of the original set list, musicians would join in and collaborate with each other in Weed Maps Village—Sponsored by Weed Maps, for pop up performances that would continue throughout the weekend. Weed Maps Village was a place you could go to; to take a dab, grab a bean bag, lay down a blanket and relax with friends during the pop-up performances, lined with vendors, Jahlibyrd and Lemon Life, food vendors, and beer tents filled with supplies and varieties of Sierra Nevada…This was the place to be if you weren’t in the bowl or at the Cali Roots Stage. Other Sponsors for the event included Bumpboxx, CAlibis, Altamont Beer Works, Revive Kombucha, Roots Hummus, Hippeas, Clover Sonoma, Liquid CBD(Live Fast Sip Slow), Trike A Pose, The Tote Project, FlavRX, Repurpose, Toker Poker and many, many more.
Writer Elisha Gud
California Roots Music Festival isn’t just about music..It’s about the movement, reggae music, connection, love, the feeling of coming together, and making memories to last a lifetime. The live stream of the festival with host Beebs can be found @ https://californiarootsfestival.com/watch-live for those that would like to re-live the magic and see what the hype is about for next year.
