Being that this was the event's debut, it was inevitably a humbler affair than that. Over a period of two days, the festival boasted only a handful of A-list headliners and smaller acts that were even more obscure than Coachella, which has essentially become a pop monster monolith that has long outgrown its independent spirit.
I attended the first of two days, where the two biggest headliners were Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and the Alabama Shakes. Both acts seemed to be perfectly tailored to the summer festival setting - with the driving California-tinged rock of the former and the laid back soul-inflected grooves of the latter best suited for the crowd smoking and swaying.
It was nearly perfect concert weather when I left late to beat the traffic at 5:30 PM. The sun was still out but it was relatively shady and beginning to cool in the low eighties. The marketing material made it unclear exactly where one needed to go in the sprawling Rose Bowl property. Indeed, I found myself at the nearest "Drop Off" zone nearly half a mile away from the Rose Bowl entrance, whereupon I found myself walking another good long distance just to find myself at the festival entrance and then the nearest musical tent.
The venue itself was ingenious. Brookside Park is spacey scenically green. The fast-casual style food vendors gave the festival a slightly more elegant, modern atmosphere - a far cry from the smelly bleachers and greasy nacho plates of a say, a sports arena concert. This felt like a $125 experience.
I caught the last five minutes of Roy Ayers performing what was likely his encore piece, a jam-heavy version of his jazz-fusion crossover hit "Running Away". One thing that struck me about seeing Ayers is the increasingly diverse range of jazz fusion fans. Over the past few years, I've noticed more and more college-aged people of varying backgrounds appreciating R&B and Jazz from the seventies onward. If I had to guess, I would attribute its growing popularity to modern artists like Thundercat, Flying Lotus and Kendrick Lamar, who seem to be ironically introducing virtuoso-based music to the bearded Coachella crowd.
I then made my way over to the main stage dubbed "The Oaks", where both the Shakes and Heartbreakers were due to play within thirty minutes. I spent most of that time being herded into five different spots by festival staff who seemed oblivious and somewhat aloof, a symptom of the festival's need to adapt to the ins and outs of the venue. I staked out a spot behind a VIP section not much bigger than a pitcher's mound, where I could barely see the stage but I was free to turn around and leave without having to navigate a crowd.
Eventually, some slightly muted cheers signaled the arrival of the Alabama Shakes. It's hard not to market Brittany Howard as the heart, soul and face of the band considering her command of the stage. The band turned in an impeccably played yet somewhat muted performance, likely due to the festival's taming the sound as to keep from interfering with its other stages, as well as well as the venue's outspoken neighbors.
No one in the Shakes played particularly bad, in fact they played wonderfully. However, the low volume imposed on their set exposed something of a weakness in their songwriting. As a hard groove-based band, they depend on the slam of the kick drum and Howard's powerhouse vocals to move an audience, and the sound did justice to neither. This meant the band could only excite the crowd with the power of their songs, and the less recognized songs seemed to serve as pointless bookends. Thirty minutes into their set and five songs past "Hang Loose", some of my fellow concertgoers became vocally restless. They also missed a golden opportunity by omitting "Hold On" and "Always Alright".
Still, Howard was a delight to hear and see in the flesh, as she has all of the class and charisma of her classic rock heroes with none of the ego. Within a moment, she could flip the switch between doe-eyed stage banter and the sexy, primal Curtis Mayfield-esque delivery of "Give Me All Your Love". The highlights of the set came from Sound & Color, where the deeper funk-based grooves had the ability penetrate the audience a bit more. After the Shakes' set, there was a surprisingly large exodus of younger concert-goers who were likely less interested in staying for Tom Petty.
By 8:30 PM, the sun had set and the still-massive crowd of thousands surrounding the Oaks stage. If anything, a larger crowd had formulated to replace those who left after the Shakes. I was getting antsy, as I've rarely attended a show that started on time. Then again, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers are nothing if not known for their professionalism. Less than three minutes after proposed their set time, much louder cheers could be heard when a familiar blonde man in sunglasses took the stage.
Being that it was their 40th Anniversary tour, one might think that the Heartbreakers would take greater risks digging into their catalogue but after opening with "Rockin' Around With You" (notable as it's the first song on the band's first album), the show seemed heavy on the hits. It was surprising to see just how many hits the band has accumulated over the years. The general public is aware of "Free Fallin'", "American Girl" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance", but it was also refreshing to see so many younger audience members mouthing along note for note to lesser known gems like "You Don't Know How it Feels" and "Wildflowers".
The Heartbreakers have earned a reputation for being one of the tightest rock bands from the classic rock era, and this was exhibited to a 'T'. It was obvious that these guys have been playing these songs for several decades, to the point where not a single note was missed, even during improvised solo sections. The famously economic band wasn't afraid to stretch out and jam in certain sections, with guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench III and Petty himself each taking extended solos that demonstrated virtuosity while economically serving the song. There were no psychedelic jams that came off as pointless noodling. Even if Tench decided on the fly to use an organ instead of a piano or Petty decided to take a solo normally handled by Campbell, it's clear that the band all operates on the same wavelength and are incapable of throwing each other of their game.
Well into their sixties, the band was never known to possess the sort of epic intensity for which frontmen like Freddie Mercury, Mick Jagger and Prince are known. Petty and the band crafted their mid-key rocking sound forty years ago and have impressively retained that same tempo this whole time. Petty's exudes a different brand of stage presence, one that is distinctly laid-back but not exactly mellow. As he strutted slowly over the stage with his army of guitars while occasionally stopping to groove with the backing singers, the word "effortless" came to mind.
There was a vibe from the band and their devotees in the audience that this was a special show. Special in that it was a grand opening for Pasadena's latest bid to revive live music outside of their more high profile Rose Bowl concerts and the more intimate venue The Rose (which opened its doors last year) - and because Petty himself has hinted that this tour may be their last. The Heartbreakers has never been a band that abuses the "farewell tour" card, so there was a sense of sadness in the air as well that this might be the last time for many people to sing along to "American Girl", "Refugee", "Free Fallin" and "Learning to Fly" in the flesh.
(photo credit: Chad Ellis)
Still, Pasadena and Petty were a perfect match - one that took decades to finally materialize. There was no better setting for
the band than such a venue in the middle of the suburbs not unlike those that characterized some of his most well-known songs. The city was even name-checked in "Jammin' Me". It was clear that much of the local crowd had grown up listening to these songs which mixed the best innate qualities of the American South with a distinctly Southern California voice.
Considering the chaotic and divided state of the world, there was a sense that the sort of uplifting and from-the-heart rock and roll Petty and the band are known for was what the world needed, more than ever.
