A Weekend at Cali Vibes Fest 2022

Photo by Alexis Attard

I gotta be honest, if you had told me a year ago that the first music festival I would attend post-pandemic would be a reggae festival, I would have laughed in your face. It’s not like I have any hatred for the genre, in fact, I’ve rather enjoyed every reggae song someone’s played me. However, not a single one of those songs came from an artist other than Bob Marley and none of them fell below his top ten most purchased/streamed tracks. Reggae just didn’t exist in my world. But on February 6th, the last day of the Cali-Vibes festival in Long Beach, Reggae came crashing into my life. I don’t think I’ll ever recover. And I don’t think I want to. 

Upon entering the festival ground, my friend Alexis (the epic photographer) and I were overwhelmed by the pungent smell of weed. Every single person in sight had some sort of joint, blunt, bong, edible,  - and a drink, or at the very least a tasty snack in their hands. Once I looked up from their joints to their faces, I noticed that nearly every single festival attendee was over the age of thirty. Some even brought along their small children (big mistake). Everyone was clad in some sort of band merch or tie-dyed garb. Some had their hair worn long to their asses, had their hair braided with flowers, and some even had tattoos of Bob Marley’s face.  I felt so wildly out of place and uncomfortably sober. Even with all the second-hand weed smoke in the air, I couldn’t seem to relax and explore the music willingly. 

That was until I first locked eyes with the guys performing on the main stage. They were a band called Iya Terra, a band consisting of a bunch of dudes in their late thirties with long, dirty hair and tattoo sleeves. But these guys didn’t play the expected chill Reggae beat, they were a full-blown Ska-Punk band. For those of you who don’t know, Ska is like the punchier, more energetic sibling of Reggae. So just like Reggae, Ska has the traditional emphasis on beats two and four like all reggae. However, Ska has more energy. Then, you throw in Iya Terra’s clear punk influence, and you have a rager going down in the middle of a reggae fest. These guys were practically bouncing off the walls they were so wired up. They were skanking, screaming, raging, and jamming. The energy was infectious. Any reservation or hesitation I had upon entry was utterly destroyed along with the lead singer’s electric guitar as he threw it against the floor at the end of the set. And it just got better and better after that. 

While the next group was setting up, we decided to go explore the VIP area (yeah, you heard me, VIP). In the VIP section, we had a separate set of food stands, a formal bar, nicer seating areas, our own viewing section up close to the stage, and most importantly, access to real restrooms instead of porta-potties. Although I had done my business prior to arriving at the festival, I took advantage of our easy access to proper restrooms and changed into the obnoxious tie-dye shirt I had bought at the merch stand earlier in the day. If I was gonna be there all day, I might as well commit to the bit and assimilate with the crowd, ya now?

The moment we exited the luxurious, air-conditioned VIP section, we were immediately met with the sweetest, most enchanting vocal run we’d ever heard. Alexis and I took one look at each other and immediately raced towards the source of the voice. Standing smack dab in the middle of the main stage was the most adorable middle-aged man clad in a bright turquoise Hawaiian shirt. He was strumming some sweet island chords on an ornately engraved ukulele as he sang the richest tones and melodies ever to be produced by mankind. His name is Kalohe Kai and he is my new icon. His voice had such a bewitching effect on both myself and the crowd. The entire lot was swaying and singing softly along to the music. It was an extreme but welcome contrast to the hard-core energy of Iya Terra and a perfect display of the true diversity and range of Reggae-influenced music. 

As Kalohe Kai continued to serenade us with his sweet voice, we decided to dive into the chaotic mass that is the GA pit in an attempt to get up to the gate to snap some pictures of the headlining performers. While in the throws of the pit, Kalohe Kai completed his set and was soon replaced by Reggae/Ska band Hirie. The first member to waltz onto the stage from Hirie was the lead guitarist. This guy had a split-dyed Mohawk, half blond half black, so sharp it could leave a scar. And then, slowly but surely, the rest of the group moseyed on to the stage. There was a drummer and a hand-percussionist, a bassist, a saxophone/flutist, and the most badass, fierce-looking lead singer in the entire universe. I mean this girl had mermaid hair, the cutest teal two-piece set, and platform boots that added at least six inches to her height. I never aspired to be anyone more. 

And then they started playing. Within seconds I was floored by Hirie’s musicianship. These guys played with a level of precision, energy, and passion that was truly mesmerizing. The songs were infectious. The vibes were palpable. But nothing could beat the pure element of fun thus band radiated. You could tell by the light in their eyes and the flow of their movement that each and every member was having the absolute time of their lives up there on that stage. The smiles on their faces stretched across the entire festival lot. Even after 45 minutes of playing, they had enough energy to send a rocket to the moon. The lead singer was doing full-blown squat jumps in her platforms without missing a single note. The audience was still buzzing with excitement for a full half-hour after their set was over.

That energy only compounded when the big screen lit up with the words: “Up Next: The Wu-Tang Clan.” Yeah, you read that right, the one-and-only Wu-Tang Clan made an appearance at a Reggae festival. The moment the words lit up the screen, there were chants from all across the lot of “Wu-Tang Wu-Tang.” I turned around in an attempt to see the crowd stretching out behind me. All over, I could see hands raised above the heads of the rest of the mob forming the infamous Wu-Tang “W.” 

Now, as I said earlier, most of the crowd were in their mid to late 30s. These are the people who grew up with the Wu-Tang back in the ‘90s. However, if you looked closely at the sea of Gen-Xers, you would occasionally catch a glimpse of a small child between the age of three and five sitting on their parent’s shoulders, about to enjoy their first concert ever. It goes to show the true multigenerational power of the Wu-Tang. 

The show started with DJ Symphony, warming the crowd up on his own with some record scratches and chopped-up reggae samples. Then, one by one, verse by verse, each member of the Wu-Tang clan entered the stage, spitting with the same level of fire and passion they had nearly 30 years ago when they first came on the scene. Throughout the night, they played a mix of their 90’s classics, messed around with some freestyle takes, and even performed fun remixes of major pop songs like The Beatles “Come Together” and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” There wasn’t a single person in the crowd who wasn’t dancing and grooving along with the music. Getting to see these absolute legends live is a memory I’ll treasure forever.

After The Wu-Tang Clan finished their truly epic set, Alexis and I headed towards the food trucks to grab some dinner and get some air after being packed with thousands of other people like sardines in the pit. From the back of the crowd, we bopped along to Sublime’s “Doin Time,” munched on our vegan burgers, and decided, after a long day of fun, it was time to get going. I was humming all of the new songs I’d heard that day on the walk back to the car. Although I was physically beat, I felt more wide awake than ever. Cali Vibes Festival opened my eyes to an entirely new world of music and I will forever be grateful.