Cali Vibes might have the most fitting name of any music festival on the circuit today—and not just because this Goldenvoice property is an annual fixture in Long Beach, California.
The three-day extravaganza at Marina Green Park routinely draws a long list of acts that were born and bred in the Golden State. To that end, this year’s edition included luminaries from Los Angeles (Ice Cube, The Pharcyde, The Interrupters, Fortunate Youth, Tomorrows Bad Seeds), Santa Barbara (Rebelution, Iration), Orange County (Gwen Stefani, Common Kings, Save Ferris), San Diego (Stick Figure, Slightly Stoopid, Tribal Seeds), Oakland (Too $hort) and, of course, Long Beach (Sublime with Rome).
As for the “vibes” portion of Cali Vibes 2024, there were plenty of those to go around in Long Beach over Presidents Day Weekend with the aforementioned artists covering ground in hip-hop, reggae, ska, and punk.
Along with those came plenty of island vibes—from Jamaica, courtesy of legends like Barrington Levy, Shaggy, Sean Paul, and Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley and Stephen Marley; to Bermuda, with Collie Buddz; to Hawaii, in the form of J. Boog and Kolohe Kai; and the Philippines, with HIRIE.
Not to mention the artists of various vibes who hailed from points across the contiguous United States, including Pennsylvania’s own The Roots and Wiz Khalifa, Georgia’s Passafire, and Virginia’s SOJA.
Collectively, these acts from across California, America, and really the world perfectly embodied and reflected the people who flocked to Long Beach for the festival. Moreover, they resembled California’s inbound influences and outbound contributions to the cultural zeitgeist.
More than a few artists on the bill, including headliners like Stick Figure and Rebelution, owe at least some portion of their passion for reggae and ska to legends like Barrington Levy and the late Bob Marley, the latter of whom was represented by two of his sons headlining on Friday. Likewise, the modern, genre-bending style of hip-hop—for which Wiz Khalifa is such a prominent avatar out of Pittsburgh—was born out of the West Coast sound, from NWA in L.A. to Too $hort in the Bay, with support from the jazz infusions of The Roots in Philadelphia.
The concept of “Cali Vibes,” including and beyond the festival itself, also entails a spirit of community among and collaboration between artists across styles and genres. To that end, Cali Vibes also lived up to its name, and then some.
Among the many such highlights were Gwen Stefani welcoming Sean Paul to The Vibes stage after his Saturday night set at The Greens, as well as her surprise duet with her romantic partner, country star Blake Shelton. Slightly Stoopid also got ample support, with guest appearances by Common Kings, Chali 2na, and Fishbone’s Angelo Moore, along with an introduction from Cypress Hill’s B-Real—who also intro’d Ice Cube on Sunday.
For some of the acts, that spirit of collaboration will carry on beyond this particular festival—and, in some cases, outside of California.
Stick Figure and SOJA will be touring together across America in July and August. After a handful of festival dates this spring and summer, Rebelution will reconvene with Kolohe Kai—and add Matisyahu, Cydeways, and DJ Mackle to the mix—for nine dates in California and one at Red Rocks in Colorado.
And then there’s Gwen Stefani and Sublime. Both will be spending back-to-back weekends performing for fans at Coachella this coming April, but neither will do so in the way they did at Cali Vibes. The former will reunite with No Doubt to bring some serious nostalgia to the desert. The latter, meanwhile, will see Rome Ramirez depart the band for good, with Jakob Nowell, the son of the late Sublime Bradley Nowell, taking over lead singing duties in the band.
Below, view a gallery of photos from the 2024 edition of Cali Vibes via photographer Josh Martin.
The post Gwen Stefani, Damian & Stephen Marley, Rebelution Put Their Stamp On Cali Vibes Fest 2024 [Photos] appeared first on L4LM.
