This past Saturday, I attended the 2nd annual Pacific Festival at Oak Canyon Ranch in Orange County.  Last year, the festival apparently happened at an outdoor mall, so the fact that the venue changed from that to a beautiful outdoor park was about as attractive as the stellar lineup.  We walked into the festival right as Calvin Harris began on the main stage and, unsurprisingly, it took him mere seconds to get the whole crowd jumping.  After Calvin was over, we walked across the park and pond to watch Toro y Moi for a bit then hit up the Lakeside stage where I promptly had my mind blown by Fred Falke.  Being as I’m short (and because I was too busy dancing my face off), I couldn’t see him most of the time, but I was told by friends that he was playing the bass for a number of songs. He absolutely murdered it and I may have flipped out when he played his remix of “Golden Cage” and Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own.”

And just when I thought nothing could be anywhere near as good as what I just witnessed, we moseyed over to Bag Raiders. Mind = blown.  Their live set is incredible — the energy, the drums and just the pure quality and danceability of their music creates an unrivaled festival atmosphere.  We also saw Classixx, The Twelves, a bit of Ghostland Observatory, Snoop Dogg and Cut Copy.  All were excellent except Snoop and Cut Copy, which wasn’t entirely unexpected.  Snoop’s set just obviously didn’t fit and was a complete change of pace and then Cut Copy’s set was predictable and boring.  Don’t get me wrong, Cut Copy sounded great, but they have absolutely no stage presence and sound exactly like their recorded music.  Other than those last two acts, the day was filled with great music and the festival was very clean and organized.  It was definitely a good alternative to Outside Lands (if not better) because of the great lineup and it was nicely packed into a single day (aka I don’t have to take off work, spend exorbitant amounts of money, and/or spend too much time figuring out the logistics of traveling, etc.).  So, if you happen to be in Orange County around this time next year, I’d recommend checking out Pacific Festival.

MP3: The Whitest Boy Alive – “Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix)“
MP3: Bag Raiders – “Snake Charmer”