Walking the grounds of Joshua Tree Music Festival this past weekend, it felt like time machines exist and you were back in the 1960s Haight-Ashbury.
It’s not just the festival’s hippie fashion ― which fell right in line with Joshua Tree itself ― that creates this oasis. It’s the vibes. The goooood vibes, man. Over the weekend, as thousands of people sat within the festival’s dusty grounds listening to music, practicing yoga, channeling chakras, drinking beer and hanging out, the openness of the festival is what’s most notable. People smile at one another just to wish their peers well. Shoes (and showers) are most certainly optional. Hugs last minutes. People actually talk to each another ― which, if you’re familiar with California, you know is a rarity in the isolating car-culture. And people dance .... a lot. There’s happiness in the simplicity that is Joshua Tree Music Festival.
Let’s be real: the indica and sativa wafting through the grounds likely enhanced the collective bliss at the festival, but the whole experience ultimately created itself thanks to the incredible music that united everyone. Over the days, musicians from different countries and genres performed on four different stages for people ― young and old ― vendors and artists reflecting the diversity music can, and should, have.
From Jelly Bread and soulful Gene Evaro Jr., to Afro-funk Zimbabwe-based Mokoomba and Argentina’s Femina, to Sirens of Soul and Ronkat Spearman’s Katdelics, the music did exactly what music is supposed to do: inspire, arouse and blow your mind.
Until the next JTMF festival in May 2017, share in the countercultural experience of the festival. And as always, peace and love, amigos. Peace and love.
Before You Go
