A few weeks ago was the inaugural Sol Blume festival held in downtown Sacramento. We did do a quick preview of why we were excited about the fest but now that it’s over, let’s discuss. It is the festival first year, so we’ll be lenient when it comes to reviewing the festival in its entirety but there were just a few things that needed to be handled better.
First off, the lineup itself was absolutely amazing and a dream come true for many who attended. With two stages back to back, it was easy for everyone to easily pivot from side to side in order to catch the next act. What people didn’t anticipate were all the technical difficulties which led to sets either starting late or being cut short in order to stay on schedule. Naturally, there were a few vocal disagreements in the crowd with majority complaining they didn’t hear enough of an artist.
For example, The Internet was scheduled to hit the stage approximately 7:40 pm but didn’t take the stage until 8:15 and even then, if you were like me standing in the near middle of the crowd, the sound wasn’t all that great until about the fourth or fifth song.
If you weren’t in front of the stage, you were 99.9% listening to an artist’s set while standing in a two-hour line for either food or alcohol. No, really. Friends and I timed how long we were in line and within that time waiting for some garlic fries and chicken teriyaki, we missed out on Smino, NAO, and the first half of Goldlink. It was almost as bad as Disneyland. Lines were wrapping around the block, people were bumping into one another, and new lines were being formed out of nowhere. It’d be helpful if there was someone keeping everyone in check but there was no help to be found.
That goes on to say, this venue wasn’t an ideal spot for this kind of production. Knowing Jhene alone fills up entire venues, it makes us wonder if that was at all discussed when choosing the ideal place to host Sol Blume. There were about 300+ (or even more!) attendees crammed into one square block who were all just trying to have a good time. Without a doubt, you ran into the same person at least five times. It was that small.
Of course, not everyone had the same experience as another. Reading from the comments via Twitter and Instagram, some didn’t experience one single hiccup throughout the festivities while others did complain of one thing or another. At the end of the day, we were all there for the music and everyone did deliver especially Sabrina Claudio who, despite her controversial stories in the news, showed everyone at the fest she can single-handedly sweep you off your feet.
I have high hopes for the next Sol Blume if they choose to continue hosting this festival in downtown Sacramento. The first year showed so much potential and easy fixes. Deliver us another impressive lineup and we’re there. One thing though – Might we suggest a different venue of choice, if anything?
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