Saturday opened with an overcast morning that blossomed into balmy summer weather for downtown Pasadena — with an expected turnout of over 50,000 the conditions were perfect for this year’s Make Music Festival. Parking was ample and spread out: structures capped event parking at $20, and streetsmart locals snagged meters on Raymond Ave. and others. Food and drink were plenty with specialty trucks lining major streets. Every café, restaurant, and pub had all hands on deck to offer a cornucopia of tastes from lobster rolls to microbrews and milk tea. Six main stages were raised mere blocks away from each other and nearly two dozen venues dotted around them, delivering folk and punk and alt rock and blues. With pop-up shops on every other curbside, and even good vibes from security and the boys in blue, any SoCal music fan would have wondered: why aren’t more cities getting in on Make Music?
But if you were holed up last weekend, don’t worry — The Deli got down and dirty in the press pit to bring you photos of some great acts throughout the day. Beach balls and sunburn aside, Old Pasadena lined up some of the best performances of Make Music’s history, and we are grateful to have covered it.
Check out more photos from the show here. – Ryan Mo