On Saturday, Chico had its very own mini-music festival inspired by Coachella, aptly named Chicoachella. Hosted at the Delta Psi Delta fraternity house, the show began at noon and finished at about 8:30 p.m.
At the beginning of Chicoachella, the audience mostly consisted of the fraternity members and their friends. But after the slow beginning, people were running around with water guns and bubble makers having a great time.
The stage was decorated with paper lanterns and a tie-dye tapestry. Throughout the day, the audience slowly got larger and by the end when the last band took the stage, there was a medium-sized crowd.
Event coordinators Sarah West and Kaleb Sievers hope to make Chicoachella a yearly event, they said.
“I want it to be much bigger next year with outside bands,” West said.
This year, however, was all about promoting local musicians. Eight of the nine bands that played were from Chico, except for Feelgood, who is from San Diego.
The first band to play was Moonbears. They were followed by Broken Crown, a punk rock band.
The next band was the pop-punk band Tionesta. The female lead singer dominated the stage. The band’s sound was similar to Paramore, partially because of the lead singer’s voice and style.
There was an almost half-an-hour pause in the show when all the circuits in the house stopped working because of the huge amount of power used by the equipment.
After solving the power problem, Creekside took to the stage. Its pop-punk style was a lot louder than the previous bands.
The audience was more disappointing than any of the bands. Very few people attempted to dance or approach the stage until Creekside started playing.
After Tionesta, Second Best and Big Chico Creek played. followed by the funk band the Mother Funkers.
The lead singer of the Mother Funkers had an engaging, fun stage presence. They were joined by Esquire Ali and did a wild cover of the song “Give It To Me Baby” by Rick James.
Feelgood, the band from San Diego, was next and had a sound that was very polished, professional and well rehearsed.
By the time they performed, the crowd had grown and and daylight was almost gone.
Saving the fan favorite for last, Vibe Tribe, the hip-hop collective, took the stage. The set, lit brightly by colorful changing lights, included different rappers from Chico.
Though there were multiple sound problems throughout the day, the bands seemed to be enjoying themselves, and it was a good place to be on a sunny Saturday.
Greta Gordon can be reached at [email protected] or @hakunagretata on Twitter.
