Originally from Long Beach, and later moved to Pico Rivera, the third annual Tropicalia Music Festival was in high enough demand that it was moved to the Pomona Fairplex.
The Lantinx-focused festival, which took place on November 9 and 10, had Day 1 headliners such as Los Tigres Del Notre and Caifanes. Day 2 featured Kali Uchis, the Buttertones, the Drums and other indie-surf-rock bands.
With Camp Flog Gnaw, another huge music festival by Tyler the Creator, being the same weekend, it seemed like Tropicalia would have stayed at the same venue, but that was not the case.
“I saw the line-up to this year’s Tropicalia fest for Day 2 and immediately sold my Camp Flog Gnaw weekend ticket,” said Tropicalia attendee Ciara De Alba.
Others were disappointed with the last-minute venue change due to their AirBnB and hotel bookings near Pico Rivera Sports Arena Grounds already, but the change was necessary for more tickets to be sold due to the capacity of the Sports Arena Grounds.
There were also technical problems with some of the artists’ sets. The Buttertones were cut short more than half of their set due to sound system problems. Roy Blair was another artist affected by the sound system, where he was only allowed to play three songs in what was supposed to be a 30-minute set.
Regardless of the change and technical problems, Pomona Fairplex added more space for attendees to walk around and not feel crowded, as well as allow more space for food vendors. The festival was a huge opportunity for upcoming artists, such as Hunny and The Grinns, to perform for a bigger audience.
“I did enjoy all the bands I saw and will definitely be coming back to Tropicalia again next year,” CSUSB student Noemi Delao said.
Now that Tropicalia experienced a bigger venue, they will hopefully be better prepared for next year’s festival.
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