Arroyo Seco Weekend, Day 2: A Whole Lotta Feel Good

Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters

As with Saturday, Day 2 of Arroyo Seco Weekend packed a whole lotta feel good for folks to revel in.

At 1pm sharp Seattle neo-soulster Allen Stone got the party started, shook his hips, split his pants, crooned how easily he can sunburn (sounded like a hit song to me) and provided a perfect lift off to another gorgeous day in Pasadena with one slight alteration.

Where events like music festivals are concerned, every iteration is a learning moment and if there was any hiccup of note on Saturday, it was the “one-way traffic only” rule for the two bridges that you needed cross in order to reach and leave the Willow Stage. A rule you didn’t know was in effect until you reached said bridges and were directed by security to walk all the way to the other bridge. On Sunday that rule annoying was gone. Trust, it made for a better day.

Day 2 highlights include:

Her rage may have tempered with time (and marriage and motherhood) but Alanis Morissette brought her best riot in the sunshine and it felt like 1995 all over again.
Seriously, Allen Stone split his pants mid-groove and didn’t give a fuck.
Oklahoma boys, Kings of Leon closed out the evening with as solid a performance of their arena rock (along with some sharp visuals) as you’ll ever see.
Social storytelling on high came from Oakland’s blues explosion Fantastic Negrito as only “An Honest Man” can.
Please excuse the fact that I literally cried during Wendy Melvion’s “Purple Rain” guitar solo because it felt like church as the Revolution were a band unlike any other for Prince: an artist unlike any other.
A reunited the Bangles were a reminder of how good the 80s were to us which could not have been more welcomed…as were they.
Basically Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters schooled us all on the art of musical honesty and respect: from British rock to American Blues, Plant traversed the decades with solo work like “Carry Fire” to legacy Led Zeppelin “The Lemon Song” (which earned him an actual lemon tossed from the audience), a rich “Gallows Pole,” “Whole Lotta Love” and whose idea was it to have the sun setting to the sound of Plant’s indestructible wail? Genius.