By: April Almaraz
Weekend recap, All My Friends Festival, Playas De Rosarito. If you’re living in San Diego take the weekend off, grab 40 bucks and all your closest friends and head out to this festival. It’s about a 45 minute drive from home and a hour and a half taxi ride from the boarder.
Up for the adventure?
This weekend I got to hear and see quite the group of artist up close and personal. I took the time to talk to Angeles Garcia, one of the founders of AMF, and he gave me the scoop on how it all began. Angeles started AMF about 6 years ago and it started as a house party to fundraise some money for his sister who was going to study in Barcelona Spain. He invited all his friends to play from 2pm-8am and every year after that they started to do it bigger and bigger. AMF tries to bring people from California to let them know whats happening down in Baja, not only in music but in culinary and arts. AMF you guys fucking rule.
So lets get to the music right? The Mud Howlers had me from the start of their set to the end. If the The Black Keys and The White Stripes had a love child it would totally be these guys. The crowd wasn’t too large but the scene was perfect, a nice 75 degrees with the sound of the waves crashing in the back round. It definitely was the perfect way to be introduced to this killer band. Next up I got the smoothest guy at this festival. Grenda. Grenda is a young Tijuana producer who’s sounds can be described as “songs that glide smoothly under a glowing hip-pop landscape.” With lyrics that have a really raw meaning from life experiences I think everyone can get down to a couple of tracks by this guy. Please do yourself a favor and check him out. Out on the main stage we had Protistas. An Indie Rock band from Santiago Chile took the mic and I declared them as the ultimate “beach music” of the festival. Very well known in parts of Mexico but all new to me. Their music is all in spanish but you didn’t even have to understand them to feel what everyone else was feeling.
Princess Nokia was hands down one of the most lively performers Saturday evening. With her unique sound she describes her music as “three dimensional and cosmic.” Princess showed her love for her fans and came off the stage to dance with everyone and let her presence really be felt. A beautiful soul with a magical sound. We love you Princess!
King Tuff may look like a scary hard to approach guy but he was the sweetest rocker I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Tuff and the boys killed the main stage! Playing all of their classic songs they gave a show that made AMF feel really world wide big. I caught King at the end of their set and got to ask what was his favorite part of being in Rosarito, his response? “TACOS! and the beautiful people of course.” Tuff brought along his wonderful girlfriend Amie from Feels [the band] and all though those wonderful ladies didn’t take any stages at AMF she did announce to me that they will be in the studio in the next couples of working with Ty Segall.
Closing out the night was La Femme. The whole beach was full and people were flooding the walks ways to catch a piece of their set. It was my 2nd time seeing La Femme perform and I can say that I wouldn’t mind seeing them for a 3rd time either. I didn’t get to make it to the 2nd day of this festival that included artist like Maria y Jose, but I’m happy as hell with what I did get out from day 1. All My Friends Festival was just so beautiful, friendly and welcoming, it’s going to become annual must go for me. Take the trip down to Mexico and have a bitchin’ good time at AMF. Hasta la próxima vez mis amigos!
Photos By: Nicole Alexandra Navarro Espina
