Jon Phillips, co-founder of Silverback Music, who teamed up with Goldenvoice to host Cali Vibes Festival, says the inaugural staging of the event is expected to outnumber every other concert of its kind held within the vicinity over the years.

“We’re gonna have a great turnout. It (the festival) is gonna surpass ticket sales of any event of this nature. We’re expecting around 25,000 patrons,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Cali Vibe Fest started yesterday and will end on Sunday at Marina Green Park in Long Beach, California.

The outdoor festival’s multi-stage, three-day massive line-up boasts many Jamaican reggae and dancehall artistes including Sean Paul, Steel Pulse, Shaggy, Koffee, Protoje, Lila Iké, Barrington Levy, and Don Carlos. The Marley Brothers (Stephen, Ziggy, Damian, Julian and Ky-Mani Marley) will join forces for a special set celebrating the catalogue of Bob Marley. The BoomYard Stage, powered by Delicious Vinyl Island, will also showcase other local acts including Mr Vegas and Jesse Royal and its new wave of innovative musicians like Naomi Cowan, Blvk H3ro, Royal Blu, Runkus, Teejay, Yaardcore, Tessellated, Zac Jone$ and Projexx.

Phillips said strict coronavirus measures will be enforced such as mandatory vaccination and testing.

He further added that the festival’s main objective is to celebrate Bob Marley and his legacy and promote the reggae genre.

“There’s the cultural context about it. Long Beach has had decades of pretty religious Bob Marley events. For us, we are completely wanting to push reggae music forward. It’s obviously a worldwide genre, but Long Beach has always been an area that accommodates reggae through the various different festivals around his birthday every year. Cali Vibe also fuses the Jamaican reggae acts with American reggae bands. We have a huge respect for reggae music, and we believe this festival is the ultimate expression,” he added.

Phillips was first exposed to reggae as early as childhood days. In fact, his parents brought him to Jamaica in 1976 to see Bob Marley live. Unfortunately, that event was rained out.

He believes that the joining of Marley brothers on day two of the three-day event will be historical.

“The grand set with all the Marleys on Saturday night will be the pinnacle. Especially given that for two years, we haven’t been able to do this. His 75th should’ve been ‘out there’ but that had to be stalled because of the pandemic and now we’ll be able to do it for his 77th. Their set will be preceded by Slightly Stoopid which is a phenomenal band from San Diego, so those two performances back to back will be remarkable,” he said.