Since the start of Tropicalia Music & Taco festival, we’ve seen the festival progress every year. This has been true with every Goldenvoice festival, but even more so with Tropicalia. And to be quiet honest, that last minute change of venue probably saved it. Back in 2017 it seemed as the internet erupted when they saw this diverse lineup posted. That was until the festival received a ton of backlash with scheduling and some venue malfunctions. Fast forward to 2019 and Tropicalia is onto something, great? Sure it’s still not perfect by any means, but everything from the lineup, the decent food selection, and the drink program aligned seamlessly this year. You could grab a drink and walk around without being confined to a ‘beer garden’ all while listening to your favorite band jam out.

What I found most impressive, was the room there was to explore. And once you got tired there was actually places to sit other than the floor. Even grabbing a bite to eat you didn’t have to walk across the whole festival to find a table to sit at. It’s always the little things, you know— overcrowding solutions. But one of the biggest flaws they fixed was getting in and out of the festival. It took me about 10 minutes to get both in and out of the parking lot, crazy right? The Pomona Fairplex is known for hosting big crowds so it wasn’t a surprise to see things work so smoothly. Let’s just hope this is the case next year.

Bravo, Tropicalia, Bravo. You only really see such a stacked lineup like this at Coachella and it was great. I know 30 minute sets are short to say the least, but how many indie singles can your heart really handle. Set were short some even cut off early due to unforeseen reasons, but then we were treated to more music within a short span. You could’ve been at one stage all day and seen every artist play within 10 minutes of the last artist. That did however cause some scheduling overlaps if you were trying to catch your favorite bands play at or around the same time. But for the most part every band came and showed out, as expected. Starting from the time the gates opened it seemed as someone was already on worth watching.

The distance between most stages weren’t that bad, but if you only have a 10 minute gap to get from let’s say the Tropicalia Stage to the Mango Loco Stage (Entrance) you probably missed the start of the set. Everything moved pretty quickly throughout the day. One minute you were rocking out to Inner Wave and next thing you know Kali Uchis is serenading us with her rendition of ‘Creep’. It’s really hard not to say Kali Uchis had one of the better performances given how well-polished she is as a performer. Sub headliner Chicano Batman also did their thing as always, and set her up for a great ending to the night. But I’m extremely happy at just how many good bands I was able to see at Tropicalia. No matter how big or small any one artist was, it felt like it was all love in the crowd. Some of my favorites included— The Drums, Beach Fossils, Homeshake, Inner Wave, Oh Sees, SALES, Men I Trust, Yellow Days, and Chicano Batman. We put together a playlist of them all on Apple Music, feel free to add it and reminisce of all the songs you may have heard at the festival. We hope that next year’s lineup can be just as great as this one was. It’d definitely be hard to, but they’ve done so every time.

If there’s one thing I love about festivals, it’s to see how they execute brand sponsors and activations. Johnnie Walker had their first ever ‘John Walker & Sons Cocktail Grocer’ activation at Tropicalia and let me just say I hope there’s many more to come. The drink menu a short, simple, and exclusive— which made for a perfect program. Nothing felt overwhelming about standing at the Johnnie Walker booth waiting for a perfectly mixed cocktail. It felt reminiscent of being at one of Coachella’s ‘pop-up bars’ which seems to be something Goldenvoice is really good at. There’s something about not having to order a whiskey + coke (not that it’s a bad thing) at a festival that screams— next level. Sure it’s easy for brands to put forth a whiskey mixed menu, but for Johnnie Walker to have pulled out an exclusive cocktail, props. The ‘Tropicalia CoCoChata’ was a fitting touch to the already diverse experience at Tropicalia. Johnnie Walker Black Label, Coconut 3 ways, rice, cinnamon, vanilla, almond, and garnished with a delicious churro. Hopefully they bring it back next year, please and thank you.