California’s Largest Free Music Fest

Maybe it is because of "Little Old Lady from Pasadena," just a bit. Maybe it is because the city is home to so many buildings that rose the century before the last. Or maybe its many museums lend it a rather stately air.

But Pasadena sometimes gets a highfalutin rep that doesn't exactly fit. Highfalutin is fine and all that, but let's celebrate the city's opposite end of the scale: It's mega, totally free, delightfully loosey-goosey summertime music festival, Make Music Pasadena.

It is, after all, "California's Largest Free Music Festival" which means that Pasadena isn't so stately or 19th century, after all. (Well, it is, yes, but it can be many things.)

The festival is up on Saturday, June 16.

So what will free-loving, music-loving attendees find over the 12-hour extravaganza? Acts, many acts, playing all over downtown Pasadena. Local peeps'll be out as well as bands like Grouplove and Dengue Fever and Cults and Grimes. We're tempted to call it a mini, in-city Coachella, but we shan't; we'd never call Coachella a desert-based, three-day Make Music Pasadena. Each is its own thing.

There will be over 100 performances in all; here are the line-ups and the wheres.

Yep, and there's one more thing we need to talk about: transportation. Some 35,000 fans are expected, which means you probably won't find a sweet parking spot on Colorado in front of the Melting Pot. But you know what you will find? The Gold Line, just a few blocks away. You know those are going to be some convivial, spirited trains come Saturday. Possibly some spontaneous sing-alongs might be involved.

Maybe the Gold Line riders can take on "Little Old Lady from Pasadena"? Just a thought.

Make Music Pasadena runs from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on the 16th.

(bottom photo: Scott Dudelson)