Article Contributed by Nick Gumas
Published on 2026-06-22
As has been often known to happen at the Cali Roots festival, a little bit of early morning discombobulation turned into an unexpectedly pleasant surprise for the audience. As fans lined up at the barricade, a change to the lineup flashed on the stages’ screens, declaring that the day’s headlining performance, which had previously been billed as the “Cali Roots All Stars” had now been changed to read “Collie Buddz Presents: Cali Roots All Stars,” as well as a notification that many other acts’ timeslots had been extended. With a clearly defined expectation of anticipation to look forward to, as well as the added opportunity for a few extra songs now baked a few of the more admired sets, the empowerment the artists felt to expand on their shows was clearly felt in the atmosphere as the weekend’s runway to wind down felt fortified by that little extra touch of added collective euphoria.
Opening the festivities on the Bowl stage, Ventura, California-based multidisciplinary creative Kyle Smith woke the audience in the early hours after a lengthy logistical delay as he began the day with his 2022 single “On My Way.” One of the winners of a little-advertised competition to play on one of the Cali Roots stages in back in 2018, he commented on his longstanding connection with the community, stating “You guys are all of our friends, I feel like we’ve known every single face in this crowd for fucking 10 years now.” Determined to live up to his reputation of pushing the boundaries of cali reggae, midway through his set, he took a moment to showcase some of his inspirations outside the reggae sphere as he covered brief segments from Pennywise’s “Bro Hymn” and Green Day’s “Brain Stew.” Ending his time onstage with a wholesome moment, he pointed a child out by the barricade and gifted them one of his personal guitars, leaving them with the advice “Don’t ever let anybody tell you that you can’t do anything… Don’t ever let anybody talk you out of your dreams”
Across the venue on the Cali Roots stage, Maryland reggae rock pioneers Ballyhoo! drew just about every ear throughout the scene as they walked onstage. Opening with their recent single “Bad Summer” frontman Howi Spangler and company quickly set the foundation for their feel good and optimistically sentimental music that pulsated through the grounds. A set that fell on their touring guitarist, Mike Busch’s birthday, the show encapsulated every phase of the group’s more than three decades of playing together through a plethora of hits including “Mixtape,” “Walk Away,” and “I Don’t Wanna Go,” as well as creative homages to their inspirations including a cover of blink-182’s single “Dammit.”
Performing a sunset slot on the mainstage, the Arlington, Virginia icons of SOJA went on in the waning hours of the day. Beginning their performance with an emphatic instrumental introduction, frontman Jacob Hemphill and company took their places onstage to begin with their 2012 single “Not Done Yet.” Quick to invite the next generation to join them in front of the large audience, Hemphill showed a collaborative spirit as he brought Hawaiian singer Randin Napeahi of Kanaka Fyah onstage with the group to share the vocals as they performed “I Don’t Wanna Wait.” Handing vocal responsibilities to guitarist Trevor Young for several songs including “World That We’re Livin In” and “Things You Can’t Control,” the set showcased the humanity and collectively creative essence of the band in countless ways.
Closing out the bill on the Cali Roots stage, Hawaiian reggae rock icons Pepper gave one of the most energetic performances of the day in the festival’s penultimate performance. Their upbeat and welcoming energy balanced by raunchy humor have defined the group for decades, and their time onstage proved nothing short of a robust continuation of these defining characteristics as they helped end the weekend on the highest of notes. Midway through, chants of “Jeff! Jeff! Jeff!” started with the band and were echoed by the crowd as the group introduced their touring guitarist, Jeff Nisen, who has been steadily embraced by fans of the group since their collaboration began a few short years ago. Continuing in this direction, a nonstop flood of onstage horseplay and familial bonding not only entertained the audience, but felt genuine in nature, as frontman Kaleo Wassman would eventually address, remarking “At any given time at a Pepper show, we’re the people having the most fun.”
Few artists have poured as much of themselves as Collie Buddz into not just their live shows at Cali Roots, but by promoting the festival’s merits during the months of June through April. Helping to champion the annual Monterey classic through his Cali Roots Riddim album series and even earning a Grammy nomination in 2023 for this excellence, the distinction of closing out the weekend felt appropriately bestowed upon an artist who has consistently gone above and beyond to earn his stripes. Taking this honor with abundant reverence, the upgraded production values he brought to his headlining performance were unavoidably apparent from the first notes, as he walked onstage to an electric instrumental introduction to begin his set with his 2017 hit “Good Life.
Quickly showcasing the collaborative heart the artist keeps in mind while curating his live shows, the audience immediately noticed the horns section of the band, which included both Rafael Rodriguez and Hellman Escorcia of SOJA. While not quite the traditional lineup of all starts many fans might have been expecting, the collective efforts and accomplishments of the entire Cali Roots community were represented as the beat changed after a few songs and a live compilation of artists featured on Collie Buddz’s now immortal Cali Roots Riddim album came onstage one after another to perform their contributions to the record, featuring notable presentations including Nathan Aurora, Pepper, SOJA, and Fortunate Youth. Staying true to his commitment to give back to the fans who have clearly meant so much to him, Collie Buddz continued his annual tradition of buying the audience a meal, as hundreds of boxes of pizza were passed out midway through the set while he serenaded the audience with his 2023 single “Take It Easy.” Exemplifying the essence and soul of the festival in spectacular fashion, the set put the decade and a half of excellence from this community into context, and left fans excited for an indefinite number of Cali Roots ahead of us as this community continues to return home to Monterey each Memorial Day weekend.
