ZIGGY MARLEY, BEDINGFIELD, CLINTON, MRAZ HEADLINE SANTA BARBARA WEST BEACH MUSIC FEST

Santa Barbara, California held their 2nd Annual West Beach Music and Arts Festival Sept 12-14th and being one of the only music festivals to take place right on the sand, fans got to enjoy performances from Ziggy Marley, Jason Mraz, George Clinton, Natasha Bedingfield, Big Head Todd and The Monsters, Kate Voegele, Big Bang and Jackie Greene to name just a few. With a family friendly environment nestled right on the beach in Santa Barbara it’s no wonder The West Beach Music and Arts Festival continued to build on the success of last year’s inaugural event.

We caught up with Ziggy Marley, who headlined the festival on Saturday, to get his thoughts on bringing positive vibrations to Santa Barbara.

“Just like in other places, when I play for people beach, sun, you know cement, earth, wood it doesn’t matter, they’re the same. They don’t make a difference to me sun or whatever we just love to play music. For us as an artist we are kind of more critical of ourself but I think the message is bringing positive vibes to every show we do and that is one thing that is always constant you know. That never change, the positive vibes and the message and the spirit of it never change you know.”

We also caught up with Natasha Bedingfield to get her thoughts on being asked to perform outdoors right on the beach to close down Summer.

“I love playing Summer gigs and this is just like this music festival and there’s so many other artists involved and I mean I couldn’t refuse really an offer to play on the beach. I love festivals, when it’s all about music it’s worth being there and it’s worth being a part of that.”

Big Head Todd and the Monsters also performed just as the sun was going down and lead guitarist Todd Park Mohr discussed his thoughts on his first time at The West Beach Music Festival.

“We’re thrilled to be here. We played in Santa Barbara a couple of times at The Bowl, ironically with Ziggy one of those times, so we’re looking forward to seeing him again. It’s one of our favorite places in the world. The weather is perfect and the beach is beautiful so we’re really thrilled. Maybe two other times that I recall when I was pulling sand out of my pedal board but it’s a great feeling to have your feet in the sand.”

West Beach Music and Arts Festival also dedicated an area just for kids, dubbed the “Sand Box.” Kids were treated to child-friendly music sets from Ziggy Marley, Lili Hayden (who performed with George Clinton), the blues/rock band Jambo, pop/roots rock band Egg and students from the School of Rock. Electronic music fans were also treated to “The OASIS,” which was a lush tropical inspired-area surrounded by 60 palm trees located in the heart of the festival, and featured performances by more than 10 DJs and bands in the electronic genre like The Global Noize All-Stars, along with other talent DJ’s Squeak E. Clean, DJ Quasar and DJ Sean Ray over the three days.