In mid May 2015, my friend and rock music connoisseur Anand Prasad and I were at Hard Rock Café in Worli, Mumbai when he pulled out a poster of the Sonoma Music Festival concert. I looked at it and told him that I had family there. My mom’s sister lives in a suburb of San Francisco about 45 minutes away from Sonoma. I invited Anand to join me to San Francisco for the concert, but for some reason he couldn’t make it.

Two days later, I booked my flight ticket to San Francisco as well as my concert tickets to the Sonoma Music Festival. I was on my own and determined to enjoy the concert any which way.

Sonoma is a city in Sonoma County, California in Sonoma Valley. This city is known as a part of the wine country in the Sonoma valley. Sonoma is the home of the Sonoma international film festival and an historic town plaza, a remnant of the town's Mexican colonial past. Sonoma's population in the year 2010 was 10,648 while the Sonoma urban area had a population of 32,678. Every year this small little city wakes up to The Sonoma Harvest Music Festival which is held at the B.R.Cohn Winery with a capacity of about 4000 people. 

But the Sonoma Music Festival in 2015 was born from the desire of Bruce Cohn of B.R. Cohn Charity Events (BRCCE), to change up its annual fall event formerly held at B.R. Cohn Winery and move it closer to town for a more community event. The new Field of Dreams location not only puts the concert goer two blocks from Sonoma’s Plaza, it allows the festival the opportunity to grow and generate more proceeds for charity. The 2015 concert was spread over 3 days and the line-up of artistes was:

Day 1, October 2 - Chicago and America

Day 2, October 3 - Pablo Cruise & Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band

Day 3, October 4 - Edgar Winter, Gregg Allman and The Doobie Brothers with Michael McDonald

On the first day of the concert, I reached early, all excited to listen to bands and artistes that I grew up listening to and still listen to. At the entrance, I was asked for an ID proof. I showed the official my Indian Driving License which has my date of birth and my photo. The official at the gate asked me to explain the document to him. I did, and he realized that I am Indian from Mumbai, India coming all the way to watch this 3 day music festival. He was knocked off in disbelief. He remarked that I spoke really good English for someone coming from India, to which I replied that we Indians are far better than you Americans in any field. We both laughed it off and he welcomed me to the event and led me to my seat. Yes, this concert was a completely seated event.

I found my seat and went to the food and beverages stalls (all food trucks) serving quick and fast food. What I wanted was a chilled beer to enjoy while I sat and watched the concert. 15 minutes later, the head of security comes over and introduces himself to me and asks if I am the guy from India. I answered in the affirmative while also introducing myself. He requests me to leave my seat and accompany him. Was I getting into some kind of trouble or was I in for a surprise? The official took me to a seat closer to the stage area, meters from the performing artists. This was something I hadn’t imagined and a dream come true to watch my favorite acts live and so close to me. Word spread of my attending the concert so much so, that I was even written about in a local magazine. So much for making a grand entry, much before the legends arrived.

The concert time was 4pm on all 3 days and always began on schedule with a closing time of 10 pm.

Day One of the 2015 Sonoma Music Festival started off with a spectacular electronic violinist, Carlos Reyes as the opening act followed by two classic rock greats. America then came on stage and made the crowd sway with their hands high, singing along to every word of Sister Golden Hair, Woman Tonight, You Can Do Magic, Lonely People. What I loved most about America was their amazing harmonies and acoustic guitars.  They finished their superb set with the all time hit A Horse with No Name. This was followed by Chicago (Original members Jason Scheff, Robert Lamm, James Pankow, Walter Parazaider, and Leigh Loughnane were all present and in shape both physically and vocally.) Chicago dished out one classic song after another, Just You and Me. You are the Inspiration, Hard to Say I’m Sorry, Look away, to name a few.  Then the group uplifted everyone with the elevating horn crescendo of Feeling Stronger Everyday and powerful dueling drum solos. To finish off the night, Chicago brought down the house with their signature encore, to me one of all time favorite rock songs, 25 or 6 to 4. Day one was done with these two bands.

Day Two began with Pablo Cruise and his band doing all their songs. This was followed by the highlight for me (why I flew over 10,000 miles for the concert). Ringo Starr and his All Starr band consisted of Ringo Starr – Drums, Steve Lukather (Toto) – Guitars, Gregg Rolie (Santana) – Keyboards, Todd Rundgren – Guitars, Richard Page (Mr. Mister) – Bass, Warren Ham (Saxophone), Gregg Bissonette (Electric Light Orchestra) – Drums. Any music lover’s delight to see these men live on stage. They performed all of Ringo Starr’s songs, The Beatles songs and two songs each from the individual musician’s hits. The songs that stood out for me were Africa, Rosanna, Black Magic Woman and Broken Wings, besides Come Together and Yellow Submarine.

I vividly remember this crazy Todd Rundgren running on stage in his weird PJ’s and dance moves and found it fun to watch the guy on stage. The crowd on Day Two was absolutely going wild with each song being performed. Personally, for me to see legendary guitarist, Steve Lukather in action with his magic fingers was an absolutely phenomenal experience. This phenomenal evening ended with Ringo Starr bringing Edgar Winter, Michael McDonald and The Doobie Brothers on stage and singing With A Little Help from My Friends.

Day Three began at 4pm again with Tommy Castro and The Painkillers doing a set. I unfortunately didn’t know any of their songs but enjoyed listening to the band. This was followed by Edgar Winter taking stage and doing all his hits and ending with Frankenstein. This was followed by Gregg Allman doing all his songs and ending with Sweet Melisa. The last and final act of the 3 day music festival was The Doobie Brothers with the legendary Michael McDonald on Keyboards. All their classics were sung one after the other – Minute by Minute, Black Water, Long Train Running and finally they ended the night with Listen to the Music.

The experience was very different from concerts I have attended in Mumbai, with regards to sound, lights and pyrotechnics and most importantly of all, timings, given our Indian Stretchable Time. One thing that I avoid doing at a concert is shoot photos, because for me, a concert is all about listening to the music.

As a music lover, this was a concert of a lifetime. One would have usually just read about or heard these artistes music on LP/Cassette/CD. I got to see these musicians for real and hear them play as real musicians. I also got to see their social side and their greatness in coming forward and helping others. Music for sure brings people together and connects life.

Besides holding vivid memories of the concert that would last a lifetime, I cannot forget to thank my aunt and uncle (Ruxana and Nuru Neemuchwalla) for offering to drop and pick me up on all the 3 days of the concert, and of course their wonderful hospitality in hosting me at their home.

Details:

Event: Sonoma Music Festival, Sonoma, Sonoma County, California, US

Dates: 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th October 2015

By Zameer Vahanvaty

Zameer Vahanvaty is a businessman from Mumbai who is passionate about music (60s, 70s and 80s oldies, rock n roll and retro music). He can be reached on retromusicrocks@gmail.com