Jalo Fest welcomed thousands to Sacramento. How was the Latino music concert?
Thousands gathered in downtown Sacramento near Capitol Mall during Labor Day weekend to celebrate Latino music and culture at the inaugural Jalo Fest.
Jalo Fest was welcomed with open arms as the Latin music festival held its first-ever event in Sacramento.
The two-day festival included a star-studded lineup of bands and artists on two stages. Performing artists were Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Marca MP, Panter Belico, Edgardo Nuñez, Emmanuel Cortes, Herencia de Patrones and Joel de la P.
Other performers included Ivy Queen, Los Askis, Banda El Recodo, Eslabon Armado, Clave Especial, Banda Recoditos, Calle 24, Banda Machos, Regulo Caro, Banda Maguey and Netón Vega.
Victor Anguiano traveled from his hometown of Robbins, a small town between Woodland and Yuba City, to check out the highly anticipated music showing.
“I think overall, it was fun,” Anguiano said. “I loved it. A lot of good artists were playing. It was like the whole group had fun.”
Anguiano traveled in a group of three and said they paid a little over $200 each for VIP tickets.
“I think as far as the artists, they had a good variety, old and new,” he said. “It was pretty well balanced, actually. And it was a fairly big event. I mean, the stage was very big. It was just still jam packed. I mean overall, I mean what I expected. Artists brought a lot of energy, interacted with the crowd, threw out a bunch of merch, just little things. It was a good overall experience.”
Jalo Fest founder and organizer Ricky Calderon said one of their goals were “to bring all ages” to the event.
“We wanted to bring a little bit for everybody,” Calderon said. “To bring everybody out of their homes, to come have a good time. I think we brought artists for the young crowd, for the middle age and older crowd. I think that was really important to us, to bring everybody out.”
Calderon, a Sacramento native from Elk Grove, included local artists and DJs who opened and played for some of the larger, well-known acts that performed. He said it was a dream to bring the event to his hometown.
“I would turn around and see people so happy,” Calderon said. “You look at the pictures, the videos, people were happy, you know, people were really happy. And I think it was a really, really good show.”
Anguiano said he would “definitely” go again if the artist lineup continues to be that good in future shows.
“I think bringing Hispanic artists to the area is great in the sense, because it’s a very dense area with a lot of Hispanics. The Woodland area, Sacramento, and even a lot of the small communities there, little pot communities, they’re all predominantly Hispanic,” Anguiano said. “I think seeing more of a Hispanic presence in places like that is awesome. … I think it’s nice. It kind of brings the community closer and just brings everyone out.”
First time show setbacks
For some attendees, the experience was everything the city needed. Others were less impressed and several festivalgoers took to social media to express their frustrations with the inaugural event.
A TikTok user posted a video saying fans complained about the viewing experience in general admission. In the video, he goes on to explain how canopy tents blocked the view and some couldn’t see the artists.
He also noted that there were people who didn’t buy tickets to the event but had a better view of the show while standing on the outskirts of the fence barricading the festival.
In another TikTok clip, Latin music lovers can be seen watching the show from traffic signals, as some eager music lovers tore down fenced-off barricades and rushed into the event space to catch their favorite artist and bands.
Anguiano confirmed that experience happened to some eventgoers.
“I felt bad for the general admission because they were very far back, it was sectioned out terribly. There was like half a football field of distance between them and the stage,” Anguiano said. “So that sucked because the guys on the side did get a better view, the guys that didn’t even pay for the event. So in that sense, I felt bad for him, because I’m like, ‘Dang you paid to be in here when you could have not paid and just had just as much fun.’”
He added: “People were climbing up on trees. People were climbing up on signs and poles. So it’s like they were going to see the show, whether or not you wanted them to.”
Calderon noted that security would doubled up in the future but acknowledged “it still can happen, the same thing.”
“I think here is where people have to learn how to act. ... I think that our safety is the number one priority when we came into this event,” Calderon said. “Safety was the number one thing that we wanted to do. We’re glad there was no stabbing, there was no shooting, there was none of that.”
Anguiano noted that some of the marketing for VIP tickets wasn’t entirely clear on what access would be available.
“So that was kind of a mess,” Anguiano said. “I think the whole VIP thing was kind of weird, because they had VIP in one stage and they didn’t seem to have VIP at the other stage. And that was something that wasn’t very clear when it came to buying tickets. So that was unfortunate.”
Calderon said VIP issues arose when people began pushing their way to the front of the VIP lines to get a better view of the stage, which he said organizers planned to address next year.
Other issues Anguiano pointed out were, he said, uncontrollable such as the weather.
It was triple-digit weather last weekend when the Jalo Fest was held. He said there was water available, but it ran out quickly.
“I guess just some of the things is, obviously, you can’t really control the weather. You can’t really do anything about that. It was very, very hot. They did provide water at the event, which was good, but I think eventually they kind of ran out, so there was no plan on refilling,” Anguiano said.
Calderon said there was more than enough water available across the venue on Capitol Mall, both for free and for purchase. He said there were pallets of water leftover at the end of the event.
Plans for future show
Calderon said fans’ frustrations would be addressed as Jalo Fest looks to expand to a venue that can accommodate more concertgoers.
He said his promotions company would be eyeing Sacramento’s Discovery Park, which has been home to many concerts such as Aftershock — which brought upwards of 100,000 people over four days — as well as Golden Sky Festival and Sol Blume.
