Cali Roots 2025: Day One

Day One of the California Roots Festival kicked off at the historical Monterey Fairgrounds once again on May 23rd, 2025. Reggae fans from all over the country traveled to Monterey to see friends and the stacked reggae-meets-hip hop lineup — with Day One leaning heavily into the former. The day was nice… not too cold, but a little overcast.

In other words, great weather for walking around and enjoying a festival.

East coast favorites Bumpin Uglies got things going for the day ahead. They always have a great set and this performance was no different, warming up the Bowl Stage for early birds. They were directly followed by Rik Jam over on the Cali Roots Stage before Dubbest picked up the vibes back on the Bowl Stage without missing a beat. Dubbest is one of those bands that get everyone in the audience having a great time, dancing and singing along. At that same time, Capital Dub was hitting the OG Stage (you know, the one in the middle of the fairgrounds that USED to be the main stage…. can you imagine????). Regardless of a smaller setup, they tore it up. It was the band’s first time at Cali Roots and already were a crowd-favorite. Hope to see them again on future lineups! 

Around this time, things were getting going good, with Joe Samba serenading afternoon crowds, followed by The Hip Abduction at the Bowl before reggae revival founder Protoje hit the stage with a ton of energy. From his powerful lyrics to his playful dancing, Protoje has loving fans that can’t get enough.

Rome came next on the Bowl Stage, with a motley crew of professional players. It was the perfect warmup to what has become an annual tradition — what I like to call “Collie Roots”. Every year since 2019, Collie Buddz comes out on Cali Roots stages with enough pizza to feed the whole crowd. 

We’re talking hundreds of pizzas handed out to literally everyone for midday munchies.

All that excitement was followed by the legendary Buju Banton hitting the Bowl as the sun began to set, while The Elovaters closed things out for the day on the Cali Roots Stage (congrats to them on crushing as a headliner!!). And, just like that, Day One came to an end with a festival staple — Rebelution on the Bowl stage. With lights and lasers beaming through the night sky, the whole Bowl rejoiced with so much more of the weekend ahead. Keep an eye out for the next set of shots from Day Two!

Photography by Sean McCracken

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