2015 Todos Santos Music Festival
The Todos Santos Music Festival:
In one of lifes true serendipitous moments, our arrival in Todos Santos coincided with the Todos Santos Music Festival. The TSMF is held each year in January and is the brainchild and labor of love of Peter Buck of R.E.M. and his wife Chloe. All the proceeds from the festival go to the Palapa Society of Todos Santos for scholarships and education for the towns students.
Todos Santos is one of Mexico’s Pueblos Magicos; little towns of historic significance and colonial charm and TS has it in abundance. It’s narrow cobblestoned streets (all new) are lined with older colonial style buildings. TS is filled with great restaurants, bars, taquerias and hotels in every price range and that includes the El Litro RV Park where we stayed for nearly 4 weeks.
The Music Festival takes place over two weekends with a final free show in the town plaza. We attended nearly all of the shows and each one is different.
This year’s lineup of musicians included of course Peter Buck of R. E. M., Bill Reiflin REM’s drummer, Kev’n Kinney, The Jayhawks from Minnesota, Drive By Truckers, the Autumn Defense Headed up by John Stirratt of Wilco, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, The Old 97’s, Torreblanca a Mexican group from Mexico City, La Santa Cecilia from Los Angeles and the headliners this year Death Cab for Cutie. In addition to all of these folks there are more and special guests.
Three bands really brought down the house this year; Drive By Truckers, TorreBlanca, La Santa Cecilia and of course Death Cab for Cutie. They all turned in amazing performances that were worthy of true star status. This is not to say that the others were less than stellar. The bands were all at the top of their game.
The really special guest this year was John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin who played as a guest with all of the bands on the last night at the town Plaza. It was a special treat to see this legend play live and to meet him after the show.
This is a great event for a great cause and if you are in the area with your RV next year be sure to head to TS and attend. You do not need reservations.
The shows take place two weekends in the Hotel California in Downtown Todos Santos. The music stage is set up in their very large outdoor courtyard. There are reserved seats but most of the attendees stand. General Admission in 50 pesos. A pittance to see all of this great talent. If you are interested in purchasing reserved seating or a “VIP” table they usually sell out around May.
We especially loved the festival because no matter where you are, Todos Santos is so small you run into many of the performers at breakfast or dinner or at the shows itself. It is an intimate setting that makes everyone feel comfortable.
The El Litro RV Park is by far and away the most convenient place to stay for the RV’er being almost right in town you can walk or drive into the center of town. Some folks are put off when first seeing the park but don’t let first impressions fool you. While it is a bit scruffy around the edges it is very friendly, extremely cheap and everything works. One big downfall is no WiFi. But this will give you an excuse to go to our favorite breakfast place CaFelix which has great breakfasts and fast, reliable WiFi. This is also a great place to meet and talk to many of the performers who play the festival.
Even if you don’t make it to TS for the Music Festival we highly recommend it at any time. It is charming, the people overwhelmingly friendly, great food and everything you need. Another plus is it’s less than an hour’s drive to either Cabo San Lucas or La Paz. And the road to either is 4 lane divided highway.
I will definitely be back next year.
In one of lifes true serendipitous moments, our arrival in Todos Santos coincided with the Todos Santos Music Festival. The TSMF is held each year in January and is the brainchild and labor of love of Peter Buck of R.E.M. and his wife Chloe. All the proceeds from the festival go to the Palapa Society of Todos Santos for scholarships and education for the towns students.
Todos Santos is one of Mexico’s Pueblos Magicos; little towns of historic significance and colonial charm and TS has it in abundance. It’s narrow cobblestoned streets (all new) are lined with older colonial style buildings. TS is filled with great restaurants, bars, taquerias and hotels in every price range and that includes the El Litro RV Park where we stayed for nearly 4 weeks.
The Music Festival takes place over two weekends with a final free show in the town plaza. We attended nearly all of the shows and each one is different.
This year’s lineup of musicians included of course Peter Buck of R. E. M., Bill Reiflin REM’s drummer, Kev’n Kinney, The Jayhawks from Minnesota, Drive By Truckers, the Autumn Defense Headed up by John Stirratt of Wilco, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, The Old 97’s, Torreblanca a Mexican group from Mexico City, La Santa Cecilia from Los Angeles and the headliners this year Death Cab for Cutie. In addition to all of these folks there are more and special guests.
Three bands really brought down the house this year; Drive By Truckers, TorreBlanca, La Santa Cecilia and of course Death Cab for Cutie. They all turned in amazing performances that were worthy of true star status. This is not to say that the others were less than stellar. The bands were all at the top of their game.
The really special guest this year was John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin who played as a guest with all of the bands on the last night at the town Plaza. It was a special treat to see this legend play live and to meet him after the show.
This is a great event for a great cause and if you are in the area with your RV next year be sure to head to TS and attend. You do not need reservations.
The shows take place two weekends in the Hotel California in Downtown Todos Santos. The music stage is set up in their very large outdoor courtyard. There are reserved seats but most of the attendees stand. General Admission in 50 pesos. A pittance to see all of this great talent. If you are interested in purchasing reserved seating or a “VIP” table they usually sell out around May.
We especially loved the festival because no matter where you are, Todos Santos is so small you run into many of the performers at breakfast or dinner or at the shows itself. It is an intimate setting that makes everyone feel comfortable.
The El Litro RV Park is by far and away the most convenient place to stay for the RV’er being almost right in town you can walk or drive into the center of town. Some folks are put off when first seeing the park but don’t let first impressions fool you. While it is a bit scruffy around the edges it is very friendly, extremely cheap and everything works. One big downfall is no WiFi. But this will give you an excuse to go to our favorite breakfast place CaFelix which has great breakfasts and fast, reliable WiFi. This is also a great place to meet and talk to many of the performers who play the festival.
Even if you don’t make it to TS for the Music Festival we highly recommend it at any time. It is charming, the people overwhelmingly friendly, great food and everything you need. Another plus is it’s less than an hour’s drive to either Cabo San Lucas or La Paz. And the road to either is 4 lane divided highway.
I will definitely be back next year.
