Montecito lit up as Palm Tree Music Festival brought two days of electronic music, nostalgic hits and late-night dancing to the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club on Oct. 10 and 11.
Headliners including Zedd, The Chainsmokers and T-Pain brought a mix of chart-topping favorites and high-energy electronic production to the Montecito venue.
The setting did half the work. With mountains rising behind the main stage, the golden-hour sunset served as an opening act of its own, easing the crowd from daytime sets into the night’s biggest performances. By the time the sky went dark, the audience was primed for The Chainsmokers.
They played familiar hits like “Closer” and “Paris” as the crowd sang along. The set extended beyond nostalgia, leaning into techno and dubstep for a harder, heavier sound that differs from their previous music catalog.
Zedd delivered the weekend’s most dazzling production. His set was built around lights: strobes and lasers cut through the dark in sync with every drop, turning the polo grounds into a full light show.
He closed his set with a reimagined version of “Clarity,” incorporating string instruments for a more melancholy take on the electronic hit.
Earlier in the day, USC student and popular music major Natalie JinJu took the stage, bringing a piece of campus to Montecito. Her bassist, Huckleberry Young, a junior jazz major at USC, described the experience as “brainbreaking.”
“I’ve never experienced anything like that. I’ve genuinely been short-circuited since,” Young said.
For Young, the performance was an experience unlike anything he had encountered before, a fitting description of a weekend built around celebrating music.
On Sunday, T-Pain brought the sounds of the 2000s back to the stage, performing hits including “Hey Baby (Drop It to the Floor),” his collaboration with Pitbull, and “Bartender,” featuring Akon. As he spun across the stage, the crowd jumped along to the familiar tracks, turning the performance into a celebration of an era of hip-hop and R&B.
For those who grew up listening to the music of the early 2000s, the set offered a chance to revisit the songs that defined their childhood.
Off the main stage, brand sponsors including La Croix, Celsius and Saint James Tea kept festival-goers hydrated. The merchandise was sponsored by Aviator Nation.
The Montecito event was one stop on Palm Tree’s growing festival circuit. Following its Napa stop, the festival is scheduled to head to Aspen in February, with a lineup featuring Disco Lines, FISHER and Chris Lake.
