Music festival rocks downtown Sonoma

Sonoma Music ?Festival gets ?back to where it once belonged ...|

The first-ever Sonoma Music Festival seemingly went off without a hitch last weekend, with enthusiastically positive reviews from attendees. Capacity crowds all three days enjoyed energetic five-hour shows.

Sonoma was jammed but there were few complaints from locals or out-of-town visitors. With 10,000 attendees spread over three days, the festival was the biggest in-town event hosted in Sonoma since the final Jazz Plus concert in 2011. Attendees reported adequate parking, great acoustics, good lines of sight, plentiful food and drink, and a generally well-organized event.

The festival was a new iteration of B.R. Cohn Charity’s long-popular Fall Music Festival, which had previously been held annually in October in the amphitheater at B.R. Cohn Winery in Glen Ellen.

Moving the charity concert – which has raised $6.5 million over the years for some of Cohn’s favorite nonprofits – back to downtown Sonoma (its first year was held at the high school) was a bold move, but one that seemed to pay off, according to festival officials.

Dozens of music-themed auction items available all three nights were popular with VIP attendees, and the proceeds helped boost charity revenues from the event. More than $50,000 alone was raised thanks to 22 attendees who bought the chance to sing “Listen to the Music” onstage with the Doobie Brothers, and more than 30 autographed guitars were sold at $2,500 or more each, among other auction items.

According to festival organizers, there were 3,600 in attendance at the sold-out shows on Saturday and Sunday, and about 3,200, on Friday night.

Friday’s lineup centered on popular '70s bands America and Chicago. Saturday night opened with Pablo Cruise. Ringo Starr then took the stage with his “All-Starr Band” that included Todd Rundgren, Steve Lukather of Toto, Gregg Rolie of Santana and Journey, Richard Page of Mr. Mister and others. Sunday featured four headline bands: Tommy Castro and the Painkillers; the Edgar Winter Group; Gregg Allman; and the Doobie Brothers with Michael McDonald.

“What an incredible weekend of music and charity,” said festival founder and Doobie band manager Bruce Cohn. “The new venue looked and worked perfectly, the crowds were large and enthusiastic and we’ll know in a few weeks how much we raised. Certainly in my long career in the music industry having Ringo Starr perform in Sonoma Valley is a big highlight.”

Local soccer teams took the weekend off and the bands performed on an open stage located in center field at the Field of Dreams. A second smaller stage, in the HopMonk Beer Garden, ran between the main acts. Almost a dozen food vendors offered everything from Indian food to pizza, and a handful of local wineries were pouring.

While it may take a few months for checks to be cut to the beneficiaries, it only took hours for Cohn to decide that he would like the festival to return in 2016. Save the date: the 30th anniversary event is scheduled for Thursday through Saturday, Sept. 29 to Oct. 1, 2016.

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