Thousands of fans, residents and music lovers alike came together during an electric weekend last May for a celebration of songs and strings at the inaugural Malibu Guitar Festival.
The idea to bring a grand scale music festival to the shores of Malibu came easily to residents Doug DeLuca and John Watkin.
“Doug and I have been friends for years, we’re both music lovers and guitar lovers,” Watkin said. “One night, we were sitting and having a glass of wine and talking about music in Malibu. I said, ‘We should put on a Malibu guitar festival,’ and the light bulb went off in Doug’s mind and he just picked up the ball and ran with it. There would not be a Malibu Guitar Festival without Doug DeLuca. He was able to use a lot of his connections to bring in some really, really great talent.”
As a longtime resident of Malibu, Watkin co-owns Planet Grande Pictures, has won seven Emmy Awards for documentary work and is known for blazing guitar solos alongside Lenny Goldsmith and the New Old.
Through DeLuca’s knowledge of the industry and experience staging music events as a co-executive producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live, creating a massive music atmosphere in his own backyard came naturally.
“For me, I’m a music lover and I’m a half-passionate guitarist, and I’m a Malibu lover, so the ability to kind of do something on that level that was still about the community,” DeLuca said. “The Malibu Guitar Festival will always be about the community for us and the great musicians, and we accomplished that. Year one we had some spectacular musicians and we had a great community event.”
A few performances that rocked the stages during the four-day festival in the Malibu Lumber Yard and surrounding restaurants included Kevin Costner & Modern West, Robby Kreiger of The Doors, Rebel Soul Children featuring Randy Jackson, and local bands, The Roman Helmets and Karma Dealers.
“So many people came up to me and said they had a blast, that they really enjoyed it and look forward to it continuing, and that’s what really makes it for me,” DeLuca said. “It brought the community together.”
The two also brought in event specialist and Malibu local Matt Diamond from Live From Malibu for help negotiating with city council and numerous vendors to ensure a smooth weekend of live music.
“It just felt like this town is so connected with the guitar,” Watkin said. “There’s more guitar lovers and guitar collectors in Malibu, possibly per square mile, than any other area in the world … It just felt like this was the perfect marriage between a really great thriving beach community and a really wonderful musical instrument.”
The community agreed wholeheartedly and plans are already in the works to bring a bigger and better Malibu Guitar Festival to town on April 28-30.
“This year we’re going to really try and involve as much of the talent as we possibly can,” Watkin said. “The goal is for it to grow and grow and grow. In the way that certain festivals are synonymous with certain towns … I think Malibu could become synonymous with guitar festival — how wonderful would that be?”