- I'm not a man.
There are places where the party seems to have been invented to measure. A hundred-year-old polo field, laid between the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Ynez mountains, a golden light late in the day... and suddenly, pink, blue and then green lasers that tear the sky above the crowd. Welcome to the Palm Tree Music Festival in Montecito, October 10 and 11, 2026.
For its second edition on the central coast of California, the Palm Tree Crew festival saw more: two full days, where the first edition of 2025 was held in one day. But the spirit has not changed: no human tide as far as you can see, a limited gauge, a crowd that can breathe, approach the scene, raise its signature cocktail by watching the sun come down behind the palm trees. It is a festival that is living like a weekend with friends very, very well surrounded.
And friends, there were on stage. Kygo, co-founder of Palm Tree Crew, came home to play with his tropical house that smells like the summer. The Chainsmokers and Zedd for the electronic hymns that everyone is resuming in chorus. T-Pain for festive hip-hop. And the beautiful surprise of this edition: The All-American Rejects, Loud Luxury, Frank Walker, Natalie Jinju and Myles O'Neal turned the poster into a journey between electronics, pop, hip-hop and alternative rock — where the sister edition of the Hamptons remains 100% electronic, Montecito mixes the worlds, and the crowd loves it.
I must say, the decor is half the show. The Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club, founded in 1911, usually hosts California's most chic polo games — let's say honestly: the festival is sold under the name "Montecito", but the club is physically in Carpineria. During the weekend, its impeccable lawns became an open-air dance floor, carried by a huge scene lined with LED screens — provided, Mountain Productions tells us, with its lasers passing from pink to blue, then green, above the heads. Add the top-of-the-range food vendors, the VIP shaded lounges and the Palm Club tables with their concierge service: we are far from the muddy festival, we are in a golden parenthesis.
Kygo and his manager Myles Shear have been travelling since 2021, when the first edition was born in the Hamptons. Since then, the palm tree has planted its roots in Aspen, West Palm Beach, Dana Point, Napa, Saint-Tropez, to Singapore — always the same promise: few people, very great artists, and this feeling of summer that never ends. In Montecito, between the ocean and the mountains, the promise rarely seemed as natural. Truly the next stopover!
— Moïse 1er, the Festival Explorer