By Cathy Maestri
InstantRiverside.com

It’s pure coincidence, but it’s interesting that the Inland Empire and local desert are playing host to a pair of the country’s biggest marijuana-related music festivals. And there won’t be many people attending both.

Cypress Hill’s SmokeOut is unabashedly pro-pot; it billed itself as a music festival as well as a cannabis cup and medical-marijuana expo and drew an estimated 30,000 to the San Manuel Amphitheatre in Devore last weekend.

For those who weren’t there — or those who were and can’t remember — the two-day festival featured Cypress Hill playing its “Black Sunday” album in its entirety as well as reunions by the Goodie Mob and Geto Boys. The big deal at the hard rock/hip-hop/reggae/punk gathering was the Sublime reunion — or, at least, the reunion of Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson with new singer Rome Ramirez, and the onslaught of lawyers representing the family of the late Brad Nowell.

SmokeOut panels — yes, panels — included “Marijuana 101: The Higher Education of Pot,” “CelebStoners Speak Out for Cannabis,” “SmokeOut Musicians Session” and “Free the Weed: Legalization Now!”
This weekend, marijuana will simply be an unspoken part of the nouveau-hippie vibe as Phish fanatics descend on Indio for Phish Festival 8 at Empire Polo, site of the springtime Coachella and Stagecoach festivals.

The reunited Phish’s shindig sounds like it’s going to be pretty laid back; there will be art installations a la Coachella, plus a ferris wheel; more than 50 beers, including a special festival-only pilsner from Sierra Nevada; a horseshoe-pitching contest; a farmer’s market; and doughnuts shaped like the figure 8.

There will also be eight sets by Vermont’s finest eclectic jam band; two on Friday, three on Saturday (including its special Halloween set, in which the band covers a classic album as a musical costume); and three on Sunday, including the band’s first-ever full-length all-acoustic performance.

(When we checked the Phish Festival 8 web site, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album cover popped up… twice. An obvious choice for the mystery album? Or too obvious?)

Tickets are $199, plus a $1 donation to WaterWheel, for Friday-Sunday. Unlike Coachella, it looks as though the weather’s going to be perfect.