Call me cheap, thrifty, opportunistic, festive or just plain smart, but I love free shows. Throw the word free in the title and I consider doing stuff I might not normally do, because I swear that free makes it more fun. And not just for me, the other people seem to have more fun, too. Maybe it is because they spent their saved money on booze. Or, as will be the case this Saturday, June 19th, maybe they are just celebrating world music and their culture’s rich diversity. Yeah, you don’t need booze to have a good time.

The city of Pasedena, just east of Los Angeles and yearly host to both the Rose Bowl and Rose Parade, is offering a fun alternative to how you normally spend your Saturday by throwing Make Music Pasadena, a free public concert in honor of world music weekend. Nearly 300 cities across the globe are participating in the world music celebration, but Pasadena is trying to top them all by transforming their already bad ass old-town district and (as their website describes) turning it  into a “musical playground where every conceivable genre of music is played. Alleys, courtyards, building lobbies, and other unconventional performance spaces become spontaneous musical stages and social gathering places.”

As if just the one-day festival were not enough to get you out for the day, the list of performers includes indie darlings The Antlers (I hear they are great live), enthusiastic party-starters Matt & Kim (I hear they are great live), and local favorites Warpaint, making this a nearly a can’t miss event.

Check out the full schedule here and c0me out to support the arts, your culture, or just the spirit of creativity and fun at Make Music Pasadena. Check back next week when we’ll have a full report.