Name: City of the Sun, Portair
Start: 2026-01-19T20:30:00-08:00
Location: 2501 Kettner Blvd San Diego CA 92101

The music of City of the Sun is essentially a genre of its own – experimental, yet accessible, filled with tension, yet still joyful. Theirs is a sound which you can neither pinpoint, nor stop listening. The NYC powerhouse group flipped the perception of instrumental music on its head, attracting a new generation of young people to the genre, many of whom had not previously listened to instrumental music.
City of the Sun cut their teeth on the streets of NYC busking for large crowds in places like Union Square, Washington Square Park and Central Park, gaining attention as "that band you need to check out." Word got out quickly and it grew to a huge online presence, then to tens of millions of views on YouTube and over 120 million-plus streams, as well as sold out shows nationwide and throughout Europe and the UK.
At its core are founding members John Pita, lead guitarist and frontman, who was raised in Ecuador with all its influences, and percussionist/drummer Zach Para, a Seattle native who made his way in the jazz world and studied at the Boston Conservatory before connecting with John in NYC. Rounding out the quartet are bassist Matt Fasano and guitarist Marco Bolfelli.
The band's sound has an array of influences that include everything from Indie Rock to American Folk, Flamenco, and Blues. At the beginning, they bonded over everything from Dire Straits to Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin to Santana and The War on Drugs to Coldplay. They would mine the inspirations and introduce a melodic joy through virtuosic chops. As John says, "The good thing about being an instrumental band and having played on the streets for so long is that we had a bunch of colors to work with and could use them as we pleased to create something new and paint our own picture."
In 2016, City Of The Sun released their debut album, To The Sun And All The Cities In Between, which included the fan favorite "Everything." That song went on to amass over 20 million Spotify streams and the album over 42 million. A year later, from their Untitled EP, "Perfect Instance" scored over 25 million-plus streams and the 2018 single, "Ventura," another 15-plus million, bringing the total EP streams to over 47 million. In 2019, the band worked with producer Damien Taylor (Bjork, Arcade Fire, The Killers, Robyn) for three weeks, distilling their various inspirations into a bold body of work with the scope of a Sergio Leone soundtrack. Most of those tracks were released over the course of many months and brought in over 25 million streams for the album.
City of the Sun has sold out some of NYC's most prestigious venues, including Brooklyn Steel, Irving Plaza, Bowery Ballroom and Gramercy Theater. They've toured with Thievery Corporation, Peter Bjorn & John, G. Love, STS9 and others, and were featured artists at Panorama NYC, Billboard's Hot 100, Firefly, BottleRock Napa music festivals; and also scored "The C Word" documentary soundtrack (directed by Meghan O'Hara and narrated by Morgan Freeman.)
In December 2019, they made a splash in Europe and the UK, selling out 17 out of their 19 shows, first time in nearly every market. This continued when they returned in 2022 and will again as they return with Thievery Corporation (and other shows) in June/July 2024.
City of the Sun will return to the studio in 2024 with a roster of new songs and a well of renewed energy after some of their best-ever received shows throughout the West Coast 2023 and Northeast in early 2024. Expect to start hearing some new music hitting by the end of the year.