Just Like Heaven is a single day festival at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. It has a knack for bringing in acts from the 2007ish era of indie music. It’s kind of remarkable how the festival producer, Golden Voice, was able to find so many great bands that defined what it meant to be a coming-of-age millennial. From that core of independent music, the festival sound bleeds into the neighboring genres of punk, rock, and emo.
Just like Heaven was pretty special in that it gave a lot of artists the opportunity to perform after taking long hiatus’s. Passion Pit hadn’t played in a year. Washed Out hadn’t played with his full band in two. And most notably Miike Snow was just getting back on the horse after five years away from the stage. And by the way, Miike Snow absolutely killed it—the group was all dressed up in office garb, complete with suspenders and mad-scientist super-computers on stage. Miike Snow had the energy. Playing Hits like “Sylvia”, “The Song for No One”, and “Animal”. They proved they can bring it, and make those kids dance.
The feeling of aging gracefully permeated the energy of the festival. Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells and Lovefoxxx of CSS both mentioned that they had one year old babies. Tegan and Sara talked about the surreality of being 43 years old on stage in front of fans who just won’t quit. And Phoenix talked openly with the crowd about how this all felt “like a high school reunion”. They even brought out Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend to join in the fun. The day-festival is really the way to go to see music these days. All of these glorious bands and their fans together in one place.
In fact we should take a second to recognize the fans. It seemed like no matter which stage, no matter what time of day, there was always room to dance. People were interspersed and gave each other room to breathe. Attendees had small children running around. Blankets and bags were left openly out in shady spots under trees and atop sand-traps (the event is set at a golf course). The crowd was a smattering of easy going and trusting humans born sometime between 1981 and 1996. Pure Millennial heaven.
The bands at Just like Heaven all had touchstones in the timeline of the Millennial experience. The CSS song “Music is My Hot, Hot, Sex” was a featured song for one of the first iPod commercials in 2007. Phoenix’s “Litzomania” was a celebrated indie dance hit, that now-politician AOC danced to on roof tops in a viral music video that she made with her friends at Boston University. And what a dream to sit with nostalgia on a blanket with your friends while Death Cab for Cutie play songs from their 2005 album Plans.
Similarly, the music of Washed Out has been burned into the core memories of millennials as the opening credits of Fred Armisen and Carrie Brawnstein’s show “Portlandia”. Their new artwork up from their forthcoming album Notes From A Quiet Life decorated the stage. There was some kind of technical difficulty in the beginning, with lead Ernest Weatherly Greene Jr checking in with his drummer between songs. But the crowd didn’t seem to mind; and despite getting the rust of the old synthesizers, Washed Out had a beautiful performance the solidified their place as the godfather of the chillwave movement.
Just Like Heaven also featured “A Club Called Rhonda” tent between the two stages which offered a fun little dance party in a shaded space, with disco balls and bean bag chairs. The fest also partnered with Monty’s, which is a famous vegan burger joint with some spots around Los Angeles. And across the board the food was good, albeit expensive. With 10 dollar coffees, 15 dollar beers, and meals ranging between 20 to 30 bucks, you still feel like you’re being gouged. Which to be fair, is also part of the Millennial experience.
As a venue, the Rose Bowl is well situated for a music festival. The fresh grass is so much better than hard concrete. The tree coverage really allows for people to stay comfortable in the heat of the day. And for the record, the high that day was 73 degrees, so it was actually quite heavenly. Security was simple, and the bathrooms were well taken care of. Oh, and lets not forget the timing of it all. The festival grounds opened at noonish , and the last act finished up around 11 PM. And with so many parking lot exits, the traffic never got choked; and getting home afterwards was a literal breeze.
The Millennials are getting older, and doesn’t it feel great! Relive the fest line-up with Goldenvoice’s official Just Like Heaven 2024 Playlist!
The Indy Review 