Beachlife Day 2 is always the longest day and the most crowded. But it can also be the most worth it.
I arrived early in the day to get in line at the Skechers booth, and took my chance rolling the giant dice to win a pair of the Beachlife exclusive Skechers slip-ons. And I won! New beach shoes acquired!
I grabbed myself a burger and went to the High Tide stage to catch some of Tomorrow’s Bad Seeds. The reggae/ska/punk fusion band were an appropriate opener for the fest and day, as they are one of the bands I would categorize as “Sons of Sublime” – bands who’s sound is clearly inspired by the O.G.s; Sublime. And with Sublime as the headliner of the day, there was a big streak of that sound going throughout the day. Tomorrow’s Bad Seeds did Sublime proud, as their songs carried strong melodies, passion, a message, and a hefty punk punch (especially on songs like “Reflect”).
One of the nice things about arriving early in the day, outside of checking out some of the opening acts, is being able to spot some famous folks casually walking around before the crowds arrived. After watching his Speakeasy set on Friday, I caught Descendents frontman (and fellow Mira Costa High School alumni) Milo Aukerman walking by. He could not have been friendlier, and mentioned that the Descendents do have some new songs written, and are just figuring out when to record between tours and Bill Stevenson’s busy producing schedule (he’s working with Good Riddance right now).
I then passed the Life of the Party booth and chatted with my friend and KROQ DJ Megan Holiday. Life of the Party is a great foundation she started to help distribute Norcan and educate people on its use and how to save people from opioid overdoses. I highly recommend visiting the booth (if you’re at the fest) or the website and donating to this great cause.
As far as music goes, I next caught ALO at the Low Tide stage. I had become familiar with their music over the last year (and featured some of it in our NMF playlists), and was happy that the band opened with one of my favorite of their new songs, “Blank Canvas”. The chill grooves and hopeful lyrics of the song have been a spirit-booster for me this year, and were a great fit for the beach vibe of that stage. The band’s sound definitely has strong traces of yacht rock, and considering the keyboardist was wearing a captain’s hat (which he later exchanged for a big blue fuzzy horned hat), it seems they know it. Another impressive thing about the group is that every member is a vocalist, bringing their own style to the group’s sound. The band played a mix of old tracks like “Wasting Time” and newer material (“Space Between Frames”), closing out with their streaming hit “Girl, I Wanna Lay You Down”.
Next came the unofficial Beachlife Festival house band, Sugar Ray. What more can be said about this group that I haven’t mentioned in my coverage the last few years? The band did surprise by opening their set with a cover of Ginuwine‘s “My Pony”, and later had some fun with a cover of Violent Femmes‘ “Blister in the Sun”. They dipped into newer material with “Highest Tree”. Everything else was their evergreen hits that can’t help but make you smile (and of course, Mark McGrath’s always-entertaining and self-deprecating banter). I will continue my campaign for them to play “Waiting”, despite knowing it will likely never happen.
The three p.m. slot was difficult. On Riptide, there was up-and-coming L.A. band Sitting on Saturn (formerly Sitting on Stacy – I think they made a good choice with the name change). Another group I’ve been happily including in our NMF playlists, the young four piece play some high-energy, occasionally ska-leaning punk and alternative rock. Tracks like “I Need a Nap” have a solid dose of humor, and the band’s performance was vibrant as they blasted through four tracks in the first ten minutes. I would have liked to have seen more, but unfortunately they were paired against the Long Beach Dub Allstars back on the Lowtide Stage.
One of the most direct “Sons of Sublime”, as they were formed by Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh after the death of Brad Nowell. While the group never reached the heights of Sublime, their tracks like the addictive “Listen to D.J.s” and “My Own Life” earned them a deserved following. The band’s set was generally laid back, with only a few harder punk moments sprouting up. While songs like “Rosarito” were nice to hear, I will admit I was disappointed they band didn’t play one of my favorite summer anthems, “Sunny Hours”. Maybe there’s a good reason they don’t have that one in their set (such as not having Will.i.Am on hand to do his verse), but hearing that track definitely would have made their set a highlight of my day.
The next hour was a bit less structured. I caught the opening of Susanna Hoff‘s set, with the classic Bangles‘ single “Hazy Shade of Winter” opening her set. I then went to the Speakeasy stage to meet up with friends and catch Jesse James Pariah‘s set. Another “Son of Sublime”, the group’s sound was very akin to Sublime‘s sound (and had Jakob Nowell watching from the side). I would have liked the frontman to stand and put a bit more energy into his performance, but overall it was a solid set.
Next was Skip Marley on Lowtide. It feels like there should always be at least one Marley at Beachlife, as Bob Marley‘s music (and reggae music in general) is so tied to beach culture, and was just as prevalent on KROQ as Sublime was back in the day. Marley and his band played a mix of solid originals like “Refugee”, “Close” and “Slow Down”, and mixed in some of his grandfather’s hits like “Jammin'”, “Could This Be Love” and closed out with the righteous anthem “Get Up, Stand Up”.
Marley proudly stood by his beliefs of a world without borders and reminded the audience that reggae music was just as much protest music as it is chill love songs and weed anthems.
While I am a Cake fan, having seen them at the Greek theater a couple years prior, I chose to watch their set from the Lowtide stage screens, so I could be in a good spot to catch The Pretenders. With a new album due out this year, Cake have finally returned to the public eye after some years away, and gave the audience a great nostalgia trip with hits like “Never There”, “Short Skirt/Long Jacket” and “The Distance”.
The Pretenders were the group I was most looking forward to, as the band are true classic rockers who are still going strong. As the band played, newer songs like “Hate for Sale”, “You Can’t Hurt a Fool” and the stomping “Junkie Walk” fit in perfectly with classics like “Kid”, power pop number “Don’t Get Me Wrong” and the excellent “Back on the Chain Gang”. Chrissy Hynde is still a bad-ass front woman – her vocals sounded great, her attitude ruled the stage, and the most rock n’ roll thing – she looks out for her audience. As the band got started with their catchy punk track “Boots of Chinese Plastic”, Hynde stopped the set when spotting someone who had passed out or fallen near the front, and refused to keep going until security helped the person get picked up and taken to safety. Love it.
The band then rocketed through “Plastic”, which has become a Pretenders staple since it’s 2009 release. While clearly not the original band, Hynde’s current Pretenders line-up was solid. The guitarist could shred, and the drummer was perfect. The band closed out their rocking set with “Precious” (sorry folks, no “I’ll Stand By You”, despite it being their biggest hit). Hynde complimented the fest and its organizers, praising how well things were run before leaving the stage.
And then there was Sublime 2.0. Though Sublime With Rome had played just the previous year, that group always felt more like a cover band, even though they recorded new, original material. But with Jakob Nowell now fronting Sublime, and sounding so much like his late father, it feels like as true a version of Sublime as anyone could hope to have. Flanked by two giant inflatable dogs (one clearly being the beloved Louie Dog), the band opened with the bombastic “Date Rape”, getting the audience into the ska spirit and throwing them back to the 90’s. “Garden Grove” and “Romeo” came next, followed by two of Sublime’s most famous covers; “The Ballad of Johnny Butt” and “Smoke Two Joints”.
The visuals on the backing screens were a mix of lo-fi skate videos, old home movies and psychedelic animations that kept with the spirit of the band. Also living up to the spirit, Nowell continued to mention how Beachlife felt like home, being surrounded by all his friends and family (including his mom). As someone who grew up in the South Bay, and has been attending Beachlife for years now, I could relate to this sentiment.
The band played some deeper cuts I was not as familiar with, before launching back into hits like “Bad Fish” and the charged “April 29 1992 (Miami)”. As one would expect, “Doin Time” and “What I Go” were a big singalong moments, while folks were dancing to the illicit “Wrong Way”. It was at this point that the long day got the best of me, and I began my walk back to the car. I could hear the band go into new singer “Feel Like That”, the first official Sublime song with Jakob singing (though not the last). It was clear that Sublime‘s legacy was going to continue in good hands, and more opportunities to see them live will surely come.
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