Saturday is always the LONG day at Beachlife. I arrived right at noon, as there was a group playing bright and early at the Speakeasy stage I wanted to check out – Water Tower.
The bluegrass quartet have gained a reputation for busking on the sides of LA freeways and giving famous punk tunes a bluegrass twist. I first became aware of them from their recent single “Dim Summers” (feat 311′s Nick Hexum), and they were a great way to start the day. Between rollicking originals like (like the wry “AMPM”), the group also gave Rancid‘s “Radio” and Katy Perry‘s “California Gurls” eclectic takes. All four members are skilled musicians, and the punk spirit came through not just in their music, but also their antics. For a song about their busking, they encouraged audience members to try to throw crumpled dollars into one of their guitars as they played (people tried, no one succeeded). They got people in the Speakeasy tent to gather in a circle and do a version of a line dance, followed by a “Wall of Love” (think “Wall of Death” but with hugs). I guarantee this group’s reputation is going to spread and they’ll be playing bigger venues soon.
Moving on, I made a brief stop at the Life of the Party booth to catch up with my friend Megan Holiday, and enter their raffle to potentially win some signed merch from one of the bill’s bands. I then checked out the Pawnshop Kings at the Riptide stage. The country rock band had some fun songs, and showed off some spot-on harmonizing on a cover of The Beatles‘ “Ticket to Ride.” I split my time here and with Low Tide stage band Fortunate Youth, who I had heard of but never listened to. Wow, does their frontman have an incredible voice. While I assumed the group would be another “Son of Sublime,” mixing reggae with rock and punk like later headliners Slightly Stoopid, but Fortunate Youth‘s sound was much more indebted to classic-sounding roots reggae.
Though I was unfamiliar with their songs, the deep grooves and smooth, soulful vocals were so exquisite I easily got caught up in the rhythms. The band was top notch musically – these guys will definitely be added to my summer playlists. I did head out before their final song, as I needed to grab a good spot for Beachlife’s unofficial house band – Sugar Ray.
Now I’ve obviously spoken plenty about these 90’s survivors in previous years’ coverage, but I decided to see them once again because on Twitter, frontman Mark McGrath replied to a couple song requests I made, and made a promise to play one of those songs, either “Waiting” or “Chasin’ You Around,” this year. See evidence below:
Mark McGrath broke his Twitter promise. While I was happy the band brought “Falls Apart” back into their set, and McGrath had fun with a brief 80’s medley of Tears for Fears and INXS, nowhere in the set was “Waiting” or “Chasin’ You Around.” My heart and trust are irreparably broken.
Despite this, I powered on, and returned to Riptide to check out the South Carolinians Easy Honey. Their breezy blend of indie rock was welcome. Taking turns on vocals gave each band member a chance to shine, and newer tracks like “Pink Lady” fit in well with Beachlife’s vibes. Their music would sound great while sailing around a bay or during picnic in a grassy field. Hopefully the long drive across the country was worth it for the band, and they picked up some new fans here and along the way.
Grabbing a coconut to drink from, I ventured to check out one of my most anticipated bands of the fest – Switchfoot. The San Diego alt rockers were the only band on the bill I was both familiar with and had not seen live yet, and since their 2003 breakthrough album The Beautiful Letdown, they’ve built up a big catalog of songs I really like. One of those tracks, their gold single “Stars,” opened their set on a cosmic note. While known for more pop-leaning rockers, the band made it clear they could go heavy with “Dark Horses,” with a few Zeppelin riffs thrown in for good measure. And when they played a cover of Beastie Boys‘ “Sabotage,” a mosh pit broke out.
Things calmed down with “This is Your Life,” which found frontman Jon Foreman and his little brother Tim Foreman on bass walking the stage, arms around each other. Throughout the set, Foreman entered the audience to engage with the crowd, giving them a personal connection to remember the band by.
The first single from the band’s upcoming album is a darker, slightly gothic track called “Wake Up, Mr. Crow.” With its lines “We’ve been living in strange times,” it’s not hard to see how world events are influencing the band’s songwriting. The track fit well with the raucous follow-up “Mess of Me.” To balance these darker moments, Foreman and company next gave the audience a block of hope – the beatific “Dare You to Move”, a haunting dash of Bob Marley‘s “Three Little Birds” and then “Where I Belong”. The set was ended with the band’s break-out single, written after Foreman decided to drop out of college – “Meant to Live.” Expected as it was, it was still a strong closer for a solid set.
I slowly made my way west to see Joan Jett and the Black Hearts, and what I found was a wall of people. The Low Tide stage was PACKED, going all the way back. Clearly there was a lot of love and interest in the punk legend. Even at a distance, hearing Jett pull out “Cherry Bomb” from her The Runaways days was a blast. I could hear the audience singing along to that and “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah).” Jett played a couple tracks from her most recent EP, which continued in her tradition of simple, catchy garage rock, before going back into hits like “Fake Friends,” “Crimson & Clover” and of course “I Love Rock & Roll.” Her voice still holds up, and showed that classic punk is still loved in the South Bay.
After grabbing some pizza slices, I waded through the crowd to get a good spot for Slightly Stoopid. One of the most successful “Sons of Sublime,” the band has become a cottage industry unto itself. While I wouldn’t call myself a huge fan of the group, I respect how they’ve found their own voice in the oversaturated reggae-rock world, mixing in heavy doses of dub, psychedelia and jam band styles with their songwriting. Of course, classic sounding reggae tunes like “Officer” still hit that sweet spot.
Though I didn’t recognize all the songs the band played, I did hear the dubby “2am” and a few other party tunes from their catalog. I liked that they certainly mixed up the vibes. They brought out Chali 2na from Jurassic 5 for a cover of that group’s “What’s Golden,” and paid tribute to the late Bob Weir with a freewheeling Grateful Dead cover. Later in the set, they invited Beachlife co-founder Jim Lindberg for a hard-hitting Pennywise cover, and frequent collaborator G. Love for one of their fan favorites.
Though I had scene Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals a couple years prior at Beachlife, something told me I should definitely check out his set again, and I’m certainly glad I did. Right from the start, the band showed their incredible versatility with an acapella song, before properly opening with a beautiful rendition of his beach folk tune “Diamonds on the Inside.” With Harper switching between normal and slide guitars, the band played heavy hard rockers, light reggae, funky jams, and stark, acoustic ballads like “Forever,” which was the first highlight for me. While Harper’s vocals were often too low in the mix, as were those of his back-up vocalists, he at least got the latter fixed when calling out to the sound person to raise their mics.
The crowd cheered as Harper brought out his soul-pop hit “Steal My Kisses,” a reminder of how diverse and special radio was in the 90’s. What thrilled me was the anthemic “Fly One Time” from Harper’s one-off album with the Relentless7. I’ve been a fan of this tune since it came out, and it was truly spirit-lifting in a live setting. It gave me the kind of rush that you can only get from perfect live music moments. After this, everything else was just gravy. Harper and the band closed out their set with a long, spirited jam before taking their bows.
By this time, I was tired. And sore (I had injured my back a week prior and it wasn’t feeling great). I am a long-time fan of The Offspring. Americana is one of the first CDs I ever bought. But I had seen them quite a lot recently, and I expected that they hadn’t changed their setlist up much. I stood in the back, listening as the familiar surf riff of “Come Out and Play” rang out. After hearing the searing “All I Want” and memorable bop “Want You Bad,” it was clear there weren’t going to be any real surprises in the set, so I called it and early night and returned to my car. I needed to conserve my strength for the third and final day.
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