Photos by Josh Herwitt, Melissa Herwitt & courtesy of BeachLife Festival // Written by Josh Herwitt //
BeachLife Festival //
Seaside Lagoon – Redondo Beach, CA
May 3rd-5th, 2024 //
If you live in the greater Los Angeles area and are reading this, you probably already know that the city’s live music scene has centered around the bevy of arenas, amphitheaters, clubs, theaters, stadiums and other entertainment spaces spread all across it — from Miracle Mile to Highland Park and everywhere in between those neighborhoods.
With major concert promoters like Goldenvoice and Live Nation owning and operating the majority of LA’s music venues for a while now, making it in this “town” of more than 12 million is no easy task for younger players without the same level of connections and resources.
But when BeachLife Festival announced its inaugural edition in 2019 and picked Redondo Beach as its home, the South Bay’s entertainment portfolio was immediately raised. The coastal region consisting of 16 cities along Santa Monica Bay’s southern stretch has held a deep connection to hardcore punk ever since such legendary bands as Black Flag, Descendents and Circle Jerks emerged in the late 70’s and were followed by Redd Kross and Pennywise in the subsequent 80’s.
Redondo Beach, more specifically, has not been known as a major destination for live music despite its proximity to the rest of LA, and though the Saint Rocke remains just steps away in Hermosa Beach, the diminutive room that holds less than 300 guests has mostly served as a home for up-and-coming artists. But by booking All-Star talent in the form of Bob Weir, Brian Wilson and Willie Nelson to lead BeachLife’s first run at Seaside Lagoon, co-founders Allen Sanford and Rob Lissner had quickly demonstrated to the South Bay community at large that they really meant business.
Fast forward five years later following a global pandemic, and BeachLife is still going strong. The three-day music festival offers a laidback, family-friendly atmosphere perfect for the ages 35-65 demographic. These aren’t the vibes you will find almost 150 miles east out at Coachella only a few weeks earlier, but there’s still a lot of great music — albeit tailored for an older, less boisterous crowd — to catch whether you enjoy rock, reggae, country, funk, soul, folk, hip-hop or old-school electronic.
As newcomers to BeachLife, we have been impressed with every roster but were particularly enticed by this year’s lineup after Sting, Incubus and one of our favorite live acts, My Morning Jacket, were tapped as headliners. And for the festival’s first two days, things went fairly well from a programming standpoint. Donovan Frankenreiter & G. Love, City and Colour, Seal and Dirty Heads warmed us up over the course of Day 1 before Sting’s hits-laden set that any fan of The Police would have enjoyed took us all back in time. From there, Pepper, Santigold, Local Natives and Devo turned the dial up a few notches on Day 2 that led to an electric, career-spanning performance by Incubus — complete with covers of The Beatles “Come Together”, Portishead’s “Glory Box” and David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” along with a snippet of The Doors’ “Riders on the Storm” during “Are You In?” — and reminded us why we became huge fans of the Calabasas group dating back to its major-label debut S.C.I.E.N.C.E. in 1997.
Then we got to Day 3, which was the one we were unquestionably looking forward to the most. And after St. Paul and The Broken Bones’ set on the Hightide Stage and Margo Price’s on the Lowtide Stage had lifted our spirits under the shining sun, we were giddy over what was supposed to be a rockin’ finish that had ZZ Top, Fleet Foxes, Trey Anastasio & Classic TAB and MMJ lined up … until they weren’t.
Because as we waited prior to 5:30 p.m. for Fleet Foxes to hit the stage, the wind began to pick up and swirl in a way that felt a bit uncomfortable and prompted me to throw on a sweatshirt. Within minutes of doing so, BeachLife’s security team had jumped on the PA system and asked everyone to evacuate for one hour due to a high-wind emergency. While getting everyone to vacate the premises proved to be a challenging endeavor for organizers, the news that would follow on social media prior to 7 p.m. was an absolute gut punch to those of us who sought an answer outside the gates. What made the revelation that the remainder of event had been canceled even more painful to accept was the fact that the winds had completely died down, leading to a host of sarcastic comments as people left the site. We certainly understood the concern for safety, but in retrospect, there wasn’t enough transparency and explanation surrounding the decision — considering there was also Sunday’s earlier curfew time to factor in — until days later. Couple that with the poor media accommodations we witnessed but won’t get into here, and we will confess there’s still plenty of room for improvement going into Year 6.
It has taken some time for the initial shock to wear off, and in the aftermath, BeachLife has tried to “turn lemons into lemonade” by recently offering refunds. Of course no one wanted to see a fun weekend end in that fashion, but the gesture should reassure attendees that they can count on Sanford and Lissner to do the right thing when Mother Nature unexpectedly interrupts the party. We would recommend moving the dates to June when the weather is warmer and more predictable as well, even if that’s outside of our jurisdiction and not the feedback they want to hear (we only mentioned it because we want the best for BeachLife and the opportunity to fully experience the festival from start to finish).
That might not have been in the cards on this go-around, yet come 2025, we already know we will be anxiously anticipating the next one no matter what changes are implemented.
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