BeachLife began day 2 with a bit more momentum than Friday. The crowds were noticeably larger, though still well within a reasonable range to afford the festival a leisurely and uncrowded feel. Redondo Beach’s weather, while breezy at times, was peppered with sunshine and made the perfect backdrop for daytime fun at the various stages or at experiences like Tito’s Lounge– a day-drinking playground of sorts where festival-goers could play ping pong, cornhole, a hybrid game of put-put and skeeball, or giant beer pong with trash can sized receptacles instead of cups. More fun still, if you purchased a Tito’s cocktail from the upper deck portion of the Lounge you’d be handed a blender with the ingredients, which you attached to the special Tito’s bicycles and cycled to power the blender and churn your drink to perfection. Talk about earning your drink!
Saturday’s lineup felt truly throwback. Bands of yesteryear played their hits and took us back in time, reminding festival-goers of things they may have forgotten, like that they still have the entire chorus of Sugar Ray’s “Every Morning” committed to memory somehow, even after twenty plus years. Sing it with us now! “Every morning there’s a halo hanging from the corner…”
Many bands shared their connection to Southern California or the beach lifestyle. Sugar Ray played his hits and a few covers, including Sublime, while Everclear gave a shoutout to the “beach rats” and his “way-way-back-when fans” to which several fans in the crowd cheered.
A handful of the bands felt a bit more punk rock. Best Coast followed Sugar Ray and played a song from the lead singer’s recent kids record “Rainbow Connection” – the song was a punk rock song about rainbows…for kids.
Chevy Metal, the cover band including Foo Fighter drummer Taylor Hawkins, had a set of exclusively Van Halen covers at BeachLife’s request. Joining Chevy Metal onstage for a surprise appearance was Weezer drummer Patrick Wilson. The band seemed to be having the time of their lives, clad in leopard skin pants and Van Halen merchandise. On point with the throwback vibe of the day, for sure.
Jason Mraz put on a great show with a color coordinated band that matched his multi-colored pantsuit. His easy-listening tunes were a great backdrop to the cloud-free skies at the Low Tide stage, the closest stage to the water and the only stage right on the sand.
Closing out the evening was Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys — the epitome of the beach lifestyle in music. On stage he was joined by a whole slew of musicians – twelve in fact! One of the twelve was Wilson’s son who sang many of the high notes in lieu of his father and also spoke to his connection to the area, citing his nearby birthplace of Hawthorne, and saying “It’s good to be home!” The star of the show, aside from Wilson, was Blondie Chaplin, who joined the crew onstage about twenty minutes into the set and remained there as a force to be reckoned with. Chaplin played with the Beach Boys in the 70’s as a singer and guitarist and is a long-term backing musician for the Rolling Stones on their tours and albums from the 90’s onward. Chaplin brought a bit more rock n’ roll to the set and also brought some rock style, sporting a pair of absolutely styling red brocade velvet pants. The crowd for this set was noticeably older, but don’t be fooled- the 60+ crowd was singing along to “Help Me Rhonda” and all the other tunes with the glee of fifteen year olds.
BeachLife Day 2 certainly took us down memory lane and reminded us of all the varying sounds of California beach life!
