Over the ambitious three-day inaugural BeachLife Festival, the most trafficked speck of space was a 20-foot wide piece of pavement bridging the Low Tide and High Tide stages. Only a few yards separated the two main performance areas, allowing for free and easy movement of the masses between sets. It was a simple detail, the kind of touch that becomes more significant as the hours of don’t-want-to-miss appearances accumulate, that helped make the first-year event an unequivocal success.
Take Sunday’s closingpair- Ziggy Marley at Low Tide; Willie Nelson at High Tide- as the model. 12,000 in the sand watching Ziggy work through an energetic slate of songs,mostly from his latest albums and a few nuggets from his father’s catalog, asday morphed into dusk. Only minutes after the final notes of Marley’s“Look Who’s Dancing” dissolved away, Nelson strolled onto High Tide’s stage;the thousands turned 180-degrees, casually crossed over to the immaculate fauxlawn, and settled in comfortably as “Whiskey River” started flowing. OverNelson’s right shoulder, the backdrop of boat masts, palm trees, and apanoramic sunset played along in perfect timing. This was the life.
Turn back to Friday, andanother picturesque Southern California day, when reggae transmitters Roots ofCreation opened the High Tide schedule with their set dusted in Grateful Deadclassics, including a lively “China Cat Sunflower” that segued into “Fire Onthe Mountain.” It was a prescient kick-off for Day One, with most of theartists connecting back, in either style or substance, to the night’s closer,Bob Weir and Wolf Bros. Donavon Frankenreiter delivered his easy winds,cowboy surfer slant, dipping into the Rolling Stones “Miss You,” while BruceHornsby, on the glistening lead from guitarist Gibb Droll, offered abeautifully extended “Over the Rise.”
Reggae icons SteelPulse, colorful and sharp as ever, brought their one-drop to Low Tide, as ChrisRobinson, leading As the Crow Flies, reminded everyone there why he is a bonafide rock star. With unrelenting, hip-shaking magnetism, the untiringsinger punched out one vintage Black Crowes rumbler after the next, asguitarist Jackie Greene’s stinging, singing solos answered every one ofRobinson’s calls. Back to the sand, Slightly Stoopid opened in laid-back,sit-down acoustic style, then went electric with the arrival of Weir for atwo-song romp through “Franklin’s Tower,” and a tip to Tom Petty on “You Don’tKnow How It Feels.” Already packed in with highlights, Friday culminatedwith Weir and his Bros in what was a relatively standard set of songs for thiscombo, opening with a decidedly slow “Jack Straw” and ending a little over anhour later with Robinson and Greene joining for an encore of “Not Fade Away,”and an audience sing-along on “Ripple.”
Saturday skewed toward avariety of American rock touchstones, many with SoCal roots. Perhaps themost fun of the afternoon party was Chevy Metal, the raucous rock cover bandled by Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins, who split his time betweenfrontman duties and drumming on a set solely of Van Halen scorchers. Malibu’s folk-rock messengers Dawes gave an exceptionally heavier set,combining the ghosts of Laurel Canyon with modern, guitar-drivenrock-and-roll. Ending the middle day was a jukebox of America’squintessential Southern California sound, as Brian Wilson, with Al Jardine andBlondie Chaplin, laced one Beach Boys’ gem into the next.
The final afternoonstarted with Keller Williams’ Grateful Gospel, and a spirited run that includeda definitive festival highlight: a wonderfully up-tempo take of the Dead’s“Eyes of the World,” with Stu Allen dazzling on guitar. Blues Travelerrenewed the ‘90s blues rock fire with a performance that included a conspicuousand thoughtful nod to another SoCal legend, covering Sublime’s “What IGot.” A generational counterpart to Traveler, Big Head Todd and theMonsters sang their blues, and also dipped their toes into the past, as well,on a raging run of The Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated.” Back at High Tide,Grace Potter wowed with a swirling set of roots rock, also giving BeachLife itssecond “Not Fade Away” of the weekend.
All that was left were the back-to-back Ziggy and Willie performances, and the feeling that in age of an ever increasing number of festivals happening around the world, BeachLife has the potential to become the next can’t-miss destination event. Just a few miles north of the Redondo Beach site, it was raining in Los Angeles. Yet, over this sun-kissed trio of days in early May, it was, literally and figuratively, nothing but blue skies.
