BeachLife Festival, Redondo Beach, CA

Along the shimmering shores of Redondo Beach, 2024’s BeachLife Festival captivated a massive audience for a weekend of music and art under the Southern California sun. Friday and Saturday headliners, Sting and Incubus captivated an audience of thousands. Sunday was cut short due to strong winds so Sunday’s headliner, My Morning Jacket, had their set cut from the weekend, but even without the festival’s third headliner, the weekend proved to be highly enjoyable and successful.

One of the more exciting sets of the weekend was Florida’s Surfer Blood, whose t-shirts are clearly inspired by Black Flag, but their lead singer dresses like Brian Wilson. They’re a perfect blend of classic surf music and modern indie and surf punk bands like Summer Salt and the Tijuana Panthers. The punks were unplugged for this year’s BeachLife and took things slower with acoustic sets from Warren Fitzgerald (The Vandals), Scott Reynolds (ALL), Jen Pop (The Bombpops) and Kevin Seconds (7 Seconds). Grillo’s Pickles sponsored the “Speakeasy” stage, where all of these artists performed, at the festival which was tucked away in the corner of the venue, just next to the Punk Rock and Paintbrushes pop up gallery.

Scott Reynolds opened his set with a bouncy, upbeat acoustic version of The Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop” and then quipped, “I wrote that song for The Clash.” It’s fascinating to see artists removed from their traditional musical setting as well as to see how well they fit into different settings. During his set, Warren Fitzgerald added, “There’s nothing more punk than being really happy when everyone else is pissed off.”

Lee Ving of Fear made a special appearance during Chevy Metal’s set. He joined the band on stage to play harmonica on Black Sabbath’s “The Wizard,” to sing his own “Beef Bologna,” and to sing Van Halen’s “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love.” It seemed that the majority of the people in the crowd had no idea what was going on when Lee Ving stepped on stage, but the small fraction of people who got it, really got it.

Immediately after Chevy Metal closed off their set with Van Halen’s “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,” The Last took the stage and they couldn’t stop talkin’ about love. Their set was full of classic punchy tunes of love, lies, and rock and roll. DEVO’s long-awaited and highly anticipated set exceeded all expectations. Seeing DEVO perform live isn’t just a musical experience but a theatrical experience as well. They are by far one of the most fascinating bands to watch perform live because of their quirky behavior and distinctive outfits, combined with their choreographed movements on stage are nothing short of captivating.

Despite the unforeseen disruption of Sunday’s programming, BeachLife remained an extremely memorable weekend. From the electrifying performances of headliners Sting and Incubus to the intimate acoustic sets by punk luminaries, each part of the festival contributed to its multifaceted appeal. Punk music and its cultural importance to beach towns, surf culture, and skate culture in Southern California was impressively well represented at the festival. The 2024 BeachLife Festival was not only a celebration of music and art, but also an event of respect for the geographical and cultural impact of Southern California on the music that it has produced.