Live Report: Beachlife Festival 2024 (Day 1)

b.liebman

May 4

Back at the beach. After two previous years of covering Redondo Beach's Beachlife Festival, I consider the fest my Happy Place; a wonderfully curated line-up of talented artists playing in a cool, comfortable setting by the beach. I've always looked forward to it, but this year my excitement was extra high due to the phenomenal line-up the fest put together.

As I've mentioned in the past, there's a lot that sets Beachlife apart from other festivals, the first being of course the setting. With the ocean steps away and palm trees swaying above the stages, the atmosphere is key to the wonderful vibe the fest provides. The areas in front of the main stages are sand or "grass", so far nicer to sit on than burning hot pavement. The second best thing about Beachlife is the line-ups. While so many festivals across the states are homogeneous in their line-ups, Beachlife always have an eclectic selection of artists that have a wider generational appeal than Coachella.

Before I get into the goodness of the music, I do have a pointed criticism of Beachlife 2024. This year, the fest seems to have decided to improve the benefits of purchasing a VIP pass, at the expense of the GA ticket holders. In previous years, GA had access to being right up front at the stages - not so anymore. The front of the stages have now been designated VIP area, adding an extra 10-15 feet of no-go zone between the stages and GA ticket holders. The fest also seems to have gotten rid of the extra bathroom section near the Speakeasy Stage for GA ticket holders, making the venues bathrooms there only for VIP. This increasing bougie behavior does not bode well for those who can't spend the extra money for VIP tickets and the experience they have at the fest. I would strongly recommend that the organizers reconsider these changes and return Beachlife to its egalitarian roots.

Now that's out of the way, I can focus on what's most important: the music! The day started with Colorado's The Samples. These 90's independent music survivors were a new discovery for me, but I could instantly tell they were vets. The musicianship on display as the band played their mix of folk rock and reggae was impressive (one fest goer commented to me on the bassist's incredible playing). Songs like "Nature" fit in beautifully with the setting, and showed why a major label came calling for them back in the day.

I didn't stay for the whole set as I had to make sure I was front row for Bedouin Soundclash. Anyone who follows The Indy Review should be well-aware by now my fandom for the Canadian trio (Mass was my top album of 2019). I was joined front row by some fellow die-hard fans of the band, a few who traveled down from Victoria to see them. The band kicked things off with their dubby "Until We Burn in the Sun" from Street Gospels. Their set drew heavily from this album and 2010's Light the Horizon. "Mountain Top" was a shout-along sing-a-long, and the calypso-ska of "St. Andrew" and "Walls Fall Down" sounded great in the sunny weather.

While I had personally requested "Salt Water" on Instagram, and had gotten a response that they might play it (!!!), unfortunately they decided to keep "Clockwork" as the only live selection from Mass. Credit to the band for bringing in another request from a recently married couple in the crowd, "12:59 Lullaby", and sending them some congrats. When frontman Jay Malinowski brought on his son and two other young girls to join the band on "When the Night Feels My Song", I thought the set may be ending without any of my recent favorite tracks from the group, but to my great pleasure they then played "Walk Through Fire" from 2022's We Will Meet in a Hurricane. Though Aimee Interrupter was not around for her part of song, the track still sounded great and was great set ender.

After grabbing some food, I made my way over to see G. Love and Donavon Frankenreiter's collaboration set. Both artists are Beachlife alumni (Frankenreiter is one of the organizers of the fest, as we discussed in our interview last year). The bluesy set with Chuck Treece was perfect for any jam band fan and lover of freewheeling solos. G. Love always provides great vibes on stage, generating a part with tracks like "Cold Beverages" and digging out the Jack Johnson cover "Rodeo Clowns". The collaborative atmosphere continued with Ron Artis II coming out to join them for a ferocious guitar-a-thon. I won't be surprised if all these artists return next year, since the love for them from the audience was huge.

Dallas Green's City and Colour were another Canadian export playing the fest for the first time, and I was excited to finally see them (I missed their Wiltern show last year). Dressed in Woodstock-chic, Green started things off saying "Let's get emotional", making light of the fact that his songs are...quite melancholic, to say the least. Green has a voice like silky butter - absolutely beautiful and devastating, so I'm sure he knew he had to find a balance between heart-wrenchers like opener "Meant to Be" and some of his more rocking material. "Runaway" had a classic rock flare to it, and "We Found Each Other in the Dark" retained its power live. Part-way into the set, Green got annoyed at a security guard attempting to expel a friend of Green's from the photo pit. The guard seemed oblivious to his call-out, annoying Green more, but he didn't let it interrupt the set. The band played a gorgeous cover of Alice in Chain's "Nutshell" before returning to originals like "Lover Come Back" and "Hello, I'm in Delaware". As he finished with "Bow Down to Love", I made my way back to the main stage for Seal.

Like most millennials, my knowledge of Seal is "Kiss From a Rose" and that he's the former Mr. Heidi Klum. I didn't know what to expect but was very curious what has made this man a music icon for over three decades. Spoiler Alert: I would find out.

Seal started his set with a cover of T. Rex's "20th Century Boy", which was not a song I would have associated with him, but got things off to a rocking start. The artist soon made it clear that the hour set time felt hampering to him, as he wanted to make a real connection with the audience, and tell stories between songs. I wasn't familiar with his next three songs ("The Beginning", "Deep Water" and "Future Love Paradise") but they did fit in with the sort-of pop, sort-of club, sort of adult-contemporary style I imagined Seal's songs would sound like. Seal then began a long story about his influences, leading into a cover of Prefab Sprout's "Bonny", a song (and artist) I had never heard of, but found myself enjoying quite a bit. He then launched into a spirited "Bring it On" that got the audience participating. There was a build-up for his next song, going back to his recording of some layered vocal melodies that he tossed away, which a friend later shared with his manager, who would later recommend the song to Joel Schumacher for the Batman Forever soundtrack, leading to "Kiss From a Rose" becoming the massive song it became. Seal played a powerful, elongated version of the song.

You might think this was a song he would close with, but Seal was just getting started. He then did something I have not seen an artist do at Beachlife Festival - he waded into the crowd. And not just the front - he went DEEP into the crowd, singing Adamski's "Killer". It was here I realized all his talk of wanting to connect with audiences was not just stage-talk. He was clasping hands with fest-goers and making the experience for them just as memorable as for himself. When he played "Crazy", I realized I actually knew two of his songs (I remembered this song but had never known who sang it). He closed his set with a moving "Love's Divine", slowly singing his way back to the stage and saying his farewells. As he left, everyone in my vicinity couldn't stop gushing over his performance.

Throughout Seal's set, I slowly moved my way closer and closer to the stage so I would have a great viewing spot for Sting. With no disrespect for The Dirty Heads, I was willing to miss seeing their set in-person to have a great view of The Police frontman. And man what a great set. He opened with "Message in a Bottle" at the top, which got the thrilled reaction you would expect.

"An Englishman in New York" was not a track I had ever really been a fan of, but in the live setting, with the audience singing along, it took on a new resonance for me. "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" and "Can't Stand Losing You" had the crowd dancing and singing along as passionately as you would expect. As did "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You". Sting seemed to be enjoying himself, bringing a playful energy to the stage as he kicked a beach ball that made its way on stage, or interacted with his band for their final performance as a unit.

As he told the story of the castle he and Trudy purchased near Stone Henge, he told the audience to drop in and join them for tea if they are in the area, before gushing about the fields of barley around his home looking like (you guessed it), "Fields of Gold". The next bit of the set was probably the weakest for me, only because they were songs I was not as familiar with; "Brand New Day" (which I didn't realize Stevie Wonder played on), "Heavy Rain No Clouds" (which his back-up singer joined him on with her powerhouse vocals) and "Shape of My Heart" (which his other back-up singer joined in on).

The rest of the set was hit after hit; "Walking on the Moon"'s reggae vibes, a fiery "So Lonely" with a break into Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry", the Middle Eastern-flavored "Desert Rose" (a song that has grown on me over the years), and "King of Pain" (joined on by Sting's son Joe Sumner). He closed out with his former band's most massive hits; "Roxanne" and "Every Breath You Take", which has never sounded so rousing or anthemic as it did that night.

Day 1 was over. I was tired, but plenty happy. Onto Day 2! Checkout @TheIndyReview on Instagram and TikTok for more photos and videos from the day!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DZ06evO0sWQWQ?si=4bf9866cc052494a