WORDS AND IMAGES: CHRIS LOOMIS | The 5th annual BeachLife Festival took over Redondo Beach for a three day celebration of music, art, and beach life culture. The 2024 edition of BeachLife included headlining sets from Sting and Incubus as well as performances from Seal, ZZ Top, Devo, Dirty Heads and many more. BeachLife curates its performances with an eclectic grouping of artists who span everything from rock to indie pop, country, new wave, punk, reggae and everything in between which makes for one of the premier festivals in the state of California.
Set up with four stages strategically placed throughout the festival grounds, the Hightide and Lowtide stages cater to the larger well-known acts, the Speakeasy stage allows for intimate acoustic performances from punk legends and indie artists while the Riptide stage mixes established artists and up and coming acts. What makes BeachLife standout amongst festivals is the Hightide and Lowtide stages NEVER overlap performances, and each artist gets a full 60 minutes on stage so you don’t have to make those tough decisions on what artists to watch and which to miss.
In addition to bringing top live musical acts to fans, the festival gives back to the community by partnering with nonprofit organizations in the area as well as offering multiple levels of VIP options, special culinary choices while dining side stage, galleries with art created by members of the music community, beautiful SoCal beach scenery, games, shopping and the opportunity to say “I was there” . . . what’s better than music on the beach.
While the weather was partly sunny and mild on Friday and overcast on Saturday, Sunday was plagued with high winds which ultimately forced the festival to shut down early (about 5:30PM) as dangerous wind gusts kicked up forcing Fleet Foxes, Trey Anastasio, and Sunday’s headliners My Morning Jacket to not play their respective sets—an unfortunate situation for paying fans and the bands, but safety first always wins.
BeachLife kicked off Friday at 2:00PM with the laid-back reggae/rock sounds of The Samples, but the vibe quickly went from chill to high energy when Seal hit the Hightide stage and jumped down into the crowd midway through his set. Also, Dirty Heads closed the Lowtide stage on the beach to a totally amped up and rowdy crowd. Day one concluded with a 90-minute set by Sting in front of about 10,000 people as he took us all through his time machine of solo classics, coupled with several hits from The Police.
Saturday is always the most crowded and jam-packed day of the three and this year was no different. The ultimate rock ‘n’ roll cover band Chevy Metal played early in the day and jammed covers by Van Halen, Rolling Stones, Thin Lizzy and more. The late Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters was once their drummer, but after his passing his 16-year-old son Shane has taken over the drum throne in fine fashion. Punk rock legend Lee Ving joined Chevy Metal onstage to jam some Black Sabbath and Van Halen.
Other highlights on Saturday included reggae rockers Pepper and Steel Pulse as well as new-wave pioneers Devo closing out the Lowtide stage to a capacity crowd. After the sun set, Incubus took the stage and Brandon Boyd and band played a thumping set of mid-tempo rockers that had the crowd totally engaged for their 90 minutes on stage.
Sunday brought the last day of the festival as well as high winds. Sugar Ray once again made an appearance on stage, making this their fifth straight BeachLife Festival and the only artists to appear for all 5 years. Female rockers were well represented by sets from Margo Price and Courtney Barnett. With Trey Anastasio and My Morning Jacket’s sets being canceled, ZZ Top had the honor of closing the festival with a killer set of Texas-fried classics such as “Sharp Dressed Man,” “La Grange,” and “Legs.”
Another year and another successful BeachLife Festival—SoCal music fans eagerly await the 2025 BeachLife Festival lineup announcement as it seems to get better and bigger every year.
