After a highly dysfunctional Beach Goth V festival presented by The Growlers and the OC Observatory, fans anticipated and hoped that issues of overcrowding and ill preparation would be addressed to keep this beloved festival alive. However, a lawsuit from the OC Observatory claiming the rights of the “Beach Goth” title squashed any hope that the Beach Goth festival would continue. So this year, The Growlers have done away with the Beach Goth name all together and changed the festival location. The Growlers Six has quite an impressive lineup, featuring The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Modest Mouse, Butthole Surfers, Dan Aeurbach, Cigarettes After Sex and many more. With the new name and change in venue, this festival was off to a hopeful start.
Nestled at the very end of the port of San Pedro is a large parking lot that’s completely taken over by The Growlers Six. The space is significantly larger than the OC Observatory and fits three stages nicely, along with some other unique attractions. The initial vibe was similar to being at the Orange County Fair — there were deep fried food and turkey legs being offered at concession stands, lemonade, plenty of alcoholic drink choices, and even a yoyo swings ride, a motorcycle attraction and other typical fair games. Large inflatable womanly dolls with skeleton heads were placed near a couple of the stages, and many festival-goers took the Halloween costume suggestion to heart.
Around 1:00 p.m., the crowd was pretty sparse, with the majority of the attendees walking around and taking in the scenery. The weather was absolutely perfect, the sea breeze keeping everyone nice and cool. Mike Watt and the Secondmen were starting their set at 1:35 p.m. over at the Someone Stage to a small but attentive crowd. A San Pedro native, Mike Watt is best known for being a founding member of the highly influential punk group the Minutemen. In their 40-minute set, they managed to work in about 20 songs due to their brevity, and the band’s ability to roll from one song right into the next one. Songs like “Sweet Honey Pie” and “Fake Contest” garnered cheers from the crowd, due to the bass solos by Watt and the intensity of the keyboard player. “Anyone out there doing our sound?” Watt directed his attention at the sound desk, half joking that no one was there, particularly when they were attempting to play softer songs. The dancing picked up a bit for “Corona,” and the crowd filtered in and out, but the older concert-goers stayed put, watching the legend with great admiration. Their band was tight, the trio of bass, drums and keys filling out their sound nicely, but the short and fast nature of the songs would get a tad repetitive. “Thank you so much for coming out to Pedro… have an open and weird mind! Thanks to the Growlers,” he addressed the crowd one final time.
At the second main stage, known as the Something Stage, Los Angeles based punk outfit The Paranoyds were getting ready to play a short 30-minute set. The charming and talented quartet entered the stage wearing dalmatian onesie costumes complete with face paint and ears. They were the first of several bands who also took the costume invitation to heart, and the crowd was not complaining! “Hi guys!” singer and bassist Staz Lindes addressed the crowd while taking a Snapchat of the audience. They opened with the slow headbanger, “Pet Cemetery,” which had the crowd banging their heads along as the guitarist and bassist swung around on stage wildly. “Bad Idea” had all three frontwomen singing together to this short punk-driven song. But their sound really filled in for the heavier, “Sleep Paralysis” with static-y garage rock sounds. “I’m not paranoid” they all sang leading up to the screeching buildup. “Thank you Kelsey for making these costumes, she just had to kill 101 dalmatians to make them,” Staz shared with the audience who laughed in response.
So far, the festival appeared to be set up for success as the stages had ample space around them to ensure no one would be boxed in or trampled, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Another all-girl group La Luz were setting up at the smaller Junior Stage, and they came out all dressed as nuns. The crowd really filled in for their set, following the ’60s garage rock sounds and doo-wop harmonies. The musicianship demonstrated in this group was truly exceptional, as the vocals, harmonies, drumming, instrumentals and guitar solos were pretty on point. They opened with “Call Me In The Day,” a slower, surf rock song with doo-wop inspired vocal backings. Frontwoman and guitarist Shana Cleveland took any opportunity to showcase her guitar skills with slow yet accurate guitar solos in just about every song, and the keyboard player followed suit. “We’re happy to by here,” Shana said shyly. As the wind picked up, the bassist’s veil flipped over her head, covering her face which induced some laughs from the audience and the band. A man dressed as a clown threw confetti and silly string in the air, which the audience did not seem to mind. “I love you!” an audience member shouted, to which the quick-witted drummer responded “the lord loves you too!” causing everyone to laugh. Closing their set with the upbeat “When You Were Mine,” had the entire audience dancing and wanting more.
Back at the Someone stage, Tinariwen were performing their guitar-centered Malian music, not in costumes but in traditional southern Sahara attire. They had a mid-sized audience who were dancing along to the world music sounds and traditional drumming. One of the backup singers was particularly animated in his dancing, garnering fans in the audience. “Sastanaqqam” had a groovy feel, as the guitar solos weaved in and out of the traditional singing. There were some sound issues during their set though, at one point some high pitched feedback totally disrupted the set for about two minutes, causing some audience members to leave, but the rest of the crowd showed their support by cheering and drowning out the annoying sound. But the group picked right up with a new song when the issue was resolved.
There was quite a crowd for one of the few hip-hop centered acts of the day, Danny Brown, and it was easy to see why. His quick rapping, beat dropping and on stage charisma had the crowd singing along and dancing, often jumping with a hand in the air. Donning a “No Backstage Passes” T-Shirt and skinny jearns, he entered the stage to Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man,” holding up a rock hand sign or devil horns, to which the crowd followed suit. He opened with the static-y “Die Like A Rock Star,” but the crowd really got moving to “Lie4,” who’s low beats and quick rapping had the audience jumping and dancing. “Smokin and Drinkin” elicited a call and response to the audience. The faster track “Ain’t It Funny,” had every jumping up and down and Brown would growl, “ain’t it!” then drop the music to the crowd’s response. During his set though, a highly inebriated man young man managed to pass the photography barricades when security wasn’t watching, actually get onto the stage, and attempted to jump into the crowd but hit the barricades, injuring himself pretty badly. It was pretty alarming, and if security had been more attentive he never would’ve gotten to the stage. He was out for a couple songs as Brown kept performing, but the first aid team were quick to respond and wheel him away. Although his face was pretty bloody, the man held up devil horns as they wheeled him off, eliciting cheers from the audience and some assurance that he would be okay.
Meanwhile at the Junior Stage, Guided By Voices were performing to a medium-sized crowd. The crowd nodded along to the rock sounds of “I Am A Scientist.” While most the audience was hanging back or heading to catch Cigarettes After Sex, the front of the audience were having a rockin’ time. “5 Degrees On The Inside” had the center audience moving around to the droning guitars.
Cigarettes After Sex had quite a large audience for the softest set of the day, before most of the concert-goers left to see Modest Mouse. But those who stayed were treated to a stunning, heart wrenching performance as they performed while the sun was setting and into the darkness. “How you guys doing? We’re Cigarettes After Sex,” singer Greg Gonzalez addressed the crowd in his surprisingly low voice, before opening with the appropriate “Sunsetz.” They kept the lights very simple, donning all back and using only slow white lights. The audience swayed, couples held each other, and some closed their eyes entirely, just feeling the music and lyrics. The audience sang along to their rendition of “Keep On Loving You.” Gonzalez introduced the next song by sharing, “This next song is about getting really drunk and being mean to someone you love,” before going into the dreamy “Affection.” The crowd was pretty paired down at this point, but the outside chatter dissipated as they played their most popular song, “Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby,” as they watched intently. They closed their set with “Dreaming of You,” and the crowd stayed and swayed one last time.
Back at the Junior stage, former Dirty Projections member Amber Coffman was performing to the smallest audience of the day, as most were still catching Modest Mouse. She performed songs from her latest solo album, City of No Reply. She opened the set with “All To Myself,” a soulful song with rich harmonies, demonstrating her strong vocal abilities. Although the crowd was small, their cheers resonated like a full-sized audience. “This is our first U.S. show ever. It’s pretty awesome.” Coffman shared. The upbeat “No Coffee,” had the small crowd nodding along to the song, but “City of No Reply” garnered the most amount of cheers from the audience. “Thanks to The Growlers and to this awesome band who I met just a month ago,” Coffman shared her gratitude to her new band, who were pretty tight considering. Perhaps one of the most stunning moments of the day was Coffman singing “If You Want My Heart.” Even though the song had a rocky start, when they locked into the the hip-hop inspired soft beat, Coffman’s vocals really shined through and it was absolutely stunning.
The most energizing set of the day was the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s performance at the Something stage. Karen O has such a commanding stage presence, causing the audience to watch intently as to not miss a move. She played with the mic cord, blew water or beer at the crowd or above her head and took the opportunity to engage the crowd whenever possible. She opened with “Rich,” growling with the mic fully in her mouth and blowing water at the crowd. “Hello Growlers Six!” she addressed the cheering audience. “It’s been four years since we put out Fever to Tell… and we’ve still gotta lotta fever to tell,” Karen O shared, before diving into another song off the album, “Cold Light,” which had the center crowd jumping up and down. Though this was a heavy song, it didn’t fully carry over in the sound, as the guitar was a few notches too soft and remained that way for the entirety of the set. But that didn’t seem to deter the crowd from singing along and jumping around.
During “Black Tongue,” Karen O swung around the mic and never stopped moving, emphasizing “yeah yeah yeah” in the song. She was wearing silver pants with “Karen O” on the bottom, bringing to mind the Juicy Couture era. She put on a studded punk leather jacket for “Zero,” pointing to it for the “get your leather on” lyrics, and pointing upward during “higher,” causing the crowd to jump up and down. The crowd really went nuts for “Pin,” shaking their heads and jumping around for the heavy chorus. Karen O took a moment to introduce keyboardist and guitarist Imaad Wasif, sharing that his birthday was just yesterday and having the crowd join in on wishing him a happy birthday before he joined on acoustic guitar for “Sacrilege.” “Run Away,” was the softest song of their set and induced chills from the crowd before going into “Soft Shock.” Karen O dedicated “Maps” to “someone you love… and to all the lovers in the audience!” Just about everyone sang along to probably their most popular song. During “Cheated Hearts,” she came into the audience with the mic, going down the front row and giving everyone a chance to sing “ooh ooh ooh,” which was heartwarming, and made several audience-goers nights. The crowd went wild for “Heads Will Roll,” her second to final song. She shared “it’s been four years since we’ve done a show!” clearly energized by the performance before closing the set with “Date With The Night.”
The Growlers closed the night over at the Someone Stage, and true fans stayed behind to watch their full hour and twenty minute set. They too were donning costumes — skeleton faces with galaxy patterned onesies. They launched their set with a visual countdown of a rocket liftoff. They opened the set with the energetic, “Drinkin’ The Juice Blues.” The crowd really started moving to “Night Ride,” many of the audience members singing along to the song with every lyric memorized. Frontman Brooks Nielsen moved about the stage, unencumbered by an instrument and his raspy vocals unfaltering. “City Club” and “One Million Lovers” also had the crowd singing along, in the mood for lyrical love songs. Perhaps the most unexpected of their performance was a mashup of William Onyeabor’ s “Good Name” with The Growler’s own “Rubber and Bone,” before closing the set and asking the audience to “turn away.”
And with day one complete, the remaining crowd embarked on their journey to their car/lyft or god help them, the bus. It was a good half mile or so just to the parking area, but a night of energizing music certainly made the trek easier. Sunday brings another stacked lineup including Butthole Surfers, Julian Casablancas and the Voidz, The B-52’s and more!
File Photo: Marv Watson
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