Ohana Festival in Southern California was founded by Pearl Jam’s lead singer, Eddie Vedder who wanted to create a festival with a heavy focus on environmentalism and the arts. The main pull for the festival might be the musical acts such as past headliners including The Killers, Stevie Nicks, with at least one headlining slot for either Pearl Jam or Eddie Vedder, the Ohana Festival attempts to bring awareness surrounding the ocean and environment with panels led by activists, professional surfers, researchers, and others hoping to make a difference in the world. 

Taking place at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, California, the 2024 Ohana Festival promises plenty of amazing music, chill vibes, and the most gorgeous backdrop of any music festival. The first day of the fest includes sets from Crowded House, Maren Morris, Devo, and Pearl Jam closing out the night. 

The layout of the festival is convenient for anyone wanting to catch every single artist with only two stages right next to each other that alternate acts so once one band finishes, the next one begins on the stage a few steps over. There are also plenty of places to sit if you brought a blanket or beach towel, there are bleachers to sit and watch performances from the back, and there are screens everywhere around the festival grounds broadcasting each set so you will never miss any of the action. 

If Ohana Festival was striving to create the most efficient, most relaxing, and most environmentally-friendly festival possible, they have this competition in the bag. From having separate waste containers for recyclables, compost, and landfill items, to only selling canned or reusable water bottles, the Ohana Festival is taking charge to demonstrate what a music festival could, and more importantly, should look like. 

Linka Moja

The first act on the Ohana stage on Friday was Linka Moja. She is a singer/songwriter whose talents were discovered one year during Kelly Slater’s surf camp. Linka and her band played a few originals and a handful of covers including Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So,” Harry Styles’ “Kiwi,” and “Where Is My Mind?” by the Pixies. It was a very easy, indie rock set to start the early afternoon with tons of acoustic-driven tunes. 

Pillow Queens

On the Tiki stage just a few feet over was the Irish indie-rock band, Pillow Queens. The all-woman group were incredibly slick with buttery-toned guitars and driving bass prominent in each song. They had an early 2000s vibe to them similar to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs or even the Cocteau Twins. The lead singer was very cheeky and made plenty of jokes about the weather and how performing at the Ohana Festival felt like a cult but one she would gladly join. 

Jaime Wyatt 

Back on the Ohana Stage was the Americana/country artist Jaime Wyatt. She grew up in the natural part of Washington as Wyatt described her parents to be “hippies.” This lifestyle definitely helped shape her taste in music and the songs that she writes today. The music during her set had an outlaw-style twang to it, essentially sounding like the soundtrack one would hear as they ride off on a horse into the sunset after a day of playing poker with a bunch of bandits in a saloon. Wyatt has a powerful and distinct voice, and her backing band added plenty of punch to her narrative-styled songs. 

Ryan Beatty 

A personal favorite set for the day was from American singer/songwriter Ryan Beatty. Beatty has worked with a handful of artists including Tyler, the Creator and Brockhampton, but as of recent, he has songwriting credits on Beyoncé’s newest album Cowboy Carter. Sitting on a stool in the middle of the stage, Ryan performed a gorgeous set playing a handful of cuts from his magical 2023 record, Calico such as “Bruises Off the Peach,” “Andromeda” and “Ribbons.” This was a rather raw and intimate set with only guitars, keys and Ryan’s vocals, with the occasional clarinet. But even without any drums, the songwriting and lyrics are where Ryan’s music packs the toughest punch like “I’m not your brother, I can’t take care of you, I’ve purchased furniture in place of you.” Beatty is an artist who unequivocally wears his heart on his sleeve which results in such moving and lush sounding tunes anyone can get lost in. 

Dogstar

At this time during the festival, the crowd started getting noticeably bigger, especially for Dogstar’s set at the main stage. Dogstar formed in 1991, is a trio that consists of Bret Domrose (vocals, guitar), Robert Mailhouse (drums), and Keanu Reeves (bass). Yes, that Keanu Reeves. Whether or not people were genuine fans of the music or simply wanted to watch Keanu shred on the bass, having Dogstar on the lineup this year was a good call. They are a pretty straightforward rock band that have some resemblance to U2’s sound. They played a majority of songs from their latest project, Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees. This was a fun set especially discovering that Keanu Reeves is a pick-playing bassist. 

flipturn

Switching back over to the Tiki stage was indie-rock group from Florida, flipturn. This was one of the grooviest and upbeat sets of the entire day. flipturn are known for their infectious, summery, indie-rock tunes, and they showed up for this Ohana Festival set. They definitely seemed like a group that appealed to the younger audience at the festival a bit more with their colorful, youthful energy, but the sparkly guitars and extremely tight drumming for sure turned heads even amongst the older crowd. The band played a handful of newer songs from their upcoming new album slated to be released early next year including “Burnout Days” and “Rodeo Clown.” 

Crowded House

The Australian 80s band, Crowded House was up next and proved that they are still just as great as when they first started. The vocals were pristine, the harmonies were magical, and the backing instrumentation for every song had plenty of umph that some of the recordings did not have. It was apparent that the band was having a ton of fun performing as they kicked beach balls back into the crowd and danced around on stage. Of course they played their hits such as “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and “Something So Strong,” but this being Eddie Vedder’s festival, he had to come out and sing a couple tracks. Vedder and Crowded House performed a cover of “Throw Your Arms Around Me” by Hunters & Collectors and “I Got You” by Split Enz. The crowd enjoyed seeing this collaboration happen and made people even more excited about seeing Pearl Jam later. 

Maren Morris 

Closing out the Tiki stage was country-rooted singer/songwriter, Maren Morris. Born and raised in Texas, Morris has a twang in her voice that is undeniable no matter how much she tries to capture a pop or R&B sound in her music. Morris had some of the strongest vocals of the entire day, making it look extremely easy to belt and hit every single note perfectly. Her backing band was also very impressive with tons of energy and heightened each track to its fullest potential. Highlights from the set included a cover of Generation X’s “Dancing With Myself,” “The Bones” and her massive hit with producer Zedd, “The Middle.” 

Devo

Probably the most eccentric and electrifying set of the day goes to 70s new-wave pioneers, Devo. They had the sunset time slot which was perfect for their synth-heavy and upbeat tunes. The first song of the set was “Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man)” which got the crowd moving. As the set went on, the antics got weirder with more spunk with punchy drums, retro synths, and Mark Mothersbaugh’s unmistakable vocals. Even for the younger people in the crowd, you could see them getting into their music. And it’s easy to see why with such recognizable tracks like “Whip It” and “Uncontrollable Urge.” As expected, Devo honored the famous red pyramid hats by wearing them during “Girl You Want.” Mark also got some crowd participation with the call and response during “Q: Are We Not Met? A: We Are Devo!” Probably the most impressive part of watching Devo is that the core members are well into their 70s and are still rocking out with youthful exuberance. If there’s one thing about Devo that is more relevant than ever these days, it’s that people should embrace the strange and shouldn’t be afraid of looking weird. If anyone looks at you funny, that just means that you made a lasting impression. 

Pearl Jam

Finally, it was the band basically everyone at the festival was waiting for, Pearl Jam. The Eddie Vedder-led rock band from Seattle is slated to play two sets during the 2024 Ohana Festival, one on Friday night, and another on Sunday. So it will be interesting to see how each set differs or mirrors each other. As for Friday’s set, the band played a ton of hits from their endless discography, a couple of deep cuts, and a cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” towards the end of the night. 

Since the Ohana Festival was founded by Vedder, each time he has the chance to perform on stage feels like a victory lap. A lot of the magic comes from the artists who play music each day of the festival, but a good amount of the magic comes from the people that attend the festival, and Vedder recognized this sentiment often during the set. 

There were a few times when an audience member needed assistance, so the surrounding people would shine their phone lights to signal for help. Each time Vedder saw this in the crowd, he professionally and calmly directed for help to come to them, and applauded the way each party communicated with each other. Pointing out the beauty of playing a festival right on the beach, Vedder described a balance between the artists and the fans, the crowd and the nature of the ocean, there is some kind of balance that helps keep each piece in check. 

From an instrumentation standpoint, this idea of balance was also prominent throughout Pearl Jam’s set. There was a balance of huge, singalong songs like “Even Flow” and “Alive,” but there were also tracks the band hadn’t played in ages like “Whale Song” and “Amongst the Waves.” Each song was played with such conviction and urgency. Vedder’s vocals were superb, the guitar solos were endless, and overall energy of the band was unmatched. With a set lasting for two hours, it’s wild to think that the band barely even scratched the surface with all the songs they could possibly play for Sunday’s set. 

As much rock music the band was playing tonight, the most rock ‘n’ roll thing Vedder did was vocally support the LGBTQ+ community, emphasize the right for a woman to choose what she does with her body, and that there should be stricter gun regulations in Orange County, the most conservative part of Southern California. And that’s truly what rock music is all about: pushing back and making your voice heard no matter who’s at the show. 

Pearl Jam Setlist:

1. Low Light
2. 2. Sometimes
3. 3. Corduroy
4. Got Some
5. Scared of Fear
6. Dark Matter
7. Daughter
8. Even Flow
9. Wreckage
10. Who Ever Said
11. Amongst the Waves
12. Waiting for Stevie
13. Habit (with Liam Finn)
14. Leaving Here (Eddie Holland cover)
15. Porch
16. Future Days (Eddie, acoustic)
17. Whale Song (with Zach Irons)
18. Do the Evolution
19. Alive
20. Rockin’ in the Free World (Neil Young cover)
21. Yellow Ledbetter

Photo Credit: Stephen Hoffmeister