BEACHLIFE FESTIVAL 2021 IN REVIEW BY DILLY BRIGS

 As an advid music lover, attending the BeachLife Festival held the weekend of September 10th – 12th in Beautiful Redondo Beach California, I, along with a sea of many, experienced one of the most magical musical events put on in 2021.

The unbelievable line up of talented Musicians performing at BeachLife, ranged from some of the hottest acts on the charts today, to the nightly closing sounds of serious legends.

      Walking into the BeachLife festival on the first day to see these bands play, was like walking into another world. A musical world, where the feel of anticipation in the air was as thick as the crowd packing in at the various stages during varies set performances. The bands had the audience in heightened excitement, as they shredded or wailed their favorite and most popular tracks for all. By the time we got to Cage The Elephant's performance that evening, you can feel the overture of joy throughout the event. Cage The Elephant lit the stage up with a high-octane energetic performance.  Their stage presence was electrical, and you could feel their electric current charging up the audience for the closing act with JANE’S ADDICTION.

 Once JANE’S ADDICTION came on at HIGHTIDE STAGE, the audience was in full festival swing and ready to sing with their favorite closing band. As soon as the lights came on and we saw JANE’S members appear, the crowd went into a frenzy. The squeals and screams that came from in the audience, was loud and proud. JANE’S ADDICTION did no less than feed our hunger for hard musical entertainment and had many panting for more. I believe the wired, swinging by body parts closing performers, did the trick.         

 If you thought opening night of BeachLife festival was amazing, day two upped the ante with performances not only from hot rages (Fitz and the Tantrums) but serious legends and favorite bands many of us grew up with… Such as Sugar Ray, English Beat, Jim Lindberg (Pennywise) Men At Work and so much more.

   Getting to see so many iconic musicians such as Sugar Ray, Men At Work, English Beat etc, was like a musical daydream happening in realtime…and their familiar songs brought memories to life! Now mix them in with hotness bands as The Aquadolls, Joker’s Hand, The Mother’s Hips and Fitz And The Tantrums…smoking! And wow, Fitz And The Tantrums gave a performance like no other. They had the crowd dancing on sand like the sand needed a pounding. Their iridescent waves of furious energy were enticement for the crowd to let go of inhibitions and dance wildly amongst the fury of sound and sand. There was no holding back by the time they ended their hyping and COUNTING CROWS came on for closing.

      When COUNTING CROWS took HIGHTIDE STAGE for the night’s ending, it was like an oasis of people being brought together as one, to enjoy the commonality of musical camaraderie that only a band as COUNTING CROWS can bring. As far as the eye could see, every fan at BeachLife Festival, packed in as sardines, though still many wearing masks and using sanitzer, was singing in harmony with the band and waving their arms in unison motion to the acknowledgment of their beloved COUNTING CROWS music.

It is a magical music memory sketched in time for so many…including myself.

Being able to attend Friday and Saturday was phenomenal, but Sunday’s performers at BeachLife Festival were also brilliant and gave a change of pace with hypnotic classics from Portugal The Man, that had everyone singing and moving…to known sexy reggae infusions of hip swaying sounds with performers such as Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals, to the unforgettable closing performance of Ziggy and Stephen Marley, Songs of Bob Marley, who had the audience moving like the ocean itself in unison waves of musical enjoyment. Ziggy Marley also gave a surprise guest performance with Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals.

     T his year’s much needed BeachLife Festival 2021 brought people together from all walks of life, proving once again, that music truly is a universal language that all can enjoy and relate to.

As both a fan and reviewer, I am grateful for the experience of BeachLife Festival 2021 and I look forward to attending the following years to come.

Dilly studied and earned her children's writing degree from the prestigious Institute of Children's Literature, in West Redding Connecticut. She has two childrens books on Amazon that you can purchase now!!  You can currently find her hosting The Dilly News Rock Show on KaoticRadio.com during the weekends at KaoticRadio.com . You can also of course find her on all social media outlets.