With classic rockers, reggae stars, alt-music bands and some of the best chefs in the area, the BeachLife Festival is riding the waves of nostalgia as it once again hits the sand this weekend.
The three-day festival, which celebrates beach culture, art, food and obviously music, returns to Redondo Beach’s Seaside Lagoon May 3-5 with a lineup of more than 40 acts on four stages including headliners Sting, Incubus and My Morning Jacket as well as new wave stars Devo, classic rockers ZZ Top and British crooner Seal. The locals are coming too with Orange County’s Local Natives, Dirty Heads and Sugar Ray on the lineup. Besides the music, the festival’s DAOU SideStage, a high end pop-up restaurant on the side of the stage, returns again.
For festival founder Allen Sanford, this year’s lineup is extra special because he finally got one of the artists he has been after for years.
“I’m excited about all the artists but getting Sting on the lineup is just next level for me, talk about an icon,” said Sanford, who co-founded the festival in 2019.
“I’ve always told people we’re in the business of nostalgia and that’s the drug we sell. As far as BeachLife goes, I’ve been trying to get Sting for five years, so that’s going to be a special night,” he said.
But it’s not going to be the only special night.
Here’s a breakdown of the festival, from day by day vibes, to changes coming to the pop-up restaurant to the addition of DJs to its always popular acoustic stage.
BeachLife days
Day one opens with Sting as the headliner, which was a tough get for Sanford.
“In this case I was trying for so long, I had got so many ‘nos’. I asked a ton of times and got ‘no no no.’ And serendipitously he had an opening in his calendar and it just came together,” he said.
And it will be a very special performance because according to BeachLife officials, Sting’s headlining set is going to be his first SoCal festival appearance in more than 20 years. Sting will be joined on day one by Seal, Dirty Heads, Donavon Frankenreiter & G. Love and others. It’ll be a day that Sanford said will set the tone for the weekend.
“I think the juxtaposition of Dirty Heads and Sting is really defining of what BeachLife is,” Sanford said. “Everybody knows there’s a reggae component to Sting. The older generation loves Sting but then we got the younger generation and the beachy surfing generation that loves reggae, it’s the perfect marriage,” he said.
Saturday meanwhile is headlined by Incubus with Devo also on the lineup.
“It’s a day of hits. It’s a lot of recognizable music and Saturday is that fun hang day. It is definitely about the music but it is more about the culture and the community,” he said.
Sunday is the day for the hardcore music aficionados thanks to bands like ZZ Top, My Morning Jacket, Trey Anastasio, the guitarist and singer-songwriter of the rock band Phish, as well as Latin acts like Tito Puente Jr. and Guatemalan-born singer Gabby Moreno will be on stage.
“We decided to go in a new musical direction this year. It’s not top 40 hits, it’s very musically advanced,” Sanford said, referring to the Sunday lineup.
DJ sets
BeachLife also threw a curveball to fans this year with the first time addition of a couple of DJs on its smaller Speakeasy Stage. But it’s not just any pair of DJs, it’s Mix Master Mike of the Beastie Boys who performs Friday and Paul Oakenfold on Saturday.
‘We’re always trying to do new stuff. People have been talking about the fact that we should have DJs for years,” Sanford said. “We thought it would be cool to have something going on later at night that’s just out of our wheelhouse. So we decided to do some Djs. We thought it would be a cool thing to try out,” he said.
New restaurant view
One of the things that separates BeachLife from most festivals is its pop-up restaurant dubbed the DAOU SideStage Experience, a high end pop-up restaurant that’s usually on the side on the main stage where each day a celebrity chef serves a multicourse meal as bands perform on stage.
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The chef lineup this year is made up of Ian Gresik of The Arbour in Pasadena on Friday, Chef Nyesha Arrington, who competed on “Top Chef” and was a judge on “Next Level Chef,” on Saturday, and Chef David Slay of Slay Steakhouse on Sunday.
This year however it’s moving the main stage to the Lowtide Stage, which is right on the sand facing the ocean.
It was all for the view.
“We have this beautiful ocean and wouldn’t it be cool that in addition to being on the side of the stage you’re watching a sunset,” Sanford said.
