The Pretenders (Courtesy of BeachLife Festival)
The BeachLife Fest, located on Redondo Beach, CA has, over time, become one of the better mid-size festivals in the SoCal area. Each year, the line up throws up a fun mix of ticket-shifting headliners, big name thrillers, and newbies that often sit on the reggae/ska/punk blurred line. That's the vibe. Fun in the sun. Drinks on the sand while watching great music. What's not to love about that?
The headliners this year were Lenny Kravitz (Friday), Sublime (Saturday) and Alanis Morissette (Sunday). Other big names performing included Train, The Beach Boys, Jackson Browne, The Struts, and Marcus King.
We were there on the Saturday, specifically to see Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles perform a solo set, and The Pretenders.
We arrived early enough to catch some of Sublime spinoff group the Long Beach Dub Allstars, who proved predictably perfect for this fest with their punky ska. Later, Skip Marley performed a mixture of his own material and his grandpa's. Both sounded great, although it's tough to beat "Jamming." We also caught Cake's set, another band made for Beachlife. We would have liked them to play their cover of "I Will Survive," but you can't have everything. "The Distance" got the crowd singing.
Perhaps wisely, Susanna Hoffs performed a set that leaned heavily on her work with The Bangles. We would have liked to hear more of her solo stuff, but a festival requires a set of crowd faves -- singalongs for the masses.
So we get "Hazy Shade of Winter," "Hero Takes a Fall," "In Your Room," "If She Knew What She Wants," and "Walking Down Your Street."
The covers of Big Star's "September Gurls" and The Everley Brothers' "Love Hurts" are gorgeous, and the big hits--"Manic Monday," "Walk Like an Egyptian" and "Eternal Flame"--are magnificent.
Throughout, Hoffs looked delighted to be there, and she lapped up the warm applause with modesty and humility. As an added treat, Petra Haden (a beloved and respected artist in her own right) provided backing vocals and those oh-so vital Bangles harmonies.
The set was an absolute joy, all told.
Similarly, there aren't many Pretenders classics that didn't get an airing on Saturday night. "Brass in the Pocket" and "I'll Stand By You" are probably the two blatant omissions but then, to be fair, Chrissie Hynde has earned the right to play whatever she damned well pleases, festival or no festival.
It was still a killer set, with gems such as "Back on the Chain Gang" "Night in my Veins," and "Don't Get Me Wrong" siting comfortably alongside more recent bangers like "Junkie Walk" and "Let the Sun Come in."
A late request from the crowd urged Hynde to switch the closing song to "Precious," which proved to be a good call. All the while, her band backed her ably. Notably, guitarist James Walbourne is an absolute machine.
At the end of it all, Hynde strutted off like the rock 'n' roll badass that she is, the cheers of the crowd echoing behind her.
