The 2023 edition of Beachlife Festival has come and gone, but not without first making a major splash. This year the festival grew in size once again, attracting 40,000 fans and booking an incredible lineup of performers. The artists who performed at this festival aren’t the usual ones you see us cover, however, this year’s lineup featured a few of my favorite 90’s and 2000’s artists, as well as some rock n’ roll, reggae, and other incredible acts that I hadn’t yet had the chance to see.
We were blessed to cover the Beachlife Festival event as a member of the media and I’m happy to say that my experience was incredible.
Headlining performers included the likes of The Black Keys, Gwen Stefani, and The Black Crowes, with each artist drawing tens of thousands of fans to their sets. Additional notable acts included Modest Mouse, The Pixies, Sublime with Rome, John Foggerty, Iration, Shwayze, Sugar Ray, Noah Cyrus, Band of Horses, and Travie Mccoy of Gym Class Heroes.
I attended Beachlife Festival for day two and three of the festival and was able to see 10 or so artists over the course of my time at the event.
Honestly, dope performances came from every single artist that I experienced. Shwayze was performing as I walked into the festival on Saturday and ultimately laid the foundation for what would go down as one of the best concert weekends of my life.
Sugar Ray’s performance was inspiring to say the least. The band’s legendary frontman is known for his personality and did not let us down. Him and the Sugar Ray band delivere one of the most energetic and fun concert sets I’ve seen in a long time. The 1990’s decade was historical in so many ways and Sugar Ray did a great job of helping us relive the good and the bad.
Aly & AJ, Dispatch, Band of Horses, Iration, and Sublime with Rome, all had really impressive performances. I honestly still can’t name any Aly & AJ songs but I found myself humming and singing along to at least two or three of their tracks. Other attendees were full on going crazy for their set though.
A similar experience can be said of the other performers too. Dispatch, Band of Horses, Iration, shoot, even Sublime with Rome. All of these artists have hits and blew the minds of the fans who were there, but they’re not artists I listen to on the day to day. I really enjoyed getting to become more familiar with their tunes and experience just how much other music fans love these artists. The energy was definitely contagious and I found out I know more music than I give myself credit for.
Going into the headliner for Saturday’s portion of Beachlife Festival, I was super excited for Gwen Stefani’s set. I honesty can say that she didn’t disappoint whatsoever and she certainly lived up to the hype of being named “The Queen of Orange County.”
Her performance was quite literally that of a rockstar who doubles as a popstar who also doubles as a rapper. As she sang, rapped, and danced, there was no doubt in my mind that this human was out-of-this-world talented.
The OC queen left me starstruck at numerous times throughout her set. Between the crowd’s energy, her dancers, and of course her own, you could feel basically 20+ years worth of rowdy pop all uniting at once. It was truly incredible and hands-down an all-time top performance in my concert experiences. I would 1000% go see her perform again.
Sunday at Beachlife Festival was a bit slower paced compared to the other two days. There was notably more families and kids in attendance, plus the lineup shifted a bit overall too.
I honestly didn’t know any of the artists going into the event but quickly learned that John Foggerty was someone I’d basically listened to my whole life, just without knowing who the artist was. The rock n’ roll legend recently acquired ownership of his music and was celebrating with his family. His performance was 100% a bucket list experience and also goes down as one of the best I’ve ever seen. You could tell he was enjoying life and having fun up on stage.
Noah Cyrus, CAAMP, The Wailers, The Head and The Heart, and The Black Crowes were some of the other performers I caught during day three. Each of them also had standout performances with Noah Cyrus and CAAMP being the three artists that I was able to check out for extended periods of time.
The 2023 edition of Beachlife Festival really great for so many different reasons. The food was delicious and the various activations were fun and enjoyable too. Skechers gave guests a 50/50 chance to win their Beachlife edition foam sliders. I tried a bunch of craft beer from local California breweries and also got to try out some of these new craft cocktail beverages that hit the market recently too. I personally enjoyed the Titos activation with ping pong, beer pong, and all kinds of seating options.
When it comes to the food, the shrimp burger and pizza from the venue does deserve a shoutout. The Middle Feast food truck too for the crazy delicious garlic, feta, and herb fries. The snacks and desserts available at the various event activations were on point 100% as well. I have to plug the Harvest Snap booth, the Creamwich ice cream sandwich cart, D’s cookies at the front of the festival, the free ice cream activation from Nivecta also at the front of the festival, and The Lazy Acres market with the clutch protein bars, granola oats, and the arm pit wipes. All of that is unbelievably clutch at a festival.
10/10 I recommend going to Beachlife Festival.
Just be prepared for $5 waters that you can refill and the $12-$18 beer, wine, and cocktails.
Cheers!
