The weather couldn’t have been more perfect this Fourth of July weekend in Ventura. Arguably the best stop on the summer outting, the temperature never rose above 78 degrees. Attendance seemed as high as ever for the long running tour. Highlights of the day included Enter Shikari, Larry and his Flask, Lucero, Bad Rabbits, Sharks Street Dogs, The Aggrolites, 3oh!3, and Against Me. Photos from July 3, 2011 by Carlton Beener.

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Hootenanny 2011 brought the heat on stage and off this past weekend. The annual festival is held in Oak Canyon, just east or Irvine. Artists pictured include Dropkick Murphys, The Reverend Horton Heat, Murder City Devils, Supersuckers, Royal Crown Revue, Swingin Utters and Viva Hate. Photos from July 2, 2011 by Carlton Beener.

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The Soundclash is comprised of five different rounds. In the first round, each artist plays a mini three song set. Cee Lo performed his songs “Lady Killer,” “Bright Lights,” and the Gnarls Barkley hit, “Crazy.” The Ting Tings lined up “Keep Your Head,” “Hit Me Down Sonny,” “Shut Up,” and “Let Me Go.”

In the second round both artists were assigned the Clash’s “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” to redo in their own style. Round three, the takeover round, has each artist play half of their own song to be finished by the other.

In round four, each group plays another three songs, each has to be in the style dictated by the DJ: reggae, acoustic and rock. The last round is the Wildcard round where they can invite special guests on stage with them. The Ting Tings brought out an Elvis impersonator to perform “That’s Not My Name,” while Cee Lo brought out the Goodie Mob to perform “Get Rich To This.”

For the show finale, the Ting Tings joined Cee Lo and Goodie Mob to perform Cee Lo’s runaway hit, “Fuck You.”

Photos by Carlton Beener

Cee Lo Green

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The Ting Tings

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Sound Clash finale

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Sunday at Lollapalooza started off wet, very wet. The original forecast showed possible showers at night but by the time you woke up Sunday you could tell it would be much sooner. The rain was coming down before doors opened turning the already damp ground into mud. The crowd seemed much thinner early on than the previous two days. By 1pm the rain seemed to have stopped and the skies were clearing up, one hour later the temperature felt like it was up 20 degrees and the moisture in the air made the humidity the worst of the weekend. It was never too hot though and the reasonably priced drinks made it even more tolerable.

The festival grounds filled up by late afternoon in plenty of time for the headliners. Sundays bands included Switchfoot, Minus the Bear, Blitzen Trapper, X Japan, Mutemath, Frightened Rabbit, Erykah Badu, MGMT, Wolfmother, The Temper Trap, Arcade Fire and the much anticipated return of Soundgarden.

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Saturday at Lollapalooza was a big day for some local LA bands. The Soft Pack opened the massive second main stage at 12:30, practically morning for most people there but they had a decent sized crowd. The Sony Bloggie stage saw both Warpaint and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros later in the afternoon.

The Morning Benders played at noon on the Bloggie stage and were a great way to start the day. The XX would be one of a few groups of the weekend that should have been booked to a larger stage. The still decent size area for the Playstation stage was overflowing before their set even began with people lined up to get in throughout their set. While they sounded great, their subdued performance style felt a little lacking, maybe it just got lost amongst the more hyper sets of the day. Against Me and AFI both took over the Adidas stage, sandwiched between Rogue Wave and Slightly Stupid. Gogol Bordello, who should be required to play every festival played the Main stage between Blues Traveler and Social D.

Not to be outdone by the theatrics of Lady Gaga the night before, Green Day brought their own 3 ring circus. Their set was the longest of the weekend at two and a half hours, running past the 10 o’clock curfew which Mr Armstrong dared production the whole night to try and pull the plug on them. In typical Green Day fashion there was fireworks, explosions, stage diving (from a 10 foot high stage) and crowd participation. Lots and lots of crowd participation. Meanwhile, on the other side of Grant Park, Phoenix was playing to another massive crowd, the biggest in their Career for the band whose music seems to be everywhere now with no sign of slowing down.

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Hot Hot Heat continued their Wednesday night residency at the Bootleg Theater last Wednesday (June 23), this time bringing along Links and Eulogies. Eulogies were good but seemed a little mellow sandwiched between the faster charged sets of Links and Hot Hot Heat. If you haven’t made it out yet, you’ll get one more chance June 30th to see them.

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The Too Fast for Love tour hit Club Nokia Tuesday night, June 1st with a few surprises along the way. Travis McCoy, performing his new solo material under the name Travie McCoy and the Lazarus Project,  brought a little R&B with a modern twist. With walkup service at the bar, the crowd seemed more than a little young to recognize some of the samples but they ate it up anyway. Cobra Starship was joined on stage by Pete Wentz for a song who then introduced a friend for an on stage proposal. 3OH!3 ended the night and had the crowd jumping enough that you might start worrying a little about the structural integrity of the floor beneath your feet. And oh yes, wolves with freakin laser beams.

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The 60′s seemed to be back in full swing in May as Los Angeles quartet The Like took over the Echo for the Monday night residency. The last night of the month wasn’t packed to the walls like the previous few, but was still crowded considering it was Memorial Day. The Young Veins opened contributing their 60′s look and vibe to the night.

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Singer songwriter Kaki King captivated the audience Saturday night, May 22 at the El Rey theater. Kaki doesn’t so much play the guitar as go to battle with it. She admits it is a battle she has yet to win but the crowd was content to watch in awe as she tried. She closed the night with a bit of a dance party setting up a loop on her lap steel guitar and jumping into the crowd. Australian indie duo and part time comedy team An Horse opened the show.

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