It didn’t bother Marcela Gutierrez that she had to travel to Redondo Beach from her home in Reseda on Thursday to show her COVID-19 vaccination card. And Gutierrez didn’t care that she had to park a mile away in a residential area and risk a ticket when she made the return trip to Seaside Lagoon on Friday.
After more than a year without attending a concert the 24-year-old was ecstatic to have the chance to stand in front of several stages at the BeachLife Festival, maybe even getting up to the front row to see Jane’s Addiction — her favorite band — on Friday night.
“I’m almost choked up about it. It’s finally feeling real. Not that everything is normal, but today I think it’s going to be a great day to forget about everything else,” she said just before she entered the festival.
After canceling in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, BeachLife returned to Seaside Lagoon Sept. 10 to kick off three days of music and fun in the sun. The opening day lineup included more than a dozen acts such as Jane’s Addiction, Silversun Pickups, Save Ferris, Tomorrow’s Bad Seeds and others on four stages, including the new SpeakEasy Stage with acoustic performances by punk musicians, surfers and skaters.
The festival continues Saturday with Counting Crows topping the bill and wraps Sunday with Ziggy and Stephen Marley performing a set of songs by their late father Bob Marley.
“This is just the kind of day we thought about and finally people are enjoying themselves and we’re getting away from it for a while and that’s what we wanted to do,” said BeachLife co-founder Allen Sanford, as he walked across the artificial lawn by the main stage on day one of the three-day festival.
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While Gutierrez parked a distance away and had a bit of a walk to get to the festival, once she arrived at about 2 p.m., about an hour after gates opened, there was virtually no line to get in.
“We’re cruising right through,” she said before entering through the main gate.
Set up similar to BeachLife’s inaugural run in 2019, the 18,000-person capacity festival grounds included a crowd that Sanford said in August would be significantly less than 10,000 people, the threshold at which Los Angeles County’s mask mandate applies for “mega events.” He declined to say how many tickets were sold.
On Friday afternoon, the crowd was easily into the thousands, but significantly smaller than the festival’s debut in 2019, which had a capacity of 12,000 people.
While waiting to enter the festival, Gutierrez said she was considering wearing a mask anyway, just to make sure she’s safe.
Beyond the smaller crowd, there weren’t many visual clues that BeachLife was happening during the pandemic. Nearly everyone in the attendance at the outdoor event walked around without masks, including fans, some food vendors and bartenders and police officers on site.
Crowds mingled as usual at the various bar areas and bobbed heads right next to each other in front of the various stages as they did back at the inaugural fest in 2019.
However, BeachLife did require attendees to show proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test to enter the festival. The festival also offered on-site rapid coronavirus tests for a fee.
“It just feels good, man, no worries, no nothing but music this weekend,” said 52-year-old Peter Collins of Costa Mesa as he walked on the sand by the Lowtide stage during Save Ferris’ early afternoon set.
And since the festival is all about celebrating the chill beach vibes, there were several areas with games and a spot with several hammocks spread out for those who needed a power nap before the next set.
There were a few families in attendance on Friday, including 48-year-old San Diego resident Bill Kilby and his 14-year-old son Devin Kilby, who played ping pong near the Lowtide stage.
“My son and I go to a concert every summer at least once a year so after COVID we were itching to get back out so we’re stoked,” he said.
Both were vaccinated before coming to the show and felt safe with the safety protocols at the festival.
“It’s not like we’re throwing caution to the wind. There’s kind of a good balance of making sure we’re safe and not too much lockdown,” he said. “It’s definitely a good vibe. Killer weather and music and anything by the water, it’s like the best things in the world,” he said.
