We were Living the Beach Life and the Fest Life at the Inaugural BeachLife Festival
Who wouldn’t enjoy a beautiful weekend spent in Southern California? Listening to music with your toes in the sand . . . Seeing rays of sun shine through palm trees and enjoying warm weather in Redondo Beach. The experience was as amazing as it sounds and based on the absolute grins on so many faces we saw, the beach vibes were enjoyed by many other festival fans too!
LTFL had two team members on the ground, soaking up the sun and providing coverage and photos. Shoutout to Savannah who put together the experiences for the post and some of the photos and to Xavier for providing his perspective and some sweet photos as well. Without further ado, here’s our day by day recap – complete with pictures and lots of yummy food reviews.
Day 1: Made it there for gates opening, and going through security was a breeze – short, simple and to the point! Arriving early meant we got to see the finishing touches being put into place for day one of this brand new festival. We headed in for some pre-music exploring. One of the first spots I checked out, The Rockefeller beer area – had all types of local beer. They weren’t quite ready to start selling yet – so we headed over and snagged some four cheese mac and cheese from the Mac Shack. It was amazing and basically the perfect comfort food to start out the fest. Then we headed back to get a beer from The Rockefeller. They had two different sizes (12oz or 16oz) for the same price (13$). I snagged a Hop Valley – Citrus Mistress (which was a 12oz) and later a Hop Valley – Alphadelic. Both tasty! 
With food and drink checked off the list, we moved on to hang out by the Low Tide Stage which was set up in the sand. (Love it!!!). Roots of Creation were the highlight of the day for us, because their energy was amazing and it felt like they were having fun and just being themselves on stage. We spent more time exploring, lounging in the sand and working on a killer sun burn. Whoops! Slightly Stoopid and Bob Weir provided the perfect end to an amazing first day! As we headed out for the night, I promised myself I would do a better job on sunscreen the rest of the weekend.
Day 2: We hit the fest early enough to catch some sweet rays, and by that I mean Sugar Ray not just the gorgeous sunshine. We explored the wine area which had super nice canopy covered benches. There were several different wineries represented, a place to buy seafood and meat paella, and a stand selling oyster shooters! Peak Beach Life! After that, Chevy Metal came on and blew us all away with their covers of Van Halen. I couldn’t stop moving and rocking out up front.
Throughout the weekend, we got to check out a bunch of awesome art that artists were actively working on during the festival days. Some of the exhibits were interactive, set up for attendees to participate in – such as a canvas that we could help paint. We loved this and thought it was really awesome idea. A great way to do something unique during some much needed downtime.
Based on my first day of insufficient sunscreen application, I was eager to seek shade and the BeachLife setup offered plenty of cool spots. One of those shady spots was the Body Glove Bar. When we hit it up, it not only had tons of spots to place an order, it also had a huge overhang, creating shade for the patio style seating.
We also found a huge shaded area with picnic tables to sit and eat and still enjoy listening to the music. Jason Mraz kicked off sunset on the beach with such great vibes he had us all dancing and singing. We split the set and also spent time watching Tomorrows Bad Seeds absolutely jam at the Riptide Stage. The night was capped off with more dancing and singing during a great set by Brian Wilson (yes from The Beach Boys).
Day 3: After being in the sun for two days, the theme of day three was people telling me “OMG YOU’RE SO SUNBURNT.” (YES I KNOW!) The weather was amazing and I couldn’t resist soaking in the sun while having fun! The other theme of the day was food. We tried to eat as much as possible – for the blog of course. That is basically like saying we were doing it for science.
There were a ton of food options, including three different sections of food stands and food trucks. We started with yellow rice with marinated chicken and garlic aioli. Next we decided to try pizza and realized there were actually a couple options.
We decided to grab a mini pizza from Locale 90. It was the perfect size snack for two and had four types of cheese – yum! To top off our food extravaganza, we decided on the Lobster Roll from Captain Kidd’s. It actually happens to be right across the way from the main entrance, and was legit closer than our parking space . . . definitely worth a stop. The lobster roll was dressed in butter on a split top bun which came with coleslaw but we opted for chips instead. It was hands down the best thing I had eaten – though all the other food was spectacular throughout our time at the festival.
Besides food hunting, we spent time hanging out playing games at the Tito’s Backyard. One of our favorite parts was mixing our own margaritas via bicycle. They also had spots to play cornhole and ping pong. Next, we chilled by the High Tide Stage in an area covered in the softest turf. It was a great spot for naps, waiting for the next band to play, or sunbathing. Grace Potter, Blues Traveler and Willie Nelson rocked the High Tide Stage while we were there. We also caught Ziggy Marley’s set and jammed away in the sand at the Low Tide Stage.
Overall, the weather was beautiful all weekend and we genuinely felt that the festival was setup well. Walks between stages were brief, the bathroom lines were quick and we found the facilities to be clean and full stocked at every use. It felt like a big success to us, especially for it being the first year of the festival. They killed it! We would definitely recommend coming out, and can’t wait to see what they have in store for us next year!
Most importantly, a big thank you and shout out to BeachLife Fest for the opportunity. We had a blast and can’t wait for next year already!
Other Info:
Some outdoor venues struggle to remain clean, due to a lack of well-established recycling and trash options. BeachLife did a great job of preventing this by providing more than enough locations to dispose of unneeded items – including clearly labeled spots for recycling, compost, and trash.
Parking and Accommodations: Day 1 we took an Uber from the AirBNB. Both the accommodations and the Uber were reasonably priced. The festival had a separate lane dedicated to rideshare pick up and drop off. On days 2 and 3 we drove in. Parking was easy and very close to the main entrance. There were several parking areas available. We opted for the $2 an hour public beach parking area.
Weather: As we said above, the weather was absolutely perfect all weekend. At night, it can get a little chilly, so we recommend bringing a blanket or a sweatshirt.