SUNDAY 8/18
Looking to check out a free music festival on these last few hot August SoCal nights? Well KROQ’s Hermosa Beach Summer Series has you covered with two weekends of free festivals, a craft beer garden, an assortment of food trucks and an array of new and local bands from around LA. Last Sunday’s lineup was a spectacular treat, with bands The Jacks, The Orphan The Poet, and Iglu & Hartly bringing the crowd to a fever pitch. The opener, Fairfax District’s School Of Rock, adroitly performed a cover set, ranging from Tom Petty to The Foo Fighters to Queens Of The Stone Age.
The Jacks, bringing their BritPop-meets-blues-rock sensibility (see: Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Cage The Elephant), have a new self-titled EP with their hit single, “Walk Away,” an ear worm of a song that sounds as much 2018 Orange County as 1978 Detroit. If you’re a fan of proper rock n rock and have lost faith in Greta Van Fleet, this band will definitely pick up the slack. Check it out “Walk Away” here.
The Orphan The Poet, a trio originally from Dayton, OH, but with SoCal roots, brought an energy that is both frenetic yet familiar, with a Twenty One Pilots-meets-The Killers sound, blending catchy bass-heavy tunes with lyrics drenched in nostalgia, loss and hope. Midway through the set, singer David Eselgroth was not afraid to get sand in his shoes with his fans and led the crowd through their anthem song, “Wild & Young”. The band’s latest album “Terrible Things” is newly released and new single “Queen Cobra” deserves a check out.
Closing out the show was the much-anticipated reunion of Iglu & Hartly, a band that everyone should have known about in the mid-aughts, but probably doesn’t. A blend of some of the best party bands you’ve ever seen, mixed with elements of Nu Rock, rap, hip-hop, punk, and glam, all I could think about was what if Andrew W.K., Ratatat, The Struts, Junior Senior and The Streets had some kind of bizarre love child and set it loose on the Hermosa Pier? Coming off a ten-year hiatus, Iglu & Hartly melted the faces off of their rabid fan base and a newly-initiated family crowd with love (at one point, the band had everyone in the audience turn and hug their neighbor). Seamlessly guiding the crowd through a string of bangers including “This City,” “Young And Violent” “Jump Out Your Car,” finishing with their tongue-in-cheek “Pajama Song,” you really had to see it to believe it. Hopefully the positive feedback will spur a second life into a band that really brings something special to their live shows.
Check out next weekend’s lineup at Hermosa Beach Summer Series with headliners The White Buffalo and Mariachi El Bronx!
IGLU & HARTLY
SCHOOL OF ROCK
THE JACKS
THE ORPHAN THE POET
HERMOSA BEACH SUMMER SERIES (GALLERIES)
AUGUST 18TH, 2019
HERMOSA BEACH PIER, HERMOSA BEACH, CA
PHOTOS BY FIESTABAN!
*CREDIT THE PHOTOGRAPHER IF IMAGES USED, PLEASE! NO EDITING AND/OR REMOVAL OF WATERMARK(S)*
