Kevin Bronson on August 30th, 2010

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For all the juice the supposedly revitalized, social media-fueled Sunset Strip is enjoying these days, it remains on many nights a living museum for rock clichés. Tired metal, un-ironic Spinal Tapestry, decadence-celebrating party rock and rap – often, the welcome mat is out, and the audiences here, straining to hear echoes of the days the Strip was a real breeding ground and not just a cluster of good venues competing against the region’s other good venues.

The weekend’s third annual Sunset Strip Music Festival was much more about legacy than currency, which is not to diminish history one bit. After all, that seemed to be the draw for the thousands who packed Saturday’s street fair on Sunset Boulevard.

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan tacitly acknowledged such during his quartet’s hit-laden set, thanking “some of the bands that influenced me and made me want to become a rock star” – the Doors, Guns N’ Roses, Jane’s Addiction, X, the Germs, the Go-Go’s, Ratt and the Electric Prunes, to name a few. It was event-appropriate decorum, to be sure, but not as strong a statement as his quartet’s ferocious 80-minute performance itself, which underscored Corgan’s determination to remain as relevant in the now as he was in his first decade.

Festival honoree Slash brought the goods too – bringing smiles to air guitarists up and down Sunset with some timeless GNR riffage and being joined by Fergie for a couple of songs, including Heart’s “Barracuda.” (There was virtually a stampede on the Strip at 2 p.m., when Slash and his band took the mainstage and ripped off four quick songs; it might’ve just been a late soundcheck, but the early arrivals got a nice surprise.)

Besides a set of good-natured spliff-hop from Gym Class Heroes’ Travie McCoy, the other big highlight was a downright courageous set by rapper Common. The monitors weren’t working on the problem-plagued East Stage – can you imagine rapping when you can’t hear your DJ, drummer and keyboardist? The Grammy winner soldiered on anyway, succeeding where the artist who followed him, Kid Cudi, could not.

Beyond that, though, you had to look hard for people who weren’t novelty acts (the always hilarious Steel Panther played the mainstage), or novelty acts who don’t know they’re novelty acts (unless I’m misreading the aural graffiti that is Semi Precious Weapons).

Many showed up early at the East Stage for the bad-boy mimicry of Neon Trees and the badder-boy rap of Big B. Would their wristbands have been put to better use by venue-hopping at the Key Club, Roxy, Cat Club or Whisky? It’s iffy – as in, if you’d done your homework and put in the legwork, you could have seen:

Vanaprasta’s combination of attacking guitars, unusual song structures and Steven Wilkin’s heavy-metal tenor at the Key Club was impressive. Bad-luck Aussies the Ruby Tigers (their set at the Roxy actually started before gates opened) meted out some tight, straight-ahead rock. White Arrows’ set at the cozy Cat Club could almost be described as sunny post-punk. The feel-good music debuted at the Roxy by Cisco Adler & the Pigeons (“Currently there’s only one other pigeon, but there might be more soon,” he said) displayed some reggae-pop influences. Casxio’s very heady and artfully restrained disco-funk finally got some folks dancing at the Key Club. Wicker came off at first like party boys but thankfully seemed content to let their music do the talking. And Saint Motel – kicking off proceedings on the East Stage at 1:30 – showed why they’re increasingly popular on both ends of town, with songs that are smart and danceable and played with abandon.

Elsewhere among 50-some bands playing Saturday, as well as the night prior, there were a lot of people adhering to the Gospel of Sunset Strip Metal, original interpretation. Which was fine with Steel Panther frontman Michael Starr, who declared during his not-safe-for-kids monologue that “If we don’t teach the kids the way of heavy metal, we’re gonna end up with another Kings of Leon, dude.”

For some of us, though, that’s infinitely preferable to another Warner Drive.

Photos above by Bronson (No pix of Smashing Pumpkins because press was not allowed in the photo pit for their set.)

||| Below: A gallery from Scott Dudelson from Thursday night’s Slash Tribute at the House of Blues, as well as Filter’s festival-kickoff performance at the Roxy.

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