Photos: Beach Goth Day 2, with the Growlers, Future Islands and rain
Kevin Bronson on
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Artists and fans alike ended up singin’ in the rain on Sunday’s Day 2 of Beach Goth — and many of the latter ended up singing sad songs. Future Islands, Devendra Banhart, Gucci Mane, She Wants Revenge and the costumed French outfit La Femme — along with the host Growlers — soldiered through the problems to turn in crowd-pleasing performances.
But many sets (including Grimes’) were shortened, cancelled or moved, and the already crowded festival was dotted with puddles. Fan reaction online has been negative (there’s a petition circulating demanding refunds), and for their part the Growlers issued a semi-apology on their Facebook page:
To all who attended Beach Goth this weekend,
We saw it in your eyes. We hear you. We feel you. We want to sincerely thank you for supporting us – and each other – at this year’s festival.
We started Beach Goth in 2012 and have watched it grow into a strange and beautiful party larger than we could have ever imagined. After last year’s Beach Goth, we reflected on some of the challenges we experienced, and we set out to create a better festival for our fans in 2016. We wanted low ticket prices, a peaceful space for fans to hang out, quality food and drink options, and creative and thoughtful art and vendors. We settled on the beautiful Oak Canyon Park: we toured the space, planned the festival of our dreams and got beyond excited to share a new venue for Beach Goth with you. In the months that followed, as we recorded our new album and continued to tour, the plans shifted, due to various reasons, many of which were beyond our control. Eventually Beach Goth was moved back to the Observatory grounds.
We witnessed so many amazing things at this year’s fest. The spontaneous dance party that broke out during Future Islands’ set, right after the rain stopped. The guys who carried their ladies over the puddles. Meeting those of you in person who traveled wild distances to be a part of the adventure. Hearing Patti Smith say the words “Beach Goth!” to a crowd of thousands. In the past 48 hours, we’ve listened to your comments on email and social media, and we’re taking your words to heart. If we invite you to a show or party again, it will be for the fans first and foremost. We want you to feel the love that we have for you.
In the words of Saturday night’s legendary headliner Patti Smith, “People have the power / the power to dream, to rule / to wrestle the earth from fools.” Let’s stand up for what we believe and make a future experience that we can all be proud of.
With love and respect,
The Growlers
Photos by David Benjamin
||| Also: Photos from Day 1
This is a video showing someone unfairly getting beat up by security at Beach Goth https://mobile.twitter.com/CaIefornia/status/790781380661682176/video/1 Based on all the problems, I don’t think Beach Goth should be granted a permit next year unless it is totally changed logistically. The OCWeekly webpage shows another article showing a huge growing backlash. I would love for all ticket holders to be granted a refund, but I doubt that would happen without a class action lawsuit of some kind. That Growlers statement is an insult to the intelligence of the music fan spending lots of money to support their festival. I also would love to see the owners of the Observatory make a statement about what happened. I am now so relieved I did not attend that event.