Ilana Tel-Oren on November 5th, 2018

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The second day of Tropicália Festival in Long Beach was just as stacked as the first, and with the cooler weather over the Queen Mary, the afternoon acts were a pleasure to watch. With Election Day coming up on Tuesday, many of the bands were spreading the message to go out and vote, some adding a “fuck Trump,” for good measure.

Festival-goers either adopted a lazy Sunday attitude, or there were simply fewer people there on Sunday, because getting through security and into the grounds was a lot quicker this time. Those who were there around 1 pm were treated to ample space, virtually no food lines and more good music.

Early acts like Homeshake drew in a large crowd at the main Chalingo stage at 1:25 pm, but Tijuana Panthers’ die-hard fans were over at the Chavela stage around the same time. With so many exceptional bands playing, there were a few conflicts early in the day — in addition to Homeshake and Tijuana Panthers, you had to choose between Yellow Days and the Regrettes, and later Chicano Batman and the lesser-known but equally worthy Triathalon.

One thing’s for sure, people were ready for more moshing and crowd-surfing. It didn’t matter how mellow the band, even Allah-Las had crowd surfers. And some went perhaps a little too hard on a Sunday afternoon, as remnants of their partying (aka vomit) was spotted by several of the curbs.

||| Also: See our Day 1 coverage

Highlights from Day 2:

► SZA, a late add to the festival to replace Cardi B, really broke down the wall with fans during her headlining slot, sharing how her anxiety was telling her, “They don’t want to see me, they want Cardi B.” But she wasn’t looking for validation — she knew it was all in her head. It was an incredibly humbling and relatable moment, and she shared some advice with her fans to not let their thoughts get the best of them. She addressed the crowd quite a few times, explaining what her songs were about in some cases. Before “Drew Barrymore,” she kept her explanation short: “It’s about having a bad time at a house party, smoking a lot of weed and fucking anybody else,” was the gist. Images of the real Drew Barrymore in various movies flashed on the screen, leaving some fans who didn’t know the song bewildered (there is no “Drew Barrymore” lyric either). People started filtering out as her set went on, but fans stayed and sang along to “Love Galore,” “The Weekend” and more.

► So Mac DeMarco didn’t actually get fat, but he was wearing a sumo wrestling suit when he took the Chalingo stage. His time on stage was filled with comedy, as he took off two of his sumo suits just to reveal another layer of sumo suit. DeMarco ran around the stage, cackled, drank Jameson from a red solo cup, smoked a cigar while doing handstands and more. And while many came out to catch his set, some fans couldn’t help but be a little disappointed that he was basically just doing a karaoke routine over his music. Nonetheless, fans sang along, holding on to every word as he performed songs he “doesn’t like playing anymore” including “Let Her Go” and “Blue Boy.”

► Nick Rattigan pulled double-duty on Sunday, performing the lead in both acts Current Joys and Surf Curse. Hands down, he had the most powerful (male) voice of the day, singing and belting in his wavy vibrato with his entire body. While Current Joys is the slightly softer side of Rattigan, even a softer song like “Kids” provided an opportunity for him to belt. They also performed a haunting cover of Divine Fits’ “Shiver.” Surf Curse took the Juanga stage right before SZA’s headlining slot, and people ran to the pit as soon as they heard Rattigan’s crashing drums. Songs like “Freaks” and “Christine F” had the entire audience in a mosh pit, and they performed a couple new songs as well, one of them called “Disco.”

► The Marías played on the Juanga stage just as the sun was setting, and the vibe couldn’t have been more perfect. Their sultry, jazzy set had the crowd grooving and singing along with singer Maria Zardoya’s soft, soothing vocals. The popular song “I Don’t Know You” got a lot of cheers, but the slow and stunning “Only In My Dreams” was the show-stopper.

► Homeshake delivered a rattling, jazzy set on the main Chalingo stage during an early slot of 1:25 pm. Their set was filled with fan favorites, including “Khmlwugh” with its moving bass line and the sultry, synth-forward “Give It To Me,” which is slow, but keeps things interesting with alternating time signatures. It was a full 30 minutes of swoon-worthy music.

► It was clear there were many Chicano Batman fans in the house when they took the Chalingo stage. During “Black Lipstick,” fans cheered as black lips were projected on the background screen. Chicano Batman are the embodiment of Tropicália, as they source their style with the Brazilian fusion that coined the term. A layer of fog started to take shape over the downtown Long Beach skyline as their hour-long set continued with Latin and retro-psych sounds.

► While Chicano Batman were playing, some stuck around for New York’s Triathalon, who played a brief set at the Chavela stage. They fit right in with the María’s aesthetic of soulful but current R&B sounds, with an electronic twist. Fans sang along with “South Side” and were treated to one of their newest songs, “Courtside.”

► Boy Pablo’s band looked like they were having a blast on stage, playing small pranks on each other and giggling and smiling. The Norwegian-Chilean young artist performed jangly indie-pop songs including “Everytime” and “Dance, Baby!,” which had the crowd dancing. At one point, they broke into a spontaneous “Beat It”/Michael Jackson riff, and the crowd ate it up.

► The Regrettes charmed the crowd with femme-power punk rock. “We’re angry because people are trying to take away everyone’s rights,” singer Lydia Night said before going into “Seashore.”

► “You ever get so stoned you just look at your hand for a long time?” the singer of Peach Pit said, obviously going through something.

► There was non-stop crowd surfing for Long Beach’s own Tijuana Panthers. Fans jumped up and down in front of the stage for “Red Headed Girl” and even more ran towards the stage when they began to play the upbeat, “Creature.”

Photos by Maximilian Ho