Review: Pacific Festival at The Dunes

This year marked the second installment of Southern California’s Pacific Festival: The Dunes. The summer and beach-themed festival took place at the Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort, a 110-acre vacation resort with a mile of beachfront property. The Dunes boasted a 360-degree beachfront view where festival goers could lay out on the grass,  sunbathe on the sand, take a dip in the water, or paddle board while listening to today’s best indie bands and DJs.

The meticulously curated festival hosted live music on waterfront stages, local food trucks, beach activities, and the added inclusion of a VIP Village where VIP ticket holders could enjoy a private main stage viewing area, an exclusive premium liquor and beer bar, and live DJ entertainment.

The festival acts included headliners Holy Ghost!, Poolside, and Miami Horror, along with a second stage hosted by ‘A Club Called Rhonda’ with DJs Goddollars & Paradise, Yolanda Be Cool, and Moon Boots, amongst others. The EDM-loving crowd was as diverse as a festival gets, though there was no sign of kandi, bedazzled bras, or that token guy in a banana costume. The vibe was one of relaxation, acceptance and fun.

Avid Dancer opened to a scattered crowd, perhaps suffering from the stigma that opening acts aren’t usually good. Though, the band seemed not to mind the general apathy toward their buzzworthy music. As the sun-kissed crowd trickled in, Cherry Glazer, a dark and melodic punk rock band, added to the festival’s momentum. With song titles like “Grilled Cheese”, “Bloody Bandaid”, and “Teenage Girl”, Cherry Glazer is clearly a straight-up high school garage band with a whole lot of attitude. Their angst and raw emotion was a nice change of pace within the flurry of swirling synthesizers, four-on-the-floor drum beats, and funky bass lines.

Since bands need time to set up their equipment, people took advantage of the intermissions to paddleboard, buy alcohol, or indulge in the local food truck,  like Dos Chinos (Latin and Asian fusion), the iconic Kogi Truck (Korean Mexican tacos), and more. In the morning, there seemed to be more people on paddleboards than watching the bands, which of course, died down at sunset.

Painted Palms, an indie psych-pop band, opened with a bang. Their brand of indietronic psych and pop bumped up the festival as they methodically and precisely hit their snare, plucked their bass, and strummed their guitars. The crowd consisted of ironic Hawaiian t-shirts with either board shorts or regular shorts for the guys, while the trend in women’s fashion seemed to be the kimono.