Honestly, I have neglected the Santa Monica Pier concert series these past years, I have been there only once last year, for the Haim sisters, but the rest of the program wasn’t very exciting. Except for Best Coast in September that I have missed, the line-up was a series of unknown (to me) world music-reggae-tango-revivalist artists and other cirque du soleil acrobats or surf guitar oldies. Not totally bad of course, but not enough to motivate me to drive to Santa Monica on a Thursday night. However, it may change this year.
These concerts at the pier mean summer, they are free, they are on the beach, and they always drain a large crowd consisting of elderly/regular people bringing their folding chairs and sandwiches, tourists happy to spend the night on the beach with free music, and numerous homeless people who always bring a fun ambiance. But this year, some parts of the schedule may surprise a few regulars.
If Surfer Blood and their catchy sun-drenched pop will go very well with the ocean view, Meshell Ndegeocello is not an obvious choice for this crowd but her funk-jazz-soul will work fine. However, No Age may be a total different story, I even think they may cause a few heart attacks… too much discordance and unexpected frantic punk sonic moves and not enough melody! I already see the chair people folding their way out. Their loss! They will certainly be back for Australian earth-lover multi-instrumentalist Xavier Rudd and his folk-blues-reggae, but they may be a little puzzled by the fury that Hanni El Khatib can bring on stage: his raw blues may have some retro core but it is a wild thing live, and it may even be more real now that he is produced by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. The English Beat, Nick Waterhouse and Jimmy Cliff will reassure everyone, plus there are still a few more artists to be announced.
Here is the full schedule of the 29th annual Twilight Concerts
July 11 – Surfer Blood
July 18 – Meshell Ndegeocello
July 25 – No Age
Aug. 1 – Xavier Rudd
Aug. 8 – Hanni El Khatib & Bombino
Aug. 15 – The English Beat
Aug. 22 – Nick Waterhouse
Aug. 29 – A very special attraction from New Orleans, LA. Artists TBA
Sept. 5 – An evening of breakout Indie Rock. Artists TBA
Sept. 9 – Jimmy Cliff (Summer Closer)