The Sunset Strip is iconic for its legendary music venues. It is historic as a launch pad for bands like The Doors, Van Halen, and Guns ‘n’ Roses. Never before has a portion of the Sunset Strip been shut down to host an outdoor music festival… until now.
Although touted as a three day festival, the street closure and bulk of the event took place on Saturday from 3-9 PM. Staying true to the casually late LA stereotype, the first bands of the day Fishbone, Unwritten Law, and The Donnas, got the enthusiastic but sparse crowd off to a rockin’ start.
Pepper and Shiny Toy Guns amped things up a bit, but the real main event here were Korn and the honoree of the Sunset Strip Music Festival, Ozzy Osbourne.
First, a note about Korn. Call me soft, but I don’t think I was ready for the Korn experience. I’m not a huge fan of metal to begin with, but I’ve always been a fan of spectacle. While the spectacle was great, I’ve also never felt unsafe in a press pit between the audience and stage, and that wasn’t fun. The surge and adrenaline of the crowd was so great that the barricade seemed almost inconsequential for the mass of flesh pushed up against it. At one point several women and one small youngster had to be pulled out of the front area as the forward push of the crowd was too much for their frail figures.
The main stage and outdoor entertainment reached it’s end with headliner Ozzy Osbourne. Worth noting, Ozzy had a very limited photo list, and we weren’t on it, so any photos here were taken from quite a distance.
At over 60 years old, Ozzy can still rock. He lit up the West Hollywood crowd with favorites “Bark At The Moon,” “Crazy Train,” and “Iron Man” during his 45 minute festival length set. He also soaked the crowd on several occasions hoisting a fire hose to waist level and pelting the first 30 rows with water. I had never seen Ozzy perform a live show before, and I was impressed at both his agility and stage presence after all these years of thrilling fans.
I grew up in the Midwest. Milwaukee and Chicago could duke it out every year for bragging rights on which city has the biggest and best outdoor music festivals. Logging my tenth year as an Angeleno, I’ve often wondered when the Sunset Strip would get on the stick and attempt a full fledged outdoor music festival. After all, they have great weather, amazing music venues, and an unparalleled history of making history. Let’s hope this festival becomes an LA tradition…
