The Ohana Music Festival ( Aug. 27-28 ) will make its debut this summer at Doheny State Beach (25300 Dana Point Harbor Drive) in Dana Point. It’s coming out strong with scheduled performances by Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, pop songstress Lana Del Rey, rock group Band of Horses, L.A. punk pioneers X, and many more.
Acoustic Guitar
- Red Shoes
- The Beat
- Ascention Day (Allen Toussaint comment)
- Veronica
Electric
- I want you (about 8 minutes)
Acoustic
- Everyday I write the Book (prefaced by "a song I really hate")
On Piano
- I Can't Stand-up (Blues/ballad version)
- The other side of summer ("A song I wrote about California)
Electric
- Detectives (with Bullhorn)
- Pump It Up
Piano
- Face in the Crowd (with intro about gaining popularity on TV, etc...)
Acoustic
- Alison
- Peace, Love and Understanding (w Eddie Vedder)
Off at 7:23, as planned
Elvis had a tough spot on the bill---he followed a very powerful, raucous and well received set by Band of Horses...arguably a more popular act at the moment...and before headliner Eddie Vedder, for whom it seemed 95% of the crowd came for exclusively. His being acoustic following Band of Horses directly and X and Mudhoney before that didnt help...
From where I was standing (about 3 people back from the stage on the right side) there was far too much chatter, people making beer runs, others not paying attention and still more not familiar with Elvis' material--they were here, and were waiting all day, for Eddie Vedder. Very tepid response on the Red Shoes shoutbacks, far too much boredom on the piano ballads (a beautiful Cant Stand-Up) and while us Elvis fans are used to the hairpin changes in set direction from Pump It Up to Face in the Crowd on piano...it didnt go over well with this audience. Detectives and Alison were familiar and Pump It Up and its usual fast tempo were well received. I Want You was an excellent performance and it seemed as if he was challenging the audience to dive in or go away, as he did it towards the top of the set. He was friendly, gave them mostly the hits, had some banter, and pleased the crowd with Eddie's guesting on PL&U...and for us hardcore fans, enough surprises (cant stand-up, other side of summer, the beat, i want you) to keep it interesting. During I Cant Stand Up, Dennis Rodman showed up near the front of the stage and the less engaged audience was easily distracted away from Elvis and into the circus of his sighting at the right of the stage---somewhat a tell-tale (or it seemed to me) of the audience, in general, tonight. The same audience who sang every word to every Eddie Vedder ukelele song. At times, I was reminded of the noisy Supper Club in NYC in 96 when Costello/Nieve played...
Quite a different story from the adventurous set and the hungry crowd at Newport Folk last month, where, like tonight, he was on the bill just below the headliner (then, Alabama Shakes). Context is everything, it seems
Eddie was very generous in heaping out praise to Elvis during his set, saying how excited he was that Elvis was on the bill, and quoted "Opportunity" lyric "The chairman of this boredom is a compliment collector, I'd like to be his funeral director"...and also referred to having "Elvis on the beach" and a "grand piano on the beach"...
All said, it was fine and enjoyable Elvis performance until we see him in the states this fall for some, no doubt, more interesting shows