Festival Pass: Who’s playing BeachLife, Newport Beach Jazz Festival – OCRegister

Festival Pass is a weekly newsletter that lands in your inbox weekly. But during prime festival season you get bonus editions, too! Subscribe now.

Festival Pass for Thursday, Jan. 16

Things are already heating up on the Southern California festival front. We had two more lineup announcements this week! First, we found out who was playing the 25th anniversary of the Newport Beach Jazz Festival.

And today we got the very deep lineup for the second installment of BeachLife in Redondo Beach. (I was personally excited to see Rhett Miller of the Old 97’s, Chris Shiflett of the Foo Fighters and Trever Keith from Face to Face all on the bill.)

The Southern California News Group Entertainment Squad is running into festival season with open arms. This weekend we’ll be at 4xFar, a new festival in the Coachella Valley that came about because of the relaunch of an SUV.  And there’s also a festival celebrating the music of Hawaii in the South Bay.

And while it’s not quite a festival in the traditional sense, we have a team out at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show in Anaheim. There are always musicians playing and just cruising the floor.

ICYMI: Bookmark our massive list of 100 or so festivals, cons and fairs happening in 2020 that reporter Alex Groves compiled.

Sign up for our Festival Pass newsletter. Whether you are a Coachella lifer or prefer to watch from afar, get weekly dispatches during the Southern California music festival season. Subscribe here.

The lineup was just announced for the return of the BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach (File photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer.)

Living that BeachLife

After a successful debut in Redondo Beach in 2019, BeachLife is back for three days in the beginning of May with a lineup that includes the Steve Miller Band, Counting Crows, Fitz and the Tantrums and more. See who’s playing and find out how to get tickets.

Tower of Power is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2020 and headlining the 25th Annual Newport Beach Jazz Festival, held at the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach May 29-31. (Photo by Mike Coppola, Getty Images)

All that jazz

Further down the coast, the Newport Beach Jazz Festival announced the lineup for its 25th anniversary. Expect to see Tower of Power, Anthony Hamilton and more. Get details on tickets and find out what other acts have been announced.

In this Friday, April 19, 2019 file photo, Anderson .Paak and The Free Nationals perform on the Main stage of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio. .Paak will perform at the new 4xFAr Festival in Thermal on Jan. 18. (File photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

Corporate culture

We’ve seen plenty of corporate partnerships show up at music festivals over the years, from on-site activations to naming rights, but this weekend’s 4XFar festival has a different twist. The festival came about because Land Rover wanted a way to launch the return of the Defender SUV to its U.S. lineup, reporter Alex Groves explains.

The Southern California Slack Key Festival returns to Redondo Beach on Jan. 19. (Photo by Sari Makki Photography).

Island sounds

Don’t have the cash for a magical Hawaiian vacation? Reporter Richard Guzman can help. He wrote about the return of the Southern California Slack Key Festival coming to Redondo Beach this weekend.

Jared James Nichols performs a the Gibson booth during the media preview at The NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA, on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020.(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

On the floor

The NAMM Show is back, bringing 120,000 music industry insiders and thousands of instruments and more to the Anaheim Convention Center. Follow along as reporters Kelli Skye Fadroski, Alex Groves and Peter Larsen report on the cool stuff, interesting panels and star-studded performances.


And now for a little something extra…Here are three must-reads on entertainment, culture and events we think you might like.

  1. Rise of the Resistance opens Friday in Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Here’s how to get into the virtual queue
  2. One of the coolest comedy clubs around is in a Long Beach backyard
  3. What exactly are casino hosts and what do they do? We explain.

Get Festival Pass delivered to your inbox weekly.