Sunset Strip Music Festival

I found Imagine Dragons my first time here! This is one of my favorite festivals every year. Something about the history of these clubs that just make it a must do!

In terms of bang-​for-​the-​buck, Sunset Strip Music Festival seems like a pretty good deal. It’s $ 50 per day, for 2 days. If you risk your life and go on Craigslist, like I did, you can get tickets for cheaper. On top of that, there was a promotion giving free über rides to and from the event (we took advantage of that).
Most of the music acts aren’t huge, but a lot of the lesser-​known names they brought in this year were very good! A rapper named Slim, and a band called Nightmare and the Cat were two good discoveries. I was originally drawn to this because Jane’s Addiction and Empire of the Sun were headlining.
There is a good amount of dust, so I would bring respiratory protection. There is also a lounge where you can sit and rest by one of the main stages that is a good place to rest your feet. We met a Hells Angel there and took a pic with him.
The food at the food trucks is surprisingly good, especially at one called Me So Hungry — I would check it out! Also, feel free to dress a little crazy, you’ll see some colorfully dressed people here.
Overall, if you live in LA, I would check this festival out. I’ll be going again.

As an event, you get 4 stars. If it were 2010 you’d get 5. As for this year’s (2014) music lineup, you get 1 star. So, I bumped it up a half point from the average for a 3 star rating. I was feeling generous.
Went to Day 2 of the SSMF 2014, the headliner was Empire of the Sun. Not interested, but I’ve been wanting to go to this festival for years and I was either out of town or had nobody to go with. This year my friend wanted to go but he was only interested in seeing Day 2.
I thought about going alone, but didn’t want to feel like a complete loser, even though Jane’s Addiction was the only band the whole weekend I even had the slightest interest in seeing.
I wish I could go back in time to 2010 when Slash, Lemmy, Miles Kennedy, Semi Precious Weapons, Neon Trees, etc. played, or even the Marilyn Manson year, or last year’s Joan Jett inspired year. But of course I had to go the year it was basically a hipster hell hole mixed with hip hop, which is basically my biggest nightmare, besides getting attacked by an overly made up clown, much like the one from Stephen King’s ‘It’ only with giant talons as toe nails instead of clown shoes.
Other than the music, it’s a fun day to be outside in the awesome LA weather at one big block party. There are food stands and trucks and all the alcohol your liver never really knew it wanted. Something’s got to give when your iPod holds your interest more than the band lineup of SSMF 2014.
There are so few real rock n’ roll venues and events left and I wish the Sunset Strip would stick to what it’s good at, rock n’ roll. There are plenty of EDM, hip-​hop, hipster, etc. events. The Sunset Strip should be forever rock n’ roll, no need to branch out, I feel like the attendance of this year’s festival should be proof enough that a true rock n’ roll lineup works better. Plus the fact that they scheduled it on the same weekend as the iHeart music event in Vegas makes me wonder what they were thinking… stop trying to ‘be with the times and trends’ and stick to what you know. It’s like an Italian restaurant putting tacos on the menu, just doesn’t work…

E Not a bad price to see a whole bunch of bands. Unfortunately couldn’t see Lincoln Park because the street is flat. There is no elevation so unless your right by the stage or super tall you won’t be able to see. I liked hanging out at The Roxy and The Whiskey. The food lines are also long. You can’t walk around with drinks either. You need to either go to the beer garden or one of the clubs.

Before this gets buried in my Vegas review pile, I’m gonna go ahead and add my two cents about this music festival.
Not gonna lie, I only knew about the headlining band: Linkin Park. So waiting for them to go on was quite an interesting experience for me to say the least. We got there around 4pm and things were just getting started. Linkin Park wasn’t slatted to go on stage til 9pm or so.
There were some good bands and good food. Some food truck showed up and there was free samples of lemonade and that other drink that people pretended to like.
Good crowd control as far the beer goes but it’s not like they can prevent the drunks from roaming the streets and causing fights in the concert. A lady next to us was removed for fighting with some teenagers.
Overall, I enjoyed watching Linkin Park but I don’t think I’d be going to a music festival anytime soon.

So I decided to splurge for a ticket, my first time at this event. I’m a big Linkin Park fan, and also like AWOLnation and BRMC. What a great line up! I did not spend much time going into the side venues where other bands were playing in the Whiskey, Roxy and Viper Club. There was a lot of diversions going on in the street to catch your attention. No shortage of places to eat, but you had better bring some 20’s with you because a grilled cheese sandwich at the Roxy was $ 6, bottle of water there $ 5, and a slice of pizza at Franks was $ 5 too. There was an assortment of food trucks on hand as well. Many of the eateries had long waits, so dont arrive starving.
The extra money paid for VIP entry was worthwhile. Got to watch bands from better locations without being crushed by the throngs of people. We also got to hang in designated VIP club areas to chill and get food and drink without the lengthy lines from the general admission folks.
I would be happy to return, depending on the band lineup, for future events. Some folks make it a pilgrimmage.
P. S. Please don’t bring your kids. While they discourage people from drinking alcohol openly in the streets, there is a lot of intersting people and foul language that takes place at the afternoon goes on to the night. I was shocked to see a coulple of kids there under 12 and even a couple with an infant. The place gets LOUD!

needs to get more organized, and manage some histarically drunk ppl, but besides that 2013 was good :)

I will have to make this an annual trek. Great music, great food and booze, what an epic summer festival!

So much fun!!! Marylyn Manson played with original members of The Doors, Bad Religion, Offspring, and De La Soul TOO! This was a time to remember for sure.