Photos and review by NOTES FROM VIVACE
LOS ANGELES – On a perfect summer day in Los Angeles, Echo Park Rising took over a mile plus stretch of Sunset Boulevard (and a side street or two) to put on a celebration of the LA local music scene. Though music was the focus, it should be mentioned that the event started off early in the morning at Echo Park Lake with the highlight being the Bob Baker Marionette Theater entertaining kids and young at heart adults with a puppet show.
By mid-day, lines were forming outside The Echo and Sticky Rice to catch bands like Jen Awad. The Blushes over at The Semi-Tropic entertained the audience with their outrageous humor and catchy pop-punk tunes. Dream Phases and their psychedelic rock also packed a punch at The Semi-Tropic.
The focus of Echo Park Rising wasn’t just The Echo / Echoplex, Sticky Rice, and The Semi-Tropic stages. Cantiq was the place to be at 4 p.m., because Fangerbanger came on stage with their anime, video game, punk mashup that packed the house. The band had to rank as a Top 5 set of the festival. Over on the far west side of the festival Ki Oni at P.F. Candle Co. put on a meditative set while people shopped for candles and on the far east side Scary Pierre rocked the open air stage at Bar Henry while vehicles zipped on by on Sunset Blvd. Bar Flores in the middle of the Sunset festival stretch opened up with singer-songwriters Priscilla Perry and Jill Ryan (who later in the day played saxophone for festival headliner Miya Folick). And if you wanted a taste of Americana-Country, Stories hooked you up in the afternoon. There were groups of people seen walking up a lonely stretch of the boulevard as they headed to The Douglas stage. Some people, it was noticed, just followed the sound of the music. “I hear music, let’s head in that direction,” was overheard.
The Echo was at capacity when 60juno played their 6:30 p.m. set. There was no room to jam people in anymore and so security began directing people down to the larger Echoplex. Over at Sticky Rice, MACKandgold had a crowd overflowing the outdoor stage, had a line of people hoping to come in to catch her set, and had people standing 3 deep on the Lemoyne St sidewalk. Actually, just like last year when she also played the same stage. And why not? MACKandgold has some of the catchiest tunes in the Los Angeles music scene that entices her fans to sing along to the choruses. And sometimes, she’ll just trick them out so that they’re singing the lyrics at the “wrong” moment. It should also be noted that MACKandgold booked the line-up for the stage so she did double work at the festival.
During the evening hours, Nitefire took the stage at the Echoplex. Nico Geyer fronts the band with a charismatic attitude and chill approach to their pop rock jams. “LA’s Got Gorgeous” is a song that explains it all for this band. To end the set, Geyer jumped off the stage and the crowd rushed to surround him as they joyfully created a mosh pit.
The focus of the festival was Miya Folick at the Echoplex. Most stages, including upstairs at The Echo, had their last sets by 9 p.m. as if it was an indication that everyone needed to head to one location by 10:15 p.m. Her 9 song set included a trio of songs from her 2023 album “Roach” as well as six songs from her upcoming album. Based on the audience reaction, it is sure to be a success, especially the song “La Da Da.” One has to say this about Folick, she’s very tolerant of drunk people. She found one individual particularly amusing who wasn’t heckling, but was being drunkenly disruptive. She was in on the joke that she was dealing with someone who had way too many drinks during the festival. Everyone laughed along with her. She also mentioned her fond memories of hanging out at The Echo / Echoplex, sometimes five days a week. A hometown crowd. A hometown festival.
As a note: Sticky Rice did have a Sunday schedule that was well attended. Perhaps a toe in the water to expand this festival to two days come 2025. Let us hope.
