Once again, the Brookside at the legendary Rose Bowl was host of another great music festival this past weekend. This Ain’t No Picnic with performances of LCD Soundsystem, The Strokes, Phoebe Bridgers, Le Tigre, Beach House, Idles among others.
Brought by promoter Goldenvoice, the festival celebrated artists from the past, present, and future spanning cutting-edge indie, hip-hop, dance, underground and everything in-between.
Across five stages, the festival featured outstanding performances from a star studded lineup plus Despacio Is Happiness, a specially-created 50,000-watt vinyl-only soundsystem designed by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and Soulwax’s Stephen and David Dewaele (aka 2ManyDJs). Having played just a few select events across the world, festival goers were able to catch Despacio, powered by McIntosh and Jordan Acoustics, all weekend long.
Saturday
On Saturday, Jorja Smith, Earl Sweatshirt, Courtney Barnett, and more took the stage with Le Tigre reuniting for their first performance in 12 years and only live show of 2022. Australian singer Genesis Owusu roamed into the crowd for his set and LCD Soundsystem capped the night with a crowd-pleasing performance of hits.
Sunday
The weekend came to an epic conclusion on Sunday with performances from Beach House, Turnstile, a rare combined set from Four Tet + Floating Points, a rip-roaring set from IDLES and more. Wet Leg hit the Fairway stage for a second time to join Phoebe Bridgers for a finale of “I Know The End” on her biggest hometown show to date – marking the end of the “Punisher” US tour. The Strokes ended the night with a blistering and triumphant set.
