We decided to make a trip to the Ohana Music Festival an annual outing and returned for our second visit.

The real selling point to the concert for us, a pair of Gen-Xers, was the headliner of the final night, Pearl Jam.

We flew down to San Diego on Saturday September 26, getting a free upgrade to first class on our Delta flight. I had made a bit of a mistake with the planning, thinking that Doheny Beach was farther south than it is, which made our return a bit more of a hassle, but oh well. We stopped at La Jolla Cove where we saw seals and sea lions. We stayed in the Margot Hotel. Nice, but the service was pretty weak. Traffic was bad in the area as there was a Padres game going on just blocks away. We spent the afternoon visiting the Embarcadero and Seaport Village and saw a glorious sunset.

Sunday, we headed up to Dana Point and the show. We made a quick stop at a quilt store and met the shop dog in the photo above. Access was easy and we got right in. Just like last year, there was an amazing amount of food. A few of the early bands were pleasant surprises. Again this year, we noticed the bill featured a lot of female musicians. I’m pretty sure that’s intentional and its great to see those bands get a little more of the spotlight.

The Pixies rocked the house, of course. Frank Black took a rare moment to address the crowd, if only to call for Eddie Vedder to come join the band for Wave of Mutilation. He also gave a wave as he left the stage, which is more acknowledgment than he gave last time we saw them.

Fontaines DC played in the slot before Pearl Jam. I had not heard of them before, but the singer said they were returning after playing the festival in 2019. In the days since, I have been listening to them a lot. They’re really good.

During their set, I went to the merch table. Just like the last show, the lines were incredibly long.

Finally, it was Pearl Jam. They opened the show with a short video of Glenn Hansard’s performances over the years. He was with Eddie and the Earthlings when we saw them last September. He died in a motorcycle accident this summer. Following the memorial, the band launched into Given to Fly. Midway through the night, Eddie brought a young man on stage, telling a story of how the kid won his fourth grade talent show with a Pearl Jam song. Turns out , the kid is Billy Strings and the song was Elderly Woman, which they then played. Strings stayed with them for a second song, covering Neil Young’s Throw Your Hatred Down.

They finished off the night with several of the big early hits, Jeremy, Evenflow, Alive, Better Man (the chorus of which Eddie dedicated to their new drummer Abe Laboriel Jr).

We watched last weekend as a couple bands worked the crowd to get some call and response going, with varying degrees of success. I don’t think you could have stopped this crowd from joining in. And let me tell you, if you’re Gen X , there is not much that would be better and getting you in a place you need to be than standing on a beautiful SoCal beach on a gorgeous late summer night singing along to Black with Eddie Vedder and 15-thousand of your best friends.

Alas, all good things come to an end and the night came to a close with Billy joining them again as they hit another Neil cover, Rockin’ In The Free World, and a tag from Yellow Ledbetter.

Can’t wait to be there again next year.

Finally, for the perfect capper to the weekend, we got a beautiful shot of Tahoma (Mt. Rainier) on our drive home from the airport.