The West Beach Music & Arts Festival Saturday is like no other large music festival of its kind – abutting the historic Stearns Wharf, adjacent to an even more historic Pacific ocean, and perpendicular to Santa Barbara’s main drag (lower State Street) the festival took place with a sandy, inebriated floor, and a bright and beautiful sky blue sky. The unfortunate part was that dogs were allowed in (and children), and the drunks were wondering why “If your dog can pee here, why can’t I!?”

The music lapped against the tide in a very burningman-esque dusty shakeup of sand, surfers, hippies and cloudcover as it was delivered from three separate stages (and one techno dance tent).

The full line-up included Ben Harper, Steel Pulse, Slightly Stoopid, G. Love, Ozomatli (with special guest Chali Tuna), The Bravery, The Aggrolites, Donovan Frankenreiter and many more. Everything from Reggae, Rock, Electro and Phillie hip-hop splayed out over the land and sea while kids tripped over lost sandles and plastic beer cups stuck in the sand, and adults carved out seats for themselves against blankets and towels in makeshift dunes.

It was fairly apparent that this festival is in its infancy. Only three years old, the beer lines and garden were more chaotic than a demonstration rally and it was easy to note that the security wasn’t too firm when attendees were sneaking in behind the main stage. It’s how I got in, anyway.

The main draw at the festival was Ben Harper by far – the stakes were low. The whole venue packed close to hear Harper’s new undistinguished set. The festival ended at 10 o’clock sharp and the ones still standing  lumbered up state street for the well advertised after-shows.

Photos By Anna Webber

Dave Matthews was a little slow tonight. It was night one at the Greek theater, and whatever Dave Matthews usually melancholy self is like, this seemed to be a bit worse. There were times when it was easy to mistake whether or not he was actually sleeping, or if he was just – really tired.

His usual long drawn out folky folk songs lasted a regular 3 minutes, instead of the typical 10 – 15.

It was a good show. That’s all I have to say about that.