A recent concert by musician-filmmaker-surfer Jack Johnson being described as “magical” and “out of this world” has the founders of the Coast Film Festival hopeful that its success at the Irvine Bowl might be the precursor to more concerts at the city-owned venue.
“It was phenomenal, there wasn’t a person there who wasn’t in awe of what happened, including Jack,” said Enich Harris, who, with Ben Warner, both Laguna Beach residents, spent four years to bring the concert — in collaboration with the city —and its 5,000 attendees over two nights to the outdoor amphitheatre on the Festival of Arts grounds during the seventh annual Coast Film Festival.
The weekend concert was a test to help gauge support from city leaders and the Festival of Arts board and could help with setting new policies for the use of the Irvine Bowl. Two sound technicians, one hired by the festival organizers and the other by the city, monitored the concerts’ sound from various locations around the bowl.
The 2,500-seat open amphitheatre, which bumps up against the canyons at the edge of Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, has historically been used for the summer run of the Pageant of the Masters, though it’s hosted a handful of concerts over the years and was previously the setting for the Laguna Beach High School graduations.
When James Irvine granted the land to the city in 1947, he stipulated that it be used partially to house a large outdoor amphitheater and a venue for arts and cultural events.
From Harris’s perspective, Johnson’s performance was exactly in the vein of what Irvine might have had in mind.
“Jack was on stage creating a moment,” Harris said. “They play all over the world all the time, and when you see them so happy and engaged and proud of the moment that was created, it was really an ex-worldly out-of-body experience kind of thing for us that we worked so hard on.”
The City Council has been exploring whether the Irvine Bowl might be suitable for hosting more concerts, and with that, whether the noise decibel levels allowed there should be raised from the present cap of 70, which was set in 2020 after complaints from nearby residents.
The results of the study, combined with data from other similar venues, will be used to set new guidelines, officials have said. A subcommittee was created to research and consider a policy that might allow for a more regular lineup of events at the venue.
“I don’t think it could’ve gone better; it really was a magical experience,” said Mayor Alex Rounaghi, who attended both of last weekend’s concerts. “It was so cool to see so many community members come together and just really enjoy the music and the experience.
“I haven’t heard any specific noise complaints,” Rounaghi said, adding the feedback has been “excitement, energy and optimism that we proved what’s possible at the Irvine Bowl. And so the next step is how do we make sure this becomes a regular part of the offseason use as opposed to a one-time concert.”
“The only complaint I’ve heard is from the people who weren’t able to get tickets through the lottery because there was so much demand,” he added.
G. Love, Donovan Frankenreiter, and Jack Johnson (L-R) share the stage during Sunday night’s performance at the Irvine Bowl (Photo by Scott Brashier)
It wasn’t by coincidence that Johnson was selected as the first artist to have a live concert. His vibe and style are exactly what Harris and Warner had wanted for the Coast Film Festival, Harris said. Johnson was, he said, a “perfect person because he fit the ethos of our festival and what we’re all about: environment, sustainability, gathering community around wanting to create change.”
Harris and Warner said their goal was to “earn the respect and trust to get to the level where we can use the bowl,” a vision they’ve long had as an addition to the festival.
Warner said that they took council members to the Santa Barbara Bowl on a sort of field trip to tour the site and also review Santa Barbara’s business plan for uses there. Though bigger than the Irvine Bowl, the venue is also set within a neighborhood.
“Our view is it’s the community’s right to use the bowl more frequently based on how the bowl is donated to the community,” Warner said, adding that with the festival now in its seventh year, he and Harris have learned that it’s a process to get the support and trust of the community and also the local businessses, the Festival of Arts and the council.
Rounaghi said he expects the sound study results to be available in a couple of weeks.
“And, based on best practices from other concert venues that have neighborhoods next to them like the Santa Barbara Bowl, that can inform a new set of policies that make it possible to have live music that is compatible with the surrounding area,” Rounaghi said. “As part of that, we’re working with the Coast Film Festival to come up with a set of policies, including sound policies, that could propose a future Irvine Bowl policy before the end of the year that creates a workable path for live music in the future.”
What type of music is suitable, Rounaghi said, would be up to the Irvine Bowl committee, but he’s open to various genres.
“I feel like you could not have picked a better artist for the first concert,” he said, describing how Johnson put up his surf film on Sunday night and played the live music to accompany it, which also fit well with the festival’s theme. “He’s such a down-to-earth guy and was really excited about live music at the Irvine Bowl. What was exciting for both nights was how well it worked, and it wasn’t like we were trying to do something that felt incompatible with that venue.
“It just felt right,” he said. “It was something that was natural to have a world-class performer like that at the Irvine Bowl.”
The town’s hotels and restaurants also enjoyed an unexpected boon during the town’s off-season, said Mark Christy, who operates The Ranch at Laguna Beach. And, given the artists, he said it was a younger demographic that came to town.
“Here’s this amazing asset, it’s like two-thirds the scale of the Santa Barbara Bowl, and it just sits there empty, it’s not right,” Christy said, adding that the sound from concerts would directly affect him because he lives within earshot of the bowl.
Adam Redding-Kaufman, whose parents own a home overlooking the bowl, watched the concert through the trees from their yard and posted a video of the music on social media.
“It was really rad,” the 31-year-old said. “I watched my friends graduate from high school here. I never thought I’d see Jack Johnson there.”
He did say that the sound was louder than what the Pageant of the Masters typically puts out, but “it was the most fun I’ve had in Laguna in years.”
Redding-Kaufman said there were dozens of people trying to get closer to the bowl through his parents’ yard and the surrounding open space, and that there was a lot of traffic, with some cars illegally parked in the neighborhood.
Laguna Beach Police Chief Jeff Calvert said he had park rangers and police officers on duty over the weekend in the neighborhoods. The film festival also had private security personnel on site. In the end, Calvert said, about 100 to 200 people were asked to move from streets near the bowl.
While he was definitely a fan of the event, Redding-Kaufman said his parents aren’t totally on board.
Ed Kaufman, who is among those leading the charge over noise impacts, said he came back to find a party in his yard, but enjoyed that his son had a good time with all his newfound friends.
“The music of Jack Johnson was terrific, it’s lovely music, but if you’re trying to sleep, you can’t,” he said. “We are in a residential neighborhood and we want certain restrictions.”
Among those playing with Johnson was Donavan Frankenreiter. It was extra special, Frankenreiter said, because he was also there more than 20 years ago when Johnson first premiered his surf films at the Irvine Bowl.
Though Frankenreiter, too, has played all over the world in large and smaller venues, the Irvine Bowl offers a feeling no other place does, he said.
“It feels like an exaggerated campfire vibe,” he said. “It’s a beautiful, incredible place to play. All the grounds and walking in there, and it’s Laguna and Laguna Canyon and all the history of the musicians who have been through there.”
If all goes well with the policy change, Frankenreiter said he and Harris have discussed creating a sort of musical storyteller weekend in the spring.
“That’s what’s so unique about the Irvine Bowl, that’s a place where you can play to 2,500 people and it still feels like you’re playing in front of 25, and you could pull off that sort of larger-scale feeling campfire vibe,” Frankenreiter said, adding he had the feeling playing for the bowl audiences that “we’re not playing music for them, we’re not playing music at them, I feel like we’re playing music with them.
“That was the vibe all weekend,” he said. “I never felt disconnected from the audience.”