Echo Park was agog with tens of thousands of people who came to check out a three day music, food and art festival just outside the downtown area. Now in its fifth year, Echo Park Rising is a free event that focuses on the creativity, inspiration, and diversity of culture in this quickly developing neighborhood. Similar to SXSW, there are multiple venues and activation areas located along the main routes of Sunset Boulevard and Echo Park Avenue where people can watch bands, shop, and engage with a variety of local fare.
Festival goers couldn’t have asked for better weather this weekend, however during the afternoon hours the sun beamed down so hard on the city streets that it caused crowds to desperately search for cover. Literally every inch of shade coming from nearby trees, stop signs, food trucks and tents was taken by people looking for safe haven from the summer heat.
But if you wanted to be front and center for comedian Hannibal Buress‘ 4:30 set on Saturday, you were forced to exit your patch of shade and make your way over to the main stage on Liberty Avenue (which much of the crowd finally did). Even though you were knowingly submitting yourself to being baked and/or melted by the sun during his performance, it was absolutely worth every minute. Hannibal was ragging on camera people in the pit, hecklers in the crowd, and even ended his set with a rap song that he slowed down, unwound, chopped up and sped up – which was all set to a back drop of dancing ballerinas doing pirhouettes on stage.
Following Hannibal’s set were awesome performances by No Parents, Mr. Elevator and the Brain Hotel, and JROCC which served as a perfect transition into the night where Deap Vally and Hanni El Khatib were waiting patiently to headline the event.
Even though Deap Vally’s set was cut a little short, they had no problem stirring the crowd up with a nice mix of hits and B-sides. You could tell from the moment they stepped on stage they were planning for some fireworks, because both girls were dressed head to toe with American Flag jump suits.
Last but certainly not least, Hanni’s performance was hard driving from beginning to end, and almost shut the whole event down early when a group of moshers and crowd surfers nearly broke through one of the stage barriers. But all was well that ended well, and I don’t think anyone was left complaining after he stepped down from the stage that night.
