SANTA MONICA, California (July 14, 2016) Thursday night at the Santa Monica Pier saw the bands BORNS and Porches play to a sold out crowd. There were thousands of people on the beach enjoying the Twilight Concert Series and the pier concert area was filled to capacity.
Porches is a nationally touring band who has a chill pop sound. When we arrived at the pier, they weren’t letting people in. The crowd had reached its maximum capacity by 7:00pm. The people on the pier who couldn’t get in to the concert area, seemed to be enjoying the concert all the way back to Bubba Gump’s Shrimp House. The Allbright Restaurant was also completely full. The patio that looked onto the pier had hundreds listening to the concert. Porches played a great set. The sound was dialed in. The stage at the Twilight Concert Series changes color as the band plays and adds an emotional depth to the performance.
We slipped into the VIP area between acts.
As BORNS was getting ready to play, many musicians and VIPs relaxed back stage. Thursday night on the pier is THE place to be this summer. BORNS is one of the most popular bands to play at the pier. Having recently performed at Coachella 2016, they seemed to turn Santa Monica into Santa Monichella for the evening. Huge colorful sculptures floated over the pier. Thousands of people jammed together in front of the stage. BORNS gave one of the best performances on the pier in recent memory. Garrett Borns, hails from Grand Haven, Michigan. His brand of Indie psychedlic pop was refined in New York City before Garrett moved to Los Angeles in 2013. While performing, BORNS seems to channel David Bowie with an amazing voice and an androgynous style. Connor Dolye on guitar sounds amazing. And Connor with Garrett compliment each other. The rhythm was right on Thursday night and the sound was balanced as well.
Thursday was a great night to see what the Santa Monica Pier has to offer. The new Metro Rail system is bringing plenty of people. It’s great to see all of the restaurants and business in downtown Santa Monica filled to capacity. It might even be time to have some restaurants stay open past the 10:00PM hour. Traffic was busy after the concert but not impossible. It was such a beautiful night in Los Angeles.
