5 Takeaways From The Music Tastes Good Festival 2018

LONG BEACH, CA – Over the weekend, Music Tastes Good took over Downtown Long Beach for its third year. Reminiscent of a concert in the park, the music and arts festival brought the casual, laid-back feeling of a community event with the star power of a well-established music festival.

With headliners New Order, James Blake, Joey Bada$$ and Janelle Monae, it was a festival that had a little of everything – no matter what your style, there was a musician you'd love to see and food you'd love to eat.

Here are five stand-out moments from Music Tastes Good:

1. Broken Social Scene brought comfort during a weird time in the U.S.

“We’re your Canadian neighbors, and you’re going to get through this time,” singer Kevin Drew told the crowd.

The Canadian band, which helped shape the indie rock genre in the mid-2000s, played one of their most beloved albums "You Forgot It in People" in its entirety. Personally, this album was the soundtrack to my teenage years, so hearing their hits "Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl" and "Lover's Spit" live was surreal – but the words of the love and support from the band was even better.

Referencing the Senate hearings and America's political climate, Drew paused in between songs to offer his condolences to the crowd.

2. The food.....oh, the food.

Days later, and my mouth still waters at the thought of the food offered at Music Tastes Good. Aside from all the food trucks and booths scattered throughout the festival, the Taste Tent was where the real magic happened.

Dawna Bass from Under the Sun, a raw vegan eatery in Long Beach, served the tastiest jalapeño cheeseburger with smoked vegan gouda, and a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting that was devoured in minutes. Other highlights include: tacos, tacos and more tacos, tater tot nachos, drunken noodles and churro-flavored soft pretzel. Yes, it was a two-day festival. Yes, my photographer and I tried all of that food in within the time frame.

3. Sun Kil Moon's bizarre ramblings....er....music

Sun Kil Moon is a folk rock band formed in the early 2000s, initially a continuation of the defunct indie rock band Red House Painters. However, the band's Music Taste Good performance was more avant garde than any folk rock I've ever heard. In a borderline bizarre performance, lead singer Mark Kozelek sang, what sounded like, ramblings from his personal diary.

In one song, he spoke of how he loved everyone, but then went and listed a few things he actually hated – The Eagles, being one of them. Regardless, I would still consider myself a fan – Kozelek destroyed the typical structure of a music festival performance and just did his own thing.

4. The vinyl record selection was outrageous

I've made my way through plenty of vinyl record pop-ups at music festivals. Typically, there are a handful of bins full of albums by bands playing at the festival, marked up a good 25-40% in price – because hey, why not? People will still buy them.

However, Music Tastes Good reminded you that you were, in fact, at a Long Beach music festival with Long Beach merchants. Local favorites like Fingerprints Music and Third Eye Records had specials going on – from $3 bins to 4 for $20, it was a great way to get a lot of vinyl for cheap.

Plus, they offered to hold them for you until the end of the night. Score!

5. New Order, James Blake, Joey Bada$$, Parquet Courts

Music Tastes Good brought big names to a small venue, which lent attendees the ability to feel like they were seeing iconic artists in an intimate setting.

Children twirled and spun while New Order, iconic 80s synth band, played their danciest tracks. James Blake sang his unique rendition of Joni Mitchell's "Case of You," which caught me by surprise. It's one of my favorite songs of his, but for a headliner to play a cover is rare.

Joey Bada$$ added rap-influenced hip-hop to a festival that didn't know it needed it – a perfect example of how the line-up was all over the place, but somehow worked together.

Finally, Parquet Courts, a rock band from New York City, routinely asked the crowd "Do we taste good?" (in reference to the festival's name).

"I don't know if you guys do, but the noodles I'm eating sure do," the guy next to me chuckled.

Photos by Matt Goulding