Saturday was the first day of Sunset Junction and I couldn’t have been more excited to get there.  After a near impossible search for parking, it was decided that I’d park at Sidney’s and we’d make the half-mile hoof down the hill to the junction.  On the way, we ran into some excited hipsters who clothed us in glow bracelets and geared us up for the evening ahead.  When we finally arrived, we ran right to the Sanborn Stage to catch Fishbone.  We walked up during the “All Together Free” chant that they had engaged the crowd in.  It was a fun show and really feel-good music…well at least until the “Let Dem Ho’s Fight” song which seemed to be a favorite of the ornery members of the audience.  Shortly after, the mood was back to jolly as the guys covered “Date Rape” by Sublime, which definitely went over well with the crowd. Fishbone poked fun at the parking situation in Silver Lake and complained of parking tickets before continuing on with the set.

Next, it was a mad dash to the Electro Stage to see what this Shiny Toy Guns – Hybrid Digital was all about.  Chad and Jeremy were on stage with a guitar, keyboard, pedal boards, and lots of synth playing remixed versions of popular Shiny Toy Guns tunes.  While the boys played, dancers entertained…and scared the audience.  There was a girl in point shoes and a guy dancing with a bare chest and leather straps, accented by a black and white mask.  Next, a guy came out wearing poofy pants and a cape like shirt with leather on his chest and an expressive white facemask.  He brought out the biggest white balloon I have ever seen, blew it and then put it over his face and jumped around with his face poking through as the music chanted, “go, go, go.”  After it popped, which was inevitable, he threw it into the crowd.  There were guys in G-stings, girls dancing with fire batons, and all kinds of entertainment.  Shortly after, the scariest person I have ever seen came out in a shiny skintight outfit with feathers coming out of his head and a mask with freaky make-up.  He crawled around stage and put a metal mask over his head and ran what looked like some sort of electric saw up against it creating sparks that flew and shot all over stage.  I definitely saw some of the crowd step back a bit when he made awkward eye contact with them.  The crowd was captivated by the STG antics and almost everyone in attendance was pointing a camera on stage.  Even the girl that had obviously drank too much and was beyond suffering slumped over the fence barricade and fought through her pain to watch the set – that’s a die hard fan!

We swung by Ghostland Observatory who definitely had the majority of the crowd captured by their attention but also wanted to check out Bad Brains, as we had heard such a rumbling buzz about the band from fans all day.  The crowd was nuts – throwing bottles, crowd surfing, aggressive fist pumping, and lots of moshing.  Oh do people like their Bad Brains.  The tunes were flowing and the band made sure people paid attention as they one time paused to say, “Listen.  Listen to the music.  Can you listen?”  If you walked by the stage, you at least stopped to stare at lead singers H.R. who was hard to miss with his beanie covering a towel on his head that often fell off during the set.

After a great day of music, running from stage-to-stage, fighting off unruly crowds of die hard music fans, getting our toes stepped on and shoulder checked too many times to count, it was time to hike back up the hill to our car and get some rest to tackle tomorrow.  I’d definitely call Saturday a success but when my head hit the pillow, I was so ready for some rest.

Words by Nicole Pajer.  Photos by Sidney Bensimon