For nearly two decades on a Sunday in August, people from the eclectic community of Sunset Beach have rallied around the music of bands they had come to enjoy during their formulative years.
Concert goers again filled the Sunset Beach Community Center Sunday as two of the area’s most popular tribute bands rocked the afternoon away.
With two giant lava lamps gracing each side of the bar, and tie-dyed decorations blowing in the mind, Shawn Kelly and his bandmates in Led Zepland did a two-hour set of Zeppelin classics, ending the evening with the anthem “Stairway to Heaven” and closed with “Kashmir.”
Earlier, Jason Tosta and his Doors tribute band “Strange Days” opened the afternoon of rock.
Back at the helm this year was Barbara D’Angelo, who has organized the event that began in the early 2000s.
“So many people came up to me and said thanks for an afternoon of joy,” said D’Angelo, noting that one many came into the event from more than an hour away because he said classic rock music brings “joy and happiness to so many people.”
“I’m truly grateful to everyone in the community for their continued support,” she added, saying many of the people attending the event have been coming for years.
Over the years, she said the event has become “important” to the community, if for no other reason than its “positive impact” It brings.
D’Angelo, who donates the proceeds each year to the Sunset Beach Community Association, said she has not yet had a chance to complete the accounting from this weekend’s event, but is expected to make another significant contribution in the coming weeks.
“People have to understand, this is dying breed of music. We need to soak it all in,” said a concert attendee named Alfredo, from Marietta, CA. “Today’s generation just doesn’t have the same feeling about it like we feel. There’s just something special about old school rock.”