Summer CONCERTS

BY C. JAYDEN SMITH

The summer season provides a perfect opportunity for California residents to spend more time outdoors, and despite the gloomy weather that’s plagued Southern California recently, sunny days are ahead.

South County residents have ample chances in the coming months to kick back in the sun and enjoy live music, as the cities of Dana Point, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano will host numerous concert events from July to September.

Performers will include bands that cover music throughout past decades and groups that write original tunes.

In Dana Point, starting on July 7, the Ocean Institute will hold the first of a threepart concert series known as Summer Jams. All proceeds will go toward the Ocean Institute and the Music Preserves Foundation, the latter of which is an organization that aims to educate the Dana Point community through the presentation of music.

Attendees will get to experience an artist interview and access to the intertidal touch tanks and shark tank exhibit at the Ocean Institute.

Vicki Tafoya and the Big Beat, specializing in 1950s-era rhythm and blues, will perform on July 7.

Country band Kareeta plays on July 21, performing music from its 2021 debut album Kareeta

Rock and roll artist Marc Ford follows on Aug. 4, with Mojave Ghost as the opener.

Tickets for each of the Summer Jams events are $35, with interviews beginning at 6:30 p.m. and the show running from 7-9 p.m.

Visit oceaninstitute.org to learn more about the concerts and purchase tickets.

Over at Sea Terrace Park, the city of Dana Point will host its Concerts in the Park, which are free to attend and will feature food and alcoholic beverages to purchase.

Each event will have one band play from 3-4 p.m. and another from 4:30-6 p.m.

Journey tribute band Journey USA and Jumping Jack Flash, a tribute to The Rolling Stones, will play on July 9; the ’90s cover band Sega Genecide and ’80s band Flashback Heart Attack will play on July 16; Fooz Fighters and Led Zepagain are scheduled on July 23; and Pyromania—The Def Leppard Experience and Wildshot Guns and Roses Tribute will perform on July 30.

SouthBound and Company’s “Skynyrd and Frynds Tribute” and Fortunate Son—A Tribute to Creedence Clearwater Revival will play on Aug. 6, and reggae band Common Sense and dance group Tijuana Dogs will perform on Aug. 13.

Sea Terrace Park is located at 33501 Niguel Road, behind the Dana Point Library. Having started its San Juan Summer Nites concert series on June 21, the city of San Juan Capistrano will host three more concerts in the following three months. Each event, at Historic Town Center Park at 31872 El Camino Real, will feature food trucks and beer and wine for purchase, a local business exposition and children’s activities.

Flashback Heart Attack will perform on July 19, followed by country western band Smith on Aug. 16, and Tijuana Dogs on Sept. 20.

All performances are from 6-8 p.m.

The City of San Clemente will host five Summer Concerts from July to August at the Municipal Pier, at 622 Avenida Del Mar. Yachty by Nature, a yacht rock group that features soft rock from the ’70s and ’80s, will play on July 6. Country rock group Kelly Boyz Band will play on July 13, followed by Paging the 90s on July 27, 80z Allstars on Aug. 3, and Tunnel Vision on Aug. 17.

The concerts will run from 6-7 p.m.

Matt Mauser, frontman for Tijuana Dogs, called his group the “anti-tribute band” in an interview with Picket Fence Media. The band plays songs from AC/DC to Eminem to Frank Sinatra.

“We have, basically, no kind of real genre other than just to keep people entertained,” said Mauser. “It’s a show more than it is just coming out and (playing) one style of music.”

Each show is different, Mauser said, as the group intentionally plays without a set list and rather chooses what to play after “reading the crowd.” He added that connecting with people is also important, which happens when the musicians are able to pay attention to what’s happening around them.

One of Flashback Heart Attack’s founding members, a guitarist with the stage name Don Bronze, spoke to Picket Fence Media about playing for cities, which the group doesn’t get to do much.

“The ones that we do get to play are always a good time,” said Bronze, who helped start the band roughly 14 years ago. “I think it’s fun, because it’s more of a family vibe … and we do a lot of stuff that’s corporate events or private events or 21-and-over.”

Performing in more than 100 events yearly has allowed the group, who are all friends outside of playing music together, to be comfortable together and willing to try different things.

“It’s more or less, ‘Don’t take yourself too seriously’; it’s that mentality,” Bronze said. “Just make sure it’s high-energy, engaging, and things that people can relate to.”

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