Eddie Vedder’s Ohana Festival first took place in 2016 at the Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, CA as a two-day lineup headlined by Eddie Vedder and Lana Del Rey. Since then, it has evolved into three days at the same location and headlined by artists including Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stevie Nicks, P!nk, and many more. This year’s Ohana festival took place the weekend of September 26th. Headlining day one was Kings of Leon (Nathan Followill on drums,) a band Vedder has wanted to include since the beginning of creating the festival. Vedder closed out day one with his band The Earthling’s who made their debut at Ohana 2021 with Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith. However, Chad was on tour and Abe Laboriel Jr. filled in. Before these sets were Garbage (Butch Vig), Stereophonics (Jamie Morrison), and Lukas Nelson (Max Flanders). Vedder made a few appearances throughout the day from kicking off the festival to playing acoustic with Nelson and announcing Kings of Leon’s set.

Day two headlined by Hozier (Rory Doyle) and Leon Bridges (Brandon Combs) and performances from Rainbow Kitten Surprise (Jess Haney), Tedeschi Trucks Band (Tyler Greenwell and Isaac Eady), and Royel Otis (Tim Commandeur). During Tedeschi Trucks set they honored Jeff Beck with “Beck’s Bolero” and one of Vedder’s favorite bands The Who with “The Seeker.”

Ohana day three had a closing performance from Green Day (Tre Cool) with Cage the Elephant (Jared Chamption). Also performing was Wet Leg (Henry Holmes) and James (David Baynton-Power and Deborah Knox-Hewson). Vedder appeared on Sunday under the alias Amanda Reckonwith and revealed it was John Entwistle’s alias name for hotels. Vedder played an acoustic set and was joined by Glen Hansard for a few songs. Advertisement

This was Green Day’s second to last show on their Saviors Tour. Green Day played an incredible 23 song set followed by their usual intros of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and The Ramones “Blitzkrieg Bop.” Green Day kicked things off with “American Idiot,” a fan was brought up to sing the chorus for “Know Your Enemy.” The set included hits “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “Welcome to Paradise,” “Basket Case,” “When I Come Around,” “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life),” and a partial version of David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust.”

The unique part about Ohana is the intimate setting on the beach and seeing headliners perform to smaller crowds. Ohana only consists of two side-by-side stages so you can see all the bands throughout the day.

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