DJ Snoopadelic performs onstage at KROQ Weenie Roast & Luau at Doheny State Beach on June 8, 2019 in Dana Point, Calif.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images for KROQ
When the lineup for the 27th annual KROQ Weenie Roast was originally announced last month it was the usual reflection of the current alternative scene, with The Lumineers, currently riding high on the Billboard charts with “Gloria,” longtime KROQ stalwarts 311, The Revivalists, Silversun Pickups and more leading the bill for the Weenie Roast’s first trip out to Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, Calif.
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The vibe at the new venue was intended to reflect a beach party and luau, which showed early in the day with the number of beach chairs and towels spread out across the grass in front of the main stage.
However, late additions Snoop Dogg (performing as DJ Snoopadelic) and Limp Bizkit brought back some of that old-school Weenie Roast vibe — especially Bizkit, with a very rowdy 30 minutes that had beach towels replaced by circle mosh pits.
Snoop, appearing at his first-ever Weenie Roast, told Billboard after his set and after a long visit backstage with Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst how he felt about making his Weenie Roast debut. “The beauty of this is I got a long career, so a lot of those rockers that’s performing up here … I’ve performed with them, I’ve been on tour with some of these groups,” he said. “A lot of these guys are my friends over the years of us making music. So to get back together again and be in an environment where it’s not hip-hop and it’s just based on music for everybody, it’s a good thing to be able to come DJ and come sit back and enjoy the whole festivities of a Weenie Roast. I know what this shit is about. KROQ been doing this shit for a long time. I’m just honored to be a part of it for the first time and really be able to put my paw prints on it and do what I do.”
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For Durst, being back at the Weenie Roast is part of a greater Limp Bizkit resurgence that he is particularly enjoying because it’s come while Limp Bizkit has stayed true to itself, he believes. And as he points out, they’ve let everybody else react. “Last we knew, [KROQ] hated us after the Weenie Roast riot 19 years ago that they said we started,” he said. “And there was a lot of shit-talking and things from people here today and back in the day. And we just kind of tuned it out. And now we’re here doing this little surprise pop-up show for them. And I know the people who were talking shit, but it’s nice to see them coming up and being so nice. I’ll never bring it up or acknowledge it to them, but I like the feeling of, ‘Yeah, man, we’re just staying consistent. You want to act and react and say this. We’re just kind of gonna be us and stay us because I don’t think we know how to do anything else.'”
Indeed, staying true to themselves, Durst and mates had a lot of fun with their six songs, which included “My Generation,” “Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle)” and the closing “Take a Look Around.” At one point he joked, “We were told all food and drink were free while Limp Bizkit was onstage, so it was a good time for a break-y.” Guitarist Wes Borland jumped into the mosh pit for “Break Stuff,” while Durst brought a young boy by the name of Aidan up on to the stage.
As Durst said, the band is having fun and they did it on their terms, leaving an indelible imprint on Weenie Roast 2019. Also leaving an imprint, albeit in a different way, were The Revivalists. The hard-touring New Orleans band who had a decade of work under their belts before they became “overnight” alternative radio stars with “Wish I Knew You” showed the crowd and everybody what happens when you are road-tested before becoming stars.
The band worked the crowd into a frenzy with a funky, fun, superb set highlighted by radio hits such as “All My Friends” and deeper jams like “Got Love” and “Celebration.”
Also standing out was the always consistent Silversun Pickups, who celebrated the release of Widow’s Weeds, their first album in four years, this past Friday with a stirring hometown set Saturday. Standouts included “Lazy Eye,” “Panic Switch” and the new tracks “It Doesn’t Matter Why” and “Freakazoid.”
Radio station shows, whether it’s the pop-laden Wango Tango a week earlier or Weenie Roast, are created for bands to show off their hits, past and present. And bands like The Lumineers, who have amassed an incredible run of alternative staples like “Ophelia,” “Gloria,” “Ho Hey” and “Cleopatra,” and 311, a part of the fabric of KROQ’s history, are the cleanup hitters of a day like this. And neither disappointed, giving the crowd lots of opportunities to sing along and relive recent and past memories, and create some new ones along the beach on this day.
