Best and Worst of the Sunset Strip Music Festival

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The Sunset Strip Music Festival took place this weekend, and it was the most diverse incarnation yet, with more DJs, dancing and funky beats than ever, including a hip-hop stage curated by Murs. Still, the festival's heart remained with the L.A. rockers.

The festival has had a troubled few years, and Sunset Boulevard itself is in transition. The event reflected this. Here are our picks for the best and worst of the weekend. The Best

Jane's Addiction Jane's Addiction's Saturday night's performance of their seminal major label debut Nothing's Shocking was everything it should have been: intense, exuberant and wistful as ever. They ordered the tracks just like the record, giving fans a track by track flashback. Like so many times before, a shirtless Dave Navarro seduced the crowd, Stephen Perkins slapped his skins into submission, and ringeader Perry Farrell pranced. He pulverized his menacingly poetic lyrics, stuff he wrote decades ago, but played like the first time. Bassist Chris Chaney did a good job of holding down the essential Jane's basslines, even if we would have loved to see orginal member Eric Avery. Farrell talked about belonging to L.A. and, Saturday night, Jane's Addition really did. They were, are, one of us.

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Empire of the Sun Who knew Empire of the Sun's cosmic stage spectacle had so many fans? Their gilded freakshow blew us away with its elaborate presentation, which featured flashy dancers, intergalactic props, incredible costuming and rave-y visuals. But we were also surprised by the crowd, even more massive than for Jane's the night before. Fusing electronic dance with a Gary Numan-esque new wavey vibe, an Empire concert is like nothing else you'll see live right now.

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Murs' SSMF has slowly been evolving every year. This year saw a major shift, with an entire hip-hop stage, curated by Murs. It featured an array of rappers and turntable rousers. In many ways, it was the most fun to hang at. The two most memorable sets came from Saturday's headliner Riff Raff, who worked an androgynous Jeff Spicoli surfer look and got the crowd (half of which was on stage with him) to chant about cocaine and partying. Half the time he was getting his hair did by a cornrow specialist on stage.

The next day, RA the Rugged Man offered another set to love and hate, as he called out the dumb trendy outfits and fat people in the crowd, threw water at us (and got our camera wet) and was all around over the top. Still, his rhymes sounded fierce and when he got in everyone's faces, including our own, we dug it. It wasn't pleasant, but it was kinda punk.

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Club Rubbing The Roxy and The Whisky featured an array of bands, and while we recognized many of the names on the schedule, this year yielded some bold discoveries too. At the Roxy it was PPL MVR, a weird sort of Chewbacca-garbed crew doing trippy, primitive psych rock. They were utterly mesmerizing and it wasn't all about the fuzzy frocks either.

At the Whisky, Cattle Decapitation, which our friends described as 'vegan death metal,' lived up to their name, pretty much twisting our noggins off like Linda Blair in The Exorcist. Which was fitting because the vocals sounded exactly like a hungry, vegan Satan. The Whisky also offered a small nod to the glam metal heyday of the Strip with a Saturday closing night set by LA Guns, who went on late, with a lineup we didn't recognize, save for the singer. Even so, the guys were smokin' on stage. Say what you will about the Whisky, but the sound there is always still top-notch.

VIP Parties Even though the weather was less brutal outside than it's been, having a place to escape the outdoor hoopla and hustle was welcome. Two hot havens deserve mention. On The Rox, above The Roxy, saw an array of DJs spinning for the actor and hipster sets. Over at Orphic, an upscale rock chic boutique next to the main stage, a VIP rager benefitting the Wounded Warrior Project saw tons of rock stars (members of The Cult and Marilyn Manson) rollicking about, getting massages and snatching up cool clothes for a good cause.

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The Monster Energy Stage Don't get us wrong, there was some real talent on this stage, but even so, the vibe just sort of fell flat compared to the other two stages. For one, it was in an awkward spot, right at the fest's entrance, so it was in your face and too close to the hip-hop stage. Two, the lineup was disjointed. Crosses (featuring Chino Moreno from The Deftones) were too gloomy. Failure was, at least in this environment, kinda just that. The next day, Iration's reggae-infused jams were tight, but strangely too pop for this crowd. And Mayer Hawthorne (who seemed confused about why he was playing there; he dissed the stage sponsor) sounded fine, but probably should have been inside a club. He was all over the place and did a bizarre mash-up of sorts that featured a Backstreet Boys song. It was probably ironic (like his ugly Hawaiian shirt), but still.

The Main Stage We have covered every single SSMF since it first began and for some reason they can never get the layout to work right. Hell, we almost got trampled to death at Motley Crue back in 2011. This year, they had a long partition down the middle of the street leading from the sound booth to the main stage. It did not prevent crowd congestion. It was wasted space, but some drunk gals climbed over it and danced inside. Nobody made them leave. Whatever.

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The Turn Out On the one hand, fewer people in attendance made for a more comfortable experience: less traffic, reasonable lines for food and drink, etc. But there was enough good stuff here to deserve a bigger, better crowd. We're not exactly sure why it didn't sell out. Maybe everyone's fested-out at this point. In all, those who didn't attend missed out on a bodacious block party. Also, we know it's all about the music, but one of the reasons we go to festivals is to people-watch, and this past SSMF could have been way more amusing in that regard. It's nice to evolve, but truth be told, we miss the metal scene.

Like us on Facebook at LAWeeklyMusic @laweeklymusic West Coast Sound's Greatest Hits!The 20 Worst Hipster BandsThe 20 Worst Bands of All TimeThe 10 Biggest Douchebags in Country Music Entities 0 Name: Jane Count: 3 1 Name: L.A. Count: 2 2 Name: Marilyn Manson Count: 1 3 Name: Riff Raff Count: 1 4 Name: Mayer Hawthorne Count: 1 5 Name: Iration Count: 1 6 Name: Sun Count: 1 7 Name: Perry Farrell Count: 1 8 Name: Stephen Perkins Count: 1 9 Name: Sunset Boulevard Count: 1 10 Name: LA Guns Count: 1 11 Name: Cattle Decapitation Count: 1 12 Name: Dave Navarro Count: 1 13 Name: Jeff Spicoli Count: 1 14 Name: Backstreet Boys Count: 1 15 Name: PPL MVR Count: 1 16 Name: West Coast Sound Count: 1 17 Name: Linda Blair Count: 1 18 Name: SSMF Count: 1 19 Name: Farrell Count: 1 20 Name: Eric Avery Count: 1 21 Name: Rox Count: 1 22 Name: Chris Chaney Count: 1 23 Name: Best Jane 's Addiction Jane 's Addiction Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/Z7HKc7 Title: Looking forward, looking back at Sunset Strip Music Festival Description: More than guitars, more than drums and certainly more than the shirt guitarist Dave Navarro characteristically went without, nostalgia was crucial to Jane's Addiction's hometown concert Saturday night in Los Angeles. Fortunately for the band - if not for the rest of us - there was plenty in the air to draw on.