It’s a sweltering Saturday in Virginia Beach as I walk south down the concrete boardwalk from my hotel to the oceanfront stage. When I get close to the festival’s entrance on 8th Street, it’s clear to everyone that something big is going down.
A heavy but friendly police presence stands watch as hundreds of music lovers mingle outside the fenced in beach area, waiting to show their tickets and get their bags inspected. The crowd is jubilant and the smell of fried food lingers in the air as Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” floats over the summer beach party.
I’m here for the 3rd annual Point Break Music Festival, a two-day marathon held on June 20th and 21st in one of the most popular tourist destinations on the east coast.
Over 15,000 fans descend on Virginia Beach every summer to see reggae and surf-rock bands like this year’s headliners: Sublime, Slightly Stoopid, Dirty Heads, and Rebelution. These legends will join 16 other talented bands to play from noon to midnight on Saturday and Sunday, all while the waves crash just feet from the crowd.
As I walk in and get my credentials from a cordial organizer (I can’t praise the staff enough), it’s like sliding into a sandy oasis of food shacks, merch stands, beer kegs, and portable toilets. Locals Brad and Tiffany Payne of Virginia are talking to friends next to the long path that runs the full length of the ephemeral venue.
“The amenities this year are really incredible and the lineup is sweet,” says Tiffany. Her husband Brad adds that they have been to Point Break all three years, “and will never miss one again.”
A pretty girl with dreadlocks spins in a sundress next to me as the Hip Abduction begins “Time and Space” and two kids toss a football past my head. The energy is positive, family friendly, and palpable – like a rush of static electricity passing through each body huddled next to the Atlantic Ocean.
Two immense stages face each other a half a mile apart while a sea of fans stand in between them – sentinels on the sandy coastline that host one band at a time so that nothing is missed. Saturday afternoon is crazy hot and fans walk under mist-makers to cool off as the Elovaters take the main stage by force, playing steel drums behind lead singer Wetherbee’s mellifluous voice.
After the sun sets and dusk falls over the turquoise ocean, Slightly Stoopid finishes a raucous set and we get ready for an old favorite. Sublime’s new permanent lead singer is Jakob Nowell, the son of the band’s late founder Bradley Nowell, and he is as hot as the sand under our feet. Jakob calls out some of the new songs from Sublime’s first album in 30 years, Until the Sun Explodes, and brings a bro-ska-punk energy to the stage that we haven’t seen yet.
“Are you fuckers ready?” Nowell screams. With one foot up on a monitor he jumps into the air, writhing and bouncing while ghost-rapping to his dad’s songs.
With the night coming to an end, a warm feeling of community comes over me and my partner as we sit on the beach stargazing.
“It feels like everyone knows everyone here,” Heather says.
We wake up on Sunday to a strong cup of coffee and walk down the boardwalk to the festival, passing hundreds of heads on the way; painting, playing guitar, coming up from the sea after a swim.
The afternoon is a slow burn with talent like Mihali and Kes taking the main stage in between Tropidelic and KBong playing the second stage. The Movement comes onto the scene with attitude and stretches each bass line and riff into the far horizon with songs like “Mexico” and “Sounds of Summer”, killing the crowd with antics – like Jason climbing the scaffolding poles a little too high.
These guys are genuinely nice and have been guest artists on many reggae and surf rock songs. The bands at Point Break don’t compete – they collaborate, trading melodies and verses like old homies swapping stories around a bonfire. The fans know it too; they’re part of the same tribe, a community that’s grown from beach bars to national tours without losing its roots.
The Movement’s drummer, Gary Jackson, elaborates: “With reggae rock, we’re all singing the same song as the elders before us. Bob. Burning Spear. We’re all from the same source, and we inspire each other from that source.”
This is evident in the amount of shout out’s given throughout the weekend – everyone on stage, no matter how successful, paid homage to someone else at the festival.
“Collaboration in this genre is important. Every one has their certain soul that they bring to the song, but we’re all one,” Jackson adds. “All these bands have toured together. We travel together, eat together…there’s a lifestyle of health not wealth and we think that working as a team is better than working alone.”
Sadly, day two of the festival is almost over, with the crowd swaying together singing the words from The Dirty Heads’ “Vacation” and pumping their fists in the air during “Oxygen”, played with excessive bass that fit perfectly. After a long break, Rebelution takes the stage for what seems more like an ayahuasca trip than a concert. Spirituals flow from the speakers and the best light show of the weekend creates some spectacular memories.
Point?Break isn’t just a festival; it’s a living ecosystem. Fans travel from up and down the coast wearing the same faded tees from last year’s show. The artists blur the line between performer and fan – wandering through the crowd after sets, signing posters, hugging strangers. There’s no backstage hierarchy, just shared sand and sound. Just music and love.
Review Written By: Ryan M. Moser
