Long Beach residents and folks from all parts of the Golden State dragged themselves to the streets of Long Beach early Saturday morning. The crowd didn’t anticipate watching cars drive around in circles for hours, however. They had their eyes on something else – records.
Record Store Day hit Long Beach with Fingerprints, Durty Mick and DyzzyOnVinyl all offering rare single-day releases. Fingerprints and Durty Mick both opened their doors at 6AM for eager shoppers and collectors.
{gallery}angela/morningmisc{/gallery}
Some Fingerprints shoppers camped out at 9 p.m. the night before to nab limited finds, while others found their way to the back of a snaked line around the corner of Fourth Street that almost reached Third Street. Popular records included releases from The White Stripes, Best Coast, Iggy Pop and the Stooges and Wings.
After a mass of music enthusiasts left the store, hands filled with stacks of tunes, more fans formed lines outside in anticipation of Fingerprints performances. Best Coast played first at 1 p.m., filling the store with bubble-gum scented surf rock.
{gallery}angela/bestcoast{/gallery}
Next on the bill was Jimmy Eat World, who relived the crowd’s high school and middle school nostalgia by playing older hits like “The Middle.” They also played new tracks off their most recent album “Damage,” which is set to be released by June 11.
{gallery}angela/jimmyeatworld{/gallery}
Durty Mick, a punk-based record shop right around the corner from Fingerprints on Third Street and Elm, hosted D-jays, like Skinhead Ron, who spun hardcore punk rock vinyl all afternoon before prepping for performances by Amigo the Devil and Death March.
{gallery}angela/durtymick{/gallery}
Fingerprints continued their live music with performances by musical genius and former Wings guitarist Laurence Juber as well as the Californian bass player and punk pioneer Mike Watt, who joined the stage with his band The Secondmen at 8 p.m. to close out the night.
{gallery}angela/juber{/gallery}
“Bringing people together. That’s what record stores are here for,” Watt said.
{gallery}angela/watt{/gallery}