Rock Fans Celebrate With Signature L.A. Bands

Southern California ushered in the year 2000 with a series of New Year’s Eve concerts that reflected the region’s profound influence on pop music through the past four decades.

From Brian Wilson playing in Redondo Beach and Los Lobos serenading Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Red Hot Chili Peppers moshing at the Forum and the Eagles performing for a well-heeled crowd in L.A.’s newest arena, the local shows were a musical map of local history.

A decidedly nonlocal sound, the splash of falling rain, spoiled some of the fun at Olvera Street, where Los Lobos played a show that drew only several hundred fans. Puddles and chilly winds were unexpected intruders on the event, which included Aztec dancers and banquet tables of pupusas and churros.

Los Lobos drummer Louie Perez said the elements weren’t going to deter his bandmates because “this location is down the street from where we all grew up.”

At Staples Center, the Eagles were joined by Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt, reuniting three acts that defined the Southern California sound of the 1970s.

“Now let’s return to those thrilling days of yesteryear,” Glenn Frey of the Eagles said while introducing “Peaceful Easy Feeling.” The Eagles opened with their signature song, “Hotel California,” and the crowd of 17,500--about 2,500 shy of a sellout--responded with a chorus of New Year’s Eve noisemakers.

At the Hollywood Palladium, Cuba’s jazz-swing ensemble Bamboleo headlined Latin Gala 2000, while a few miles away, Al Green presided over a soul revival at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip. And perhaps no crowd was more colorful than the mob of “parrot-heads” who joined self-styled pirate balladeer Jimmy Buffett for a margarita party at the Universal Amphitheatre. Many paid more than $1,000 for the all-you-can-eat-and-drink fete.

“Sure it’s worth it,” said Pat Delashnutt, who traveled to the show from Iowa.

The historic tone of the night was served well by Brian Wilson’s performance at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center--a show that came 38 years after the first concert by the Beach Boys on New Year’s Eve 1961 in Long Beach.

Hometown heroes played concerts across the country: Billy Joel in New York City, John Mellencamp in Indianapolis, Gloria Estefan in Miami, ZZ Top in Houston. Anemic ticket sales for shows across the country led to numerous cancellations in recent weeks and suggested the public believed the best seat in the house for Y2K was the couch in their own homes.

The shows that went on earned many artists career-high paychecks, led by Barbra Streisand’s reported $15 million for two shows in Las Vegas.

Before singing “Memories,” Streisand told fans at the MGM Grand Garden Arena that the song had a special resonance.

“This is the last night of 1,000 years, and they say you don’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been,” Streisand said. “A dawn of a new century--it’s time for us to look back and reflect.”

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Times staff writers Richard Cromelin, John Glionna, Randy Lewis and Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez contributed to this report.