Hippie Sabotage at the Ventura Fairgrounds

Concerts in your Car kicked into overdrive Saturday, April 24th at the Ventura County Fairgrounds with the highly-anticipated Hippie Sabotage making an epic return to live music with their first performance since the pandemic began. An unexpected surprise to the audience was announced merely hours before showtime: the one and only Ilo Ilo came through to get the party started as the show openers!

It was like the Direction of Dreams tour all over again… and SoCal showed up.

The crowd was still filling in during a beautiful California sunset as Ilo Ilo took the stage. Starting the night off right with their top hit “come thru”, anybody who didn’t love them before were certainly fans now. Fans used the space between the vehicles as personal dance floors, there was a little break dancing, some rollerskating glowing capes flying around, too — it was a whole vibe. Ilo Ilo kept the party going, playing new songs and old favorites, such as “Be Cool”, “where u been” and, lastly, their newest single “Barricade”. The crowd was hyped, the sun was set and Ilo Ilo asked the age-old question, “Whose ready to see Hippie Sabotage?”

We knew what time it was.

The stage music shut off, lights down, there was a bunch of smoke and then all you hear is a friendly voice: “Hey guys what’s goin on?” Cue the entire crowd screaming as loud as possible. Starting with a soft opening of gratitude and how this was their first show this year, it’s so incredibly hard NOT to love these guys! Kevin started off speaking directly to the audience while Jeff followed suit and — after we all had our happy tears moment, rejoicing being together with live music again — the actual celebration began with no holding back. Treating the audience with an array of original productions and beats to get dancing shoes loose was first on their list. The entire atmosphere of the night was just fun, happy, energetic and light. Soon, Hippie Sabotage started to sprinkle in the hits. They started with their legendary remix of “Habits (Stay High)” from Tove Lo, which got the entire lot absolutely screaming. I barely had any voice left for the other incredible hits played, liked “Devil Eyes” (cue the Tik Tok-ers), “Options” and “Trust Nobody”. An epic night for the books, indeed. As of now, there are not any new shows announced for Hippie Sabotage, but stay tuned for a new album being teased online! We love a good unexpected album drop!!

Photography by Franny Kovacs

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