Echo Park Rising 2026: Sunday Chill

In many ways, Sunday at Echo Park Rising was far more chill for me than Saturday. This was helped by the fact that there were far fewer stages to visit -  though I was still attempting to visit some stages so that I could include them in my photos that I sent off to the festival organizers. Chill doesn't mean I wasn't catching a lot of bands; however. Instead of seeing 31 bands like I did on Saturday, it was reduced to 17 bands on Sunday. That is a lot, but it was less chaotic and I actually saw full sets for a number of bands.

 

Dyes at Echo Park Rising

Dyes kicked off the day for me at Sticky Rice. They had to have the lyrics of the day, "You f*cking lied to me." One of the stages I definitely wanted to photograph was Sick City Records. This year, they had it outdoors, which had some weather disadvantages. It was a hot day though cooler than Saturday. I got to catch The Death Chat, a punk rock band. Amusing moment: one of the band members shifted his mic stand's location around during the set, "Trying to re-find the shade." 

The Death Chat at Echo Park Rising

Maybe another Echo Park Rising tradition will be catching Belle and Chain at Bar Henry. I will admit that I missed their set last year at the same venue, but I did catch up with them the following weekend at Happy Sundays Long Beach. I do enjoy their Americana tunes. What did I notice? The band partners, Spencer Grammer and Davis IL, wore guitar straps with one having the word "Belle" and the other "Chain." 

Belle and Chain at Echo Park Rising

I spent about an hour doing some street photography to include in what I sent off to the festival organizers and then it was off to The Echo for Grand Ole Echo. There were many familiar faces in the crowd. Opening up the night on the main stage was The Incantations with their roots rock. Out on the patio, playing between sets, was Tone Slingers. My first encounter with that band was at Echo Park Rising 2023. 

The Incantations at Echo Park Rising

Tone Slingers at Echo Park Rising

East Coast based Paisley Fields (moniker for James Wilson) dropped on by Los Angeles. Their Wikipedia page mentions that they are a queer country music artist that got the name Paisley Fields, because that was location of the band's first gig. Comment of the night, "A little Broke Back Mountain moment." 

The following moment has to be one of the highlights of the festival. Out on the dance floor were couples doing their two step dancing and circling through the couples were mosh pit participants. It all worked wonderfully without any accidents. Emily Rose later mentioned of the dance floor, "Mosh pit and two stepping . . . when you think you've seen it all." 

Paisley Fields at Echo Park Rising

The highlight of the day, for me, was Emily Rose & the Rounders. I've been a fan since my first encounter back in early 2020. For one song, she called up Grand Ole Echo promotor Ben Reddell who was no where to be seen. Someone went looking for him and he hopped up on stage mid-song to join in a duet. When the song was finished he mentioned what a great show it was and how they were going to have to cut it short, because "I have a puppet show." 

Emily Rose & the Rounders at Echo Park Rising

I do love Emily Rose, but I had to leave a couple songs before the set ended. Make Out Music over at Sticky Rice suggested that I check out Uffie. She was supposed to hit the stage at 10 p.m. As you would have it, due to the fact that the previous band ended their set just at around 10 p.m. and there were technical issues, she didn't start her set until around 10:30 p.m. I could have caught the full Emily Rose set. Oh well, perhaps I wouldn't have gotten such a good spot to take Uffie photos if I had stuck around for a full set. Life of a festival. Grand Ole Echo had a highlight of the festival and so did Uffie. Well, I guess it wasn't actually Uffie. I mentioned in previously write-ups about the festival that a trend of the festival was musicians involving their kids. Uffie has a 16 year-old daughter and she was the ultimate hype person. During the technical issues, she kept the crowd engaged. One could see a genuine connection between mother and daughter. 

Uffie at Echo Park Rising

How did I do in my attempt to capture as many stages as possible? I know I definitely missed out on two stages and likely a handful more here and there. But hey, I shot 61 bands over the three days. You'd think I would be exhausted from it all, which I was, but I stayed up until 1 a.m. Monday (Tuesday early morning) going through photos. 

Note that I wrote a separate article about Sonora Pines' set.