The big-bash conclusion of the annual Sunset Strip Music Festival, held for the fifth time Saturday in West Hollywood, always benefits from the most authentic setting of just about any single-day blast in Southern California: a sealed-off stretch of Sunset Boulevard, from the Whisky a Go Go at the east end to the Key Club (once the site of Gazzarri’s) up a slight incline toward the west.

Click here for more photos from the Sunset Strip Music Festival.

The deeply influential history of that part of L.A. wasn’t lost on an awestruck Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman, guitarist for veteran Huntington Beach punk rock band the Offspring, penultimate main-stage performer this time and the most visible act amid a sizable O.C. contingency at SSMF 2012, including afternoon turns from the Bolts and Midnight Hour.

“We used to drive up here from Orange County to see the Ramones play the Palladium (several miles to the east) or to see the Clash play the Whisky and the Roxy,” Noodles recalled shortly into the group’s solid 75-minute turn as the sun finally set.

Read more on the Sunset Strip Music Festival on the Soundcheck Blog.

Photos by Armando Brown, for the Orange County Register

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