concert review

For those of you who do not live in San Diego, here is a brief history of the Street Scene music festival. The event started in 1984 as a semi-annual end of summer music celebration. Initially there were only two stages set up on opposite ends of a single block festival area in the Gaslamp district of downtown San Diego. By 1988 the festival had grown to five stages and had become an annual occurrence on the San Diego calendar. 1990 was the first year to host both Friday and Saturday band line-ups, and by 1995 a Sunday “All Ages” bill was added as well.

This three day prototype would remain intact through 2004 as Street Scene grew to somewhat ridiculous proportions. What started as an event headlined by acts such as X and Los Lobos, was now pulling A-List major label talent such as REM, Snoop Dogg, The Foo Fighters, and The Sex Pistols. Yes, the times had certainly changed.

But so had downtown. The construction of Petco Park and the subsequent massive revitalization of the downtown area that housed many of the events stages (parking lots which were turned into yuppie bars, condos, eateries etc.) threw quite the wrench into the Street Scene floor plan. There were more people than ever flocking to the festival, but now there was even less space to accommodate them. Something had to budge.

So in 2005 Street Scene was moved far, far away from downtown San Diego into the beautiful parking lot at Qualcomm Stadium. And even though the festival once again drew some impressive headliners (The White Stripes, The Killers, The Pixies) people were pissed. This wasn’t ye olde Street Scene of yore where you could stumble from stage to stage on the Gaslamp sidewalks, dropping into local bars as you wished. This was traversing an aging parking lot that desperately yearned for resealing and nothing but the usual “Teriyaki Chicken Bowl” festival vendor as your culinary option. “Parking Lot Scene,” as some affectionately dubbed it, was just your typical music festival.

The festival did two years at Qualcomm and then had a truly disastrous outing last year when it’s initial location in Del Mar fell through. Street Scene was forced to set up camp at Coors Amphitheater in Chula Vista – even farther from those Gaslamp Streets than Qualcomm Stadium’s parking lot. The festival drew somewhere around 10,000 people per day- a true disappointment by Street Scene standards.

Many wondered if Street Scene would simply die after last year. It certainly seemed to be on life support at best. But then came word that Street Scene was in fact not only returning, but “returning” to downtown San Diego! The universe was once again in harmony.

Well, kind of. Street Scene’s new downtown location is anchored by the parking lot outside of Petco Park. Stages do stretch onto a couple of different streets-this time around much farther east than any of the original blocks, but it’s still much more like a typical music festival than a true downtown jamboree. You still can’t weave in and out of bars and restaurants like the good ol’ days, and you are forced to participate in repulsive acts such as purchasing “drink tickets” to buy alcoholic beverages. Yuck.

But still, there was a bit of a rekindled spirit stemming from having San Diego’s baby back downtown where she should be. And as long as you were heavy into the indie rock (present company here firmly entrenched) you were bound to have a blast this time around.

Go to Page 2 >>

No Comments »