When I spoke with Social Distortion's Mike Ness to help preview this year's version of Street Scene for the OC Register, Mike suggested that organizers just move the festival to Tijuana and let it live on streets again. I couldn't agree more. As their early Saturday set drew to a close, Honeycut's lead singer asked "So where's the streets? I thought this was Street Scene?" Exactly.
Instead, this year we have Rob Hagey teaming with Live Nation, filling the lineup with a bunch of whiney emo-pop bands and soaking festival-goers for every penny. Of course, this is me and my mood after walking two or three miles total to avoid paying $10 for parking. I mean, honestly, I can't remember any shows at Coors that I've paid 10 bones to drive by bored teenagers pointing me to dusty lots which allowed me to park 10-15 minutes walk from the front gate. Just when I thought the Coors parking/traffic situation couldn't get worse, they want to charge me for their crappy parking lots and ill-planned mouse mazes they call roads, the closest thing to a street this year's Street Scene will experience.
Inside, I didn't have too many qualms with Coors. The lineup completely sucked on Saturday. I won't go into the horrors of the band Shut Up Stella and Army of Me. On the bright side: B-Side Players were solid and Mad Caddies had their moments. I couldn't stick around for the "headliners" Muse, so I can't report on the mainstage.
The first four hours of Street Scene '07 were a complete bomb. I'm sure more people made it eventually, but I think there were about 5,000 people there through 4 p.m. Years past, this was always the best time to catch Street Scene. The afternoons always afforded get unexpected finds, courtesy of Rob Hagey and his booking crew. And varied too: gospel, blues, Brazilian, jazz, funk, soul, rock, punk. Around any corner, you could stumble on great things spanning a mind-boggling set of genres. Not so this year. Maybe it was all the walking, but I feel simply tired thinking on Saturday's SS experience. Tired of being milked of money, and most of all, tired of all the corporate meddling with San Diego's best music festival.
But hey, the rain was nice. With a clear sky emerging around 3 p.m., I could see the hills of Tijuana in the distance and think: only if...
