Last Blog On Earth

I skipped church for the 500th Sunday in a row and decided to hit up Street Scene 2007-”The Sunday Afternoon Edition.” Of course it fell conveniently after the end of the Eagles game-they finally won! Even in the ugly uniforms! In other news, it was a nice Sunday not to be a Chargers fan…

Our adventure got off to a fine start when we were greeted by no traffic jam what-so-ever on the 805 south! I think this may be a first for a show at Coors, but obviously did not hold promise for the event we were heading towards. No traffic jam at a Coors show=no attendance.

The wallet gouging commenced in the parking lot when we were charged ten bucks to park in a dust bowl. I assume the VIP parking area featured amazing state of the art breakthroughs such as pavement. We still got a close spot though-another bad sign.

Upon entry we were immediately greeted by the all-star Punk Rock Karaoke band and the comforting power-chords of legendary Bad Religion guitarist Greg Hetson and his Gibson SG. This was a nice start. Sure the guest vocalists stunk-but don’t all punk rock vocalists stink? I guess it would have been more punk rock to actually get up on that stage and sing well. Soon enough the circus act came to an end, and we moved on.

And boy was it easy to move around because at this point it was like hanging out at the Fashion Valley Mall on a rainy day. Where were all the Street-Sceners? Had they gone downtown or to Del Mar by accident? The save open space agenda was apparently in full-effect as everywhere you looked their appeared to be vacant pavement just dying to be occupied. Beer and food vendors sat bored in their booths as sticks with chicken, barrels of kettle corn, and plates full o’ funnel cake sat lonely, awaiting gluttonous consumption. My bad, the funnel cake booth was actually pretty hopping-a clear display of where the priorities of this years crowd stood. On the plus side, it sure was easy to get a nice cozy, front row spot for whatever bands you wanted to check out! A far cry from the downtown version of Street Scene in which you would have to arrive 40 minutes before the start of a band to get a spot 30 feet back.

I spent most of the day at the Wrigley’s Stage which featured most of the stereotypical indie-rock of which I have become such a stereotypical fan of. I finally got to see the Album Leaf and was pleasantly surprised by their pleasant keyboard heavy ambient indie-pop. Nice use of the video-screen by these guys as well. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, on the other HAND, were more like Nod Your Head Think “Meh.” Muddy sound (probably not the bands fault here) and a lackluster performance resulted in early leave-age to go check out Spoon at the main amphitheater stage. It appears as if the hype behind Clap’s* first album far outpaced their development as a live act. Spoon, on yet another hand, played a catchy, solid set which further proved their intelligent rock is right up there with the likes of the Shins and the New Pornographers. The addition of a horn section on a couple songs didn’t hurt either.

Checking out Spoon at the main stage was great because you could actually sit and see the band. As I did just this, chomping down my chicken teriyaki bowl, I came to the odd realization that I actually liked this location for Street Scene. If you got tired of pounding the pavement during the day you could go and hang-out up on the grass in the amphitheater, you could actually sit and eat and/or drink comfortably while watching a band at the main stage, and all of the stages were spread out enough to prevent major sound bleeding from one stage to another. For a last minute switch from the Del Mar Fairgrounds this wasn’t half bad.

After Spoon was done we went back to the Wrigley’s Stage and caught a bit of Brand New’s set-realizing they were delivering something this day had strangely lacked-some standard issue guitar heavy rock. We got more of this when we once again returned to the seats and watched Louis XIV. Whereas Spoon seemed like a club/theater band making the jump to playing a big stage, the members of Louis the XIV seemed perfectly at home rocking out on the large scale. They even played some new songs including an actual new single which seemed kinda an odd choice for a single but I’m sure everyone will get into it once it is played twice an hour for six months straight on 94.9.

But the best was certainly yet to come as we once again left the comfort of our seats to once again trudge back towards the Wrigley’s Stage. In mid-trudge I went on a solo mission to snatch up a plate of funnel cake, but was forced to retreat when I noticed the line was thirty strong. What about all these rumors of San Diegans enjoying “healthy living?” All San Diegans apparently enjoy is funnel cake with various toppings.

The trudge ended back at the Wrigley’s Stage where we enjoyed a great GREAT set by spacey French rockers AIR. Lots of synthesizers, mellow hypnotic bass lines and a live drummer switching off between standard and electronic heads. These guys are pros- a fact that is readily apparent by the fact that the two main dudes bare a striking resemblance to the Gibb brothers up on stage. If you’ve got the guts to wear white after Labor Day, and look that much like the Bee Gees, you better be good. From the start these guys had the crowd nodding along with their mesmerizing sound, and it only got worse once the kids started lighting up the reefer. I think the band was about three songs in when I decided these guys had definitely been mis-placed on the smaller stage. Coming off as a somewhat calmer, space-age version of Pink Floyd mixed with the best electronic music you could imagine, AIR should have been closing out the show on the main stage with a full-on light show and booming sound-system. Instead we got the Killers which I of course skipped cuz, ya know, those guys pretty much stink.

Not a bad day overall though. Sure the turnout was kinda light, but it seemed like by the end of the night the amphitheater seating was about 3/4 full-which is kinda good I guess. I was talking with one of the vendors earlier in the day and she told me that there were only 9,700 people in attendance on Saturday to which I responded with an appropriate “yikes.” I doubt the organizers set up this event with the hopes of possibly selling10,000 tickets per day. Sunday’s line-up may have drawn more people but, admittingly, I tend to lose count after crowds get larger than eleven. My only suggestion for next year: two funnel cake booths instead of just one.

*people should call this band this because their name is both too ridiculous and too long.