So I was hoping this year would be better, even though they projected a larger attendance. The promoters were smart (finally) and put two giant video screens at each of the larger stages. So basically, no matter where you stood, you could see the band! This prevented people from pushing and shoving as bad has they have in years past. Everyone had a much better time! I hope the screens will be there every year!
My friends and I always get there when they open up on Friday. But as in past years, they always open late. Every year they give us the same excuse… "the Fire Marshall is not done doing the final inspection". Either this is bull-shit or the Fire Marshall can't get his shit together and get to the event a little earlier? I don't get it.
Anyway, the first band I went to see was Sprung Monkey (the greatest band to ever come out of San Diego). They were great but for some reason played too many new songs no one knew. Come on guys, at an event like this, you need to play all the popular songs! They also did not play their full allotted amount of time? What's up with that?
Next we caught a few songs from Flogging Molly (a band my friends and I know well) before we headed over to stake out a good spot for Stone Temple Pilots! After the band Live, STP came on and really tore it up! It was great to see a band of the caliber at an event like this. Scott Weiland was not as wild as he was when they played the Del Mar Fair but still put on an excellent show! Made it well worth the high price to get into Street Scene.
I noticed at the Best Buy stage the sound mix really sucked. It was distorted for some reason. Luckily this was not the case over at the Ford stage. There also were not any speakers for the fans at the front of the stage. We could hardly hear the singers and only heard some of the music coming from the musicians monitors. That really sucked!
The only reason I came on Sunday was to see one of my favorite bands, Sevendust. Okay, I might be slight biased, but someone really screwed up the line up on the Ford Stage where Sevendust played! For some reason they scheduled Sevendust to play first @ 2:40pm when there was hardly anyone there. They were followed by Default, Unwritten Law then Nickelback. If it were me making the lineup, it would have been Default, Unwritten Law, Nickelback then Sevendust! I'm not sure if Sevendust has ever played a headlining show in San Diego and it would have been nice to see an entire set from them. Who cares that Nickelback has a few lame videos on MTV?
Even though Sevendust was first, they kicked ass (as seen in the photos I took of them). They put on a great show and got the San Diego crowd going. When Lajon (the singer) saw us singing their songs and raising our fists in the air, I think he realized that they have more fans in San Diego then they thought! I hope they come back soon, often and headline!!!
Next came the Canadian group Default. These guys started over 20 minutes late because of not being able to get their equipment to work. Then during the first song, the bass players rig went out and the singers microphone kept going out for most of the first two songs! Guess they choose their sound techs poorly. I was not impressed with Default at all. The guitarist seemed like a complete ass-hole and thought he was a guitar god (he was not). So what would a professional band do if they started late to keep the rest of the show on schedule? Well Default didn't do it! Sure they could have cut out a lame song or two. They could have really cut out the lame guitar solo for sure! But no, they did their entire set and ended up 20 minutes late. This not only caused all the bands on the Ford stage to start late for the rest of the evening, but also the Fox Rox stage also! This made Street Scene end late… could have been a problem for people using public transit. I wish I had a "default" button to send these guys back from where they came from! The person in charge of the bands at Street Scene should have cut them off at their ending time!
Next came Unwritten Law. This band really got the crowd going. Don't know why. The best moment was when the drunk singer sang a song with his daughter? Go figure.
Nickelback ended the night and finished up the 2002 Street Scene music festival. They put on the best stage show I have ever seen at Street Scene. Complete with awesome lighting and fire! I heard the singer does not drink to do drugs… sure talked about pot a lot! Also, most of their songs sound the same. Listen to a few and you could have gone home!