There was a party held at Qualcomm Stadium last weekend and it did not involve the Chargers. Street Scene took over the parking lot of the football stadium for two nights of music, food and carnival rides.
The first night was held Aug. 4 and started late for a festival, with doors not opening until 3 p.m. The setup of the stages were similar to the Coachella Festival minus grass and any sign of vegetation. There were four stages and a burlesque tent for the 21-and-over crowd only.
One of the first bands to play the festival was Los Angeles natives She Wants Revenge. The band has taken over airwaves with hit after hit from their debut self-titled album and show no signs of slowing.
With lead singer Justin Warfield’s eerie vocals, the group takes on an ’80s “new wave” feel, but with sexed-up lyrics and haunting keyboard rhythms.
The band performed songs “Red Flags and Long Nights” and “Out of Control” to an upbeat crowd and Warfield said he was glad to be back in California.
The parking lot was packed with many different clothing venders, food booths from local San Diego eateries and even a few free carnival rides.
One the first bands to take the Captain Morgan Stage (the stages were named after sponsors of the festival, i.e. Time Warner Stage) were Yellowcard. The band was greeted with a deafening applause from the relatively young crowd.
The group began with old hits from the album “Ocean Avenue,” including “Life of a Salesman” and MTV Hit “Ocean Avenue.” Yellowcard then integrated songs from the recent album “Lights and Sounds,” including “Sure Thing Falling,” “Martin Sheen or JFK” and Down on My Head.” Lead singer Ryan Key resembled a younger Billy Joe, from Green Day, sporting an entire black ensemble, but he never wavered in his performance and he continued to deliver each song with just enough emotion as the last one. Violin player Sean Mackin had massive stage presence as he danced around the stage and performed perfect violin solos. The group ended the set with their latest hit “Lights and Sounds” with the crowd singing out the chorus as the sun set behind the stage, giving Yellowcard a demanding persona.
As the sky darkened and the mass of people at the festival grew in size, old school punkers Bad Religion took the Captain Morgan stage. The group’s set consisted mostly of old hits and crowd favorites, from the bands long-time favorite albums like “Suffer” and compilation album “All Ages.” Even though lead singer Greg Graffin looked stiff at times and gave off the feeling of watching your best friend’s Dad performing Karaoke, he still delivered each song with his powerful locals to undying devoted crowd.
Occult band AFI (A Fire Inside) setup an impressive all white stage ensemble, including a white drum kit and large backdrop poster with the black and white image of a tree branches. Fog began to drift on the stage and the intensity grew as the band’s set time fell behind the crowd of thousands began to grow more inpatient.
What seemed like a millennia, lead singer Davey Havok took the stage dressed completely in white, minus the pair of black suspenders and bright pink eye shadow adorning his eyes. To new fans, he may seem a little glam, to say the least, but with AFI performing for more then ten years, Havok’s looks are an always changing occurrence, including the group’s sound.
As guitar player Jade Puget, bass player Hunter and drummer Adam Carson began the “Prelude 12/21” the crowd erupted in an almost mindless chant which followed Havok’s every word. After the short prelude, AFI broke into “Girls Not Grey” from the group’s last studio album “Sing the Sorrow.” Usually AFI would begin with an older song, maybe from the album “Black Sails,” but maybe they were trying to bring in a younger crowd and appease them, however this reporter was not satisfied.
One of the first songs AFI performed from their famous 06-06-06 release “December Underground” was the slow Ballard “Summer Shudder.”
The first and only song the group played from their breakthrough album “Art of Drowning,” was crowd favorite “Ever and a Day.” Many were left wondering where was “Days of the Phoenix” or “The Despair Factor” in the band’s hour long set.
AFI continued to play their new songs from “DecemberUnderground,” including “Kill Castic,” “Love Like Winter” and “The Missing Frame.”
For the encore the group played “Morningstar” and half way through the song, Havok reached out towards the audience and began to walk on top of the sea of people. Hands reached up and gave support to Havok and gave an eerie resemblance of a horror movie where the hands of the living dead crawl out of the dark earth. The last song of the night was No. 1 song on TRL “Miss Murder.”
As the crowd left the parking lot, many watched punk legends Social Distortion perform one of the last songs of the night, a cover of Johnny Cash’s famous hit “Ring of Fire.”
The night was cool, strange for an early August night and many concert goers were bundled in sweaters and trekked the long walk to their cars, but many would return tomorrow for one more day of music and fun.