Street Scene
Categories: Local Flavor, Music Venues [Edit]
San Diego, CA 92101
- Price Range: $$$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Music: Live
- Best Nights: Fri, Sat, Sun
- Happy Hour: No
- Alcohol: Full Bar
- Smoking: Outdoor Area/Patio Only
- Coat Check: No
10 Reviews for Street Scene
What to say...It was so good but now? Well word is that Street Scene is moving back downtown. If so, I will give it 5 stars for bringing it back home!
Like most Cali music events, you can't bring anything but a camera... and, if you're lucky, some stowed way weed.
I always enjoyed going to the Street Scene because it afforded me a reason to take the Amtrak from LA to San Diego. There, I'd spend a great weekend of music.
I haven't been since they've moved to the fairgrounds. (What the F*?!) But, if they make a comeback to the "Street" or even PetCo. I'm in!
Pictures attached are from 2006. Enjoy.
Word to the Wise:
Get on the pre-sale list and purchase in advance and at a discount!!
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Street Scene 2006, not Qualcomm Scene. Bringing the community together for music, food, culture....not some holding pen for patrons.
Yes, I understand that they haven't been able to get permits to have the event downtown like they have in the past...but just picking up the event and plopping it down in the middle of a sweltering expansive blacktop amidst a concrete jungle of a stadium isn't the best second option.
They had two sections at the venue (ie parking lot): the back corral where the 21+ could consume beer, and the front corral where the bands were. That being said, everyone knows that beer+live music is a synergistic experience, so divorcing beer consumption and music viewing was a real suicide move for the planners of this event.
They are booking fantastic bands, big and small alike, but the whole experience was allusive to the feeling you might have when at a Starbucks, inside a Target. Multiple layers of corporate scum...completely and entirely sterile and lacking the personal flavor us Yelpers thirst for.
I understand it's moved to Coors Amphitheater now, but from my understanding it still exists as the estranged red-headed step child of music festivals in San Diego.
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With the exception of last year which I thankfully skipped, here are some of the things I remember from the 5 street scenes I went to over the last several years.
1. Jumping up and down as a reunited Tribe Called Quest was playing Scenario
2. Fergie peeing her pants
3. People who were actually happy Jack Johnson was headlining (why all the hate Coachella 2008 people)
4. The debacle that was Petco scene when street scene was moved to the area around Petco
5. The birth of Qualcomm parking lot scene as street scene was moved the next year to a parking lot around Qualcomm stadium
6. Dave Grohl getting some guy to show his penis on-stage with the cops nearby, that's a talent you might want to hide when you're in jail buddy.
7. Getting a contact high during the Cypress Hill show
8. Sitting against a huge light pole prying my eyes open and trying not to pass out as someone in our party was taken off in a gurney by the EMT's for being too drunk and passing out in his own vomit.
9. Being really pissed at myself that I was too drunk to walk the 100 yards to see The White Stripes and was stuck watching the Killers again
10. Reading the 2007 lineup and wondering if the event organizers realize that there are other bands in the world besides the Killers as they were set to play there for the 3rd time in 4 years.
11. Catching Garbage in what may have been their last tour.
12. Watching Tool kick everyone's ass, blast everyone's eardrums, and remind people that they're one of the best live acts around.
13. Watching Social Distortion and realizing here's something from Orange County you can actually be proud of.
14. Catching my first glimpse of some cool new bands, and seeing other established bands for the first time (The Subways, Wolfmother, Foo Fighters, QOTSA, Snoop Dogg, The Shins, and the list goes on)
15. Last but most important, I remember when street scene was actually on the streets of downtown San Diego. When you could walk into a bar and get a real drink and buy a beer besides Heinekin. Where you could walk into a restaurant and eat good food, not the overpriced crap you were stuck with from vendors. I really liked street scene when it wasn't trying to be Coachella, when every street you walked down had a different genre of music, and when it was a chance to hear cool music and check out downtown San Diego at the same time. I hear that they're thinking of bringing it back to the streets of downtown, let's hope so, cause after last years debacle, it became clear that they kept fucking with something that was never broken, and ended up breaking it. 5 stars when it was downtown, 3 stars when it became Coachella light.
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I think its lame that people Bi*ch about street scene not being "parking-lot" scene - who cares! It was about the MUSIC remember, its not like you went into the businesses in the Gas Lamp during the festival anyway - get over it. None of you live downtown anyway! And if you did you'd hate the 2 or 3 days you couldn't find parking anyway. Qualcomm was the best decision they made, easy to get to, tons of parking and a trolley that took you straight to Tijuana after the concerts ended at midnight. Downtown = higher law enforcement, and who digs that? They don't, the cops get upset quicker leading to stupid detainments like drunk-in-public (duh - we just got out of a concert with 5 dollar Heinekens!) Coors (Cricket) amphitheater was the WORST decision, only two ways of getting in or out leading to tons of traffic - not to mention parking in a dirt lot (God that sucks). So now in 2008 they took their precious time and I truly believe we suffer because of it - I'm sure they did everything they could to get it back downtown, in the end leading to no-presale in February, no line up by March and I think missing out on a better line up. Beck is fine, spoon is cool, the lesbians are hot, the hives are ... still together? Either way I think taking their time lead to a crappy line up. ON THE OTHER HAND they could spin it around and say that they were trying to get to their "Indy-roots" bullsh*t, I think they simply dropped the ball to please the dipsh*ts that complained about it not being "Parking-Lot" scene. My suggestion make Street Scene 2009 at SOMA on Sports Arena Blvd... pack tens of thousand into that venue - then let them BI*CH. Unfortunatley I'm not attending this year... breaking my streak.
Street Scene would get one star if I'd paid for tickets and parking, but since I got in free, I'll add a star for the free shoes I won from the Asics wheel of shoe fortune, and what the heck, one more because Muse rocked my face off. Pretty impressive that they were able to wake me up after that absolutely dismal lineup.
$10 Coors Light at the COORS Ampitheater felt like a cruel joke, and up to $15 for premium beer? Are you kidding me? The free SoCo Music Experience earlier in the summer absolutely kicked Street Scene's ass. I won't be back. Unless of course someone gives me tickets again.
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Once upon a time there was a festival in San Diego, the one we all looked foward too every year. It brought local bands, new bands, and internationally known bands together! You were able to walk the local "Downtown" streets, see and go into places you really never had the chance to get to know, and see bands of all types, from Jazz, to Big band. Hip-Hop to R&B, and even a D.J. that really blew your mind! It was great! We called this Festival "Street Scene"!
Today, is this thing even on "THE STREET"? More like Arena Scene, or Use to be at the Del Mar Race Track let's move it too a smaller Venue Scene. Or maybe Stadium Scene! Holy Crap, what happened to this event? Can anyone explain to me how this event got so BAD? Now, we get ONE good band. And that band was an opener back in the day's of Great "Street Scene"! They make sure the schedule is so you can see every band at it's designated time! Before you would have 3 sometimes even 4 great acts at one time, you had to CHOOSE...and you loved it! Now, I don't even know anyone who even goes. For those who have not been in three years, save your money, go to the real "Street Scene" in San Diego. It's now called: The Adams Ave. Street Fair !!!!
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Although it will never be as cool as the original festival, Street Scene 2007 at Coors was WAY better than "Parking Lot Scene" at Qualcomm the last couple years.
Pros:
Due to low ticket sales, you had plenty of space to move around. You could get right up and enjoy the bands up-close & personal. The venue has a nice layout, and it was relaxing to chill out on the lawn for spells. The bleeding from one stage to the next was minimal. They still have the trademark Street Scene parade (you know, belly dancers, drum processions, stilt walkers, etc.), which is the artistic kinda stuff that made Street Scene so cool to begin with, and I was glad to see the tradition continue. The bands I wanted to see were awesome (Sondre Lerche, Spoon, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, The Album Leaf, Air, & Arctic Monkeys!). Oh, and I had fun hitting balls in the MLB batting cage.
CONS:
$10 parking. $10 beer (Coors Light - yuk). Kinda sparse lineup. Also, the lineup wasn't varied enough.
I think that since Street Scene is no longer in the streets of downtown San Diego, and since they have been bought out by the corporate giant that is Live Nation, they should just give up and start calling the festival something else. Otherwise, it will always be compared to its former greatness, and will never live up to its past glory. But, if they start fresh with a new name, perhaps it will evolve into something better than we have seen in the years since it outgrew downtown.
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This event hasn't been good for three years. $10 for an awful domestic beer and $120 for tickets to see the same awful bands that were there the last 10 years in a row? Come on, you have to be kidding me. And the venue now? I'd rather spend $10 for a party favor in TJ while ducking bullets than go to this again.
We miss the street scene of a few years ago mayne!
I was one of the unlucky bastards who got to experience "Parking Lot Scene 2006"
The name of the event is "Street Scene" and it used to be held down in the streets of the Gaslamp District of Downtown San Diego, but the crowds and music acts outgrew the Gaslamp and last year we found ourselves in the freakin Qualcomm Parking lot! I couldn't get over that minor ghetto factor! It's just not the same as a street festival that's actually held IN THE STREET!
The venue was set up as good as it could be with a Heineken beer garden and if memory serves me correctly a Captain Morgan tent? The four stages are spread out so you don't get noise disturbance from one stage area to the next, yet they're close enough so you don't have to walk too far to get from one stage to another. HOWEVER... I took MAJOR issue with the fact that we couldn't use the stadium's restrooms since I couldn't bring myself to use a portapottie AND the scheduling was MESSED UP!!! Acts had been canceled and moved around and we weren't aware! We would show up to see a band and they would be half way through their set cuz they had started early or the stage wouldn't even be set up. WTF? I felt the organizers could have done a better job at keeping with the published schedule.
Some of the more memorable acts for me were Bloc Party, Sean Paul & Snoop Dog!
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