Louis XIV

Queens of the Stone Age 12/15/07

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San Diego’s Alternative radio station FM 94.9 used to put on an annual concert called the Holiday Hootenanny. There were a bunch of bands that played including hometown boys Louis XIV and Pinback (both excellent) but I was really there to see Queens of the Stone Age who was headlining the event and touring behind their stellar album Era Vulgaris that had just come out in June. I had only seen them once before when they opened for Nine Inch Nails and I was pretty excited to see them again. I don’t know which band members were different from the first time around but this incarnation seemed to be tighter and the overall vibe was way more energy. That could have been mostly due to the setlist but who knows? They melted the face off Donna and I that night.

Ahh camera phones in 2007…

Street Scene 8/27/04

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Street Scene was a San Diego institution held every summer since 1984 that I learned of through my new friend Dee. Before this it was set up in the streets of downtown San Diego but this year it was set up in the parking lot of the newly opened Petco Park where the Padres play. I was most interested in seeing Cypress Hill and Foo Fighters again but in hindsight there were quite a few artists I wish I would have tried harder to see. The problem with three stages going simultaneously is that you are forced to choose your favorite of the three.

On this particular day I do not remember seeing anyone’s full set. I think we were just cruising back and forth between stages. During A.F.I.’s set the barricade in front of the stage collapsed and caused some havoc but I think everyone escaped injury. I remember thinking that Jimmy Eat World had a lot of songs that sounded the same. I vaguely remember seeing some of Louis XIV’s and Ben Harper’s set but do not remember seeing The Black Eyed Peas, Ludacris or Patti Smith at all. Idiot!