The first annual Mission Bay Festival took place from October 17 to 19 in San Diego. The event featured major Reggae musical acts, including Sublime, Slightly Stoopid, 311, Rebelution, Steel Pulse, and Pepper, while also providing opportunities for smaller and local artists to perform. An all-female band from Vista, called Flailing Idiot, played and was definitely a crowd favorite among all the local artists. Apart from the larger main stage, there was a “B stage” on the other side of the festival near the overpass Bridge that crosses the harbor. This stage included more local artists who had a less esc sound to them. It was also a more low-key area of the event, more suitable for the elderly and children. The beachfront venue consisted of ocean views and partial sand walkways. There were endless rows of booths, each comprising food, merchandise, artists, and advertisers.
While walking around the festival and checking out the booths, I ran into Sammi Agusto, the lead singer and guitarist of Flailing Idiot. Augusto was a very kind and well-spoken person. During her performance, the band played one of their original songs entitled “Butterflies”. This track stood out to me in particular for its uniqueness and raw emotion. You can find her band on Spotify and any other streaming platform. One booth by the water was handing out free ice cream, slushies, bracelets, and writing utensils. I definitely visited this one multiple times. I even inspired Agusto (of Flailing Idiot) to see this booth after mentioning to her that there was a booth where I got free ice cream. The row of food trucks and stands was extensive, consisting of gourmet and specialty versions of the food being served. I bought New Zealand-style ice cream from the Twist Ice Cream food stand. It was one of the most unique and delicious servings of ice cream I have ever had, and I would definitely recommend it.
The bands Steel Pulse and Keggs were the sub-headliners of the festival. The crowd went very wild for Steel Pulse, especially. They are a classic reggae band that has been popular since the 1980s. Keggs is a relatively recent band; however, the crowd was equally as stoked to see them. Some attendees I spoke with said they came to the festival specifically to see one of those two bands.
By far the most attended and anticipated act of the entire festival was Sublime. The crowd went back seventy-five feet from the stage, and the popular songs had fans screaming the words in unison with the band. While most band’s encore to their act would be to come back on stage to play one more song, Jakob Nowell of Sublime decided to instead jump off the stage and run into the ocean, where he then broke his leg. His instagram post in the hospital from after the concert showed he had humor about the situation. After the show I spoke with a 13 year old attendee named Jake who stated that he crowd-surfed to the front of the show. “It was so lit. My friend boosted me up and by the time I fell down from being crowd-surfed I was at the front row. I stayed there for the rest of the show”.
The festival organizers say the event is set to return next year and hopefully be an annual event.
