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Live from Waterfront Park | San Diego
July 25, 2024 Review by Kevin Gomez
Bayfest returned to the beautiful Waterfront Park with an eclectic lineup of punk, ska, and reggae music that was set so wonderfully against the sunny San Diego beach backdrop.
Despite a few early technical hiccups, all the bands sounded fantastic, and fans definitely came out to have a good time for this great event.
Kyle Smith’s Cali-reggae vibes bring a combination of punk, reggae and even hip-hop, reminiscent of the Long Beach dub sound that Sublime helped establish. He played “On My Way” and then grinded into “Jaded,” and closed with “Astray.” Makua Rothman is not only a big wave rider and professional surf champion, he’s also an accomplished singer-songwriter. Bringing reggae with an island twist, he opened with “Sticks and Stones” and finished with “The One and Only.”
Jamaican legend Barrington Levy’s set had technical issues, causing him to not hear in his monitors, and his guitarist’s amp going in and out throughout his set. However, being the consummate professional, he used that to fuel his own performance and overcome the issues by winning over the crowd. He opened with “Murderer” and played “My Time,” while pleading with the song’s subject, “I deserve the right to live like any other man.”
Levy sang his latest single, “Money in the New Drug,” acapella, and at one point it looked as though they were trying to rush him off stage early because of time conflicts. But Levy took it in stride and said, “I came to make the people happy, not the promoter.” He closed his set with the popular sing-along “Here I Come,” which got the whole crowd singing and scatting along.
Hot off of a sold-out show the night before, Goldfinger arrived fully ready to take over this San Diego crowd. Due to a shortened set they came in fast, opening with “Spokesman,” “Infinite,” and “Counting the Days.”
Lead singer and guitarist John Feldmann dedicated their first single, “Here in Your Bedroom,” to 91X FM in San Diego by saying it was, “the first radio station to play this song.”
To start “Open Your Eyes,” Feldmann climbed into the crowd past the VIP section and stood on the railing in front of general admission, before leaping off and crowd surfing.
For “Superman” they were joined by none other than Tony Hawk, the skateboard legend for which the song became the theme song for his video game.
Hawk said the band had approached him to do the song the night before at the Wiltern, but not wanting to be stuck in LA traffic on a Friday night, offered to come sing with them the next time they were in his current home of San Diego. Well, here they are and Hawk crushed lead vocals.
They closed their set with Nena’s “99 Red Balloons,” even singing the original third verse in German, as guitarist Charlie Paulson did his famous helicopter spin while playing.
Atmosphere – consisting of rapper Slug, and DJ Ant – brought some underground hip-hop to the festival. They played “The Loser Wins” before dedicating their next song, “God Loves Ugly,” to “all the ugly motherfuckers that came here tonight.”
Slug then dedicated “Sunshine” to “the five, six, seven beautiful people who showed up today.” “Waitress” is a great example of how Ant will produce a song that you would never think would be the basis for a hip-hop track, combining piano and flute, and yet it serves as the perfect backdrop to Slug’s rhymes.
Slug ordered everyone to form two Ls with their hands and throw them both in the sky, one for life and one for love. Just as the crowd obeyed, the familiar piano intro of “Yesterday” began. They played the duo of “Reflections” and “Modern Man’s Hustle.” Slug said, “Once again, we are Atmosphere from Minneapolis. This next song was written about my city; it’s called ‘Say Shh.’” Slug did a freestyle while repeatedly asking the crowd, “Do I have permission to bust a freestyle all over your face?” They finished off a solid set with “Trying to Find a Balance.”
As the evening’s headliners took the stage to a full moon, the band’s new lead singer announced, “My name is Jakob Nowell, and this is Sublime.”
With one song they took the crowd from San Diego to “Garden Grove,” followed by “Wrong Way” and “The Ballad of Johnny Butt.”
Jakob sounds so much like his dad Bradley, and I believe embraces a lot of the same energy and positivity.
They played “What I Got,” as well as the L.A. riots-inspired, “April 29, 1992 (Miami),” which saw bassist Eric Wilson on keys.
Nowell introduced “Greatest-Hits” as “one of my favorites.”
One of the highlights of the night was just getting to see Bud Gaugh play drums live again. His playing is so hard on “54-46 – That’s My Number” that each beat sounded like sonic boom, and then his playing was so fast and technical on “New Trash.”
Nowell asked the crowd, “You wanna move around and shove each other around? We can facilitate that,” and played “Burritos” to close their set.
Nowell came back solo to play the classics “Boss DJ” and “Pool Shark.” The rest of the band rejoined him on “Saw Red” and he teased for Gwen Stefani, who sang on the original track, to come out, but alas he was only joking.
The band got a chance to play their latest single, “Feel Like That,” which features original, never-released vocals from Bradley Nowell combined with Jakob. Finally, the band closed with “Santeria,” which nearly three decades later remains an anthem to this day.
Although several technical issues were a factor, ultimately the amazing music and performances from these bands overcame any hurdles to the delight of fans.
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