The Sixty-Ninth Annual San Clemente Fiesta took place on August 11th, 2024. The event was an end of summer street festival with Avenida Del Mar blocked off for food, vendors, and a stage with a pretty decent line up.
First up was 3LH, a four piece garage and surf rock band from Long Beach and Garden Grove. This band had a pretty lively set. Melding the riffs of the Ventures with the steady driving beat of Link Wray, kind of reminded me of early Dead Kennedys’ songs in the vein of “Too Drunk To Fuck” and “Police Truck.” Yet, their set went other directions with their song “Shadow” that has kind of a Strokes vibe to it and a Beatles like song with very un-Beatles lyrics called, “Don’t Wanna Hold Your Hand.” 3LH was an unexpected surprise I will be seeking out to see again soon.
The next band keeping with the surf sound, albeit less riffy than 3LH, was the Tijuana Panthers from Long Beach, Ca. This three piece band was a little poppier. The three members, Daniel Michicoff (bass), Chad Pachtel (guitar), and Phil Shaheen (drums) shared vocal duties, belting out songs like “Summer Fun” and “Creature,” which uses 1950s and 1960s horror tropes as an analogy for the angst and awkwardness of being young. They saved their more aggressive songs like “Torpedo” and “Slacker” for the end of their set. The Tijuana Panthers remind of a surfy, but serious version of the Dead Milkmen with almost Buzzcocks-like lyrics.The band powered through a solid set, despite some technical difficulties at the beginning.
More people started to gather at the stage before 1990’s ska band, Buck-O-Nine, had started. They had the set of the day, playing songs that spanned most of their career including, “Calling in Sick,” “Records Store,” and “Pain Inside.” They also played their 1990s radio hit, “My Town,” and some pretty fun covers of Musical Youth’s “Pass the Dutchie,” Joe Jackson’s “I’m the Man,” and Operation Ivy’s “Sounds System.” The crowd went crazy for these and the band did each of the songs justice. I didn’t expect them to be nearly as fun as they were or to have that much energy. The only disappointment was they didn’t play, “Irish Drinking Song,” but given that this was billed as a family event, it was expected.
Headlining the event was the Long Beach Dub Allstars. This was my third time seeing them and they just didn’t click with me. While a good portion of the band were architects of what Sublime and Skunk records built, their songs sound bland to me. Lead singer Opie Ortiz is a great artist whose contributions of album covers and murals throughout Long Beach is unmatched. Miguel Happoldt did a fantastic job collaborating and producing Sublime’s 40 oz. to Freedom and Robbin’ the Hood. Throwing in the keys of Roger Rivas makes this a murderer’s row of talent. It just doesn’t work for me. That being said, I will always stop and give them some of my time because of the caliber of talent. More power to them for still being able to draw a crowd.
Breakdown and set up was pretty fast and each band played about forty minutes, starting promptly on the hour. It’s been a minute since I came home from a show with a sunburn. Nevertheless, this was a fun and good sized street fair taking up about a couple city blocks and three other smaller stages I didn’t even have a chance to get to. This is a free event put on by the city that I look forward to attending again in the future.
