CRSSD proves to be another promising music festival despite its first-time woes
Joe Giuliano on
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Underground electronic music descended upon downtown San Diego in full force this past weekend, thanks to the first annual CRSSD Festival held at Waterfront Park. While the new festival – an incarnation of San Diego’s FNGRS CRSSD and co-promoted by L.A.’s Goldenvoice — was plagued by typical first-year problems, the makings of a great event were evident.
With perfect 80-degree weather and gorgeous bayfront views, we could almost forgive the thematic problem of the weekend — lines. Attendees waited nearly two hours in the one snail-speed line designated to guest list, will call, and media, while three “customer support” lines remained completely empty. After that were the beer lines better described as mobs. It wasn’t just the location, but the fact that a 21-plus event was checking IDs again at point of purchase. The positive side of this, however, was that it negated the need for beer gardens. It’s always nice being able to carry your drinks around from stage to stage, a luxury most other SoCal festivals don’t have.
Perhaps the greatest disaster of the weekend was the location of the port-a-potties and free water. There was only one row of port-a-potties located at the far back of the event, situated along a narrow sidewalk with enough room to squeeze about five people in front of each. The free water too was located in the back, hidden on the way to the port-a-potties and was nearly always empty. The bottled water for sale even seemed to be a hot commodity, selling out early each day of the event.
Perhaps there were a few logistical issues, but these are true of any first year event and can easily be remedied by year two. The real story is what CRSSD got right. Coming in confident in their first year as a 21+ event and discouraging “rave gear” was commendable. These two very important characteristics gave a certain sophistication to the event hosting a genre of music traditionally carrying a bad reputation. There were no scantily clad teenagers drugged out in the grass, dehydrated and near-O.D. The festival was simply a gathering of house aficionados, dancing to some of the best electronic music San Diego has ever seen in one weekend. This could just be the event that has city officials changing their minds of what an electronic music festival means for their city.
The location was absolutely stunning. There is something magical about dancing in a picturesque park while the sun sets over the San Diego bay a mere 100 feet away, reflecting off the skyline of the downtown skyscrapers on the opposite side. The multiple fountains lining the event was also a nice touch. These were key to cooling down during the peak sun hours during the day and set a beautiful backdrop throughout the weekend.
Super production was also a highlight for CRSSD Festival. The sound and lights were exactly spot-on and were particularly exemplified during visually-intense sets by artists such as Empire of the Sun and Odesza. While the two secondary stages were literally back to back, there seemed to be no sound bleeding from either side. Considering the fact that they only had twelve acres to fit three stages, the stage set-up was a considerable win.
With a festival boasting huge names like Chromeo, James Murphy, and Pete Tong (just to name a few), it’s not hard to see how Saturday sold out. Sunday, although always less populated, also seemed to be approaching capacity with the eager crowds only growing as the sun began to set. While crowds were a bit of a problem at a rather narrow venue, the reasonable size (rumored to be 15,000 for the weekend) meant they weren’t nearly as bad as other festivals. Fix the aforementioned line issue next year, and this event could potentially be flawless.
Although the entire lineup fit under the umbrella of electronic music, there was some diversity present. STRFKR brought an indie electro presence mid-day Saturday and the crowd lost it when they covered Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” Thomas Jack and his tropical house set was probably the best and most fitting soundtrack for the blazing weekend. Saturday evening was difficult to choose between the City Steps stage and the main stage due to multiple overlapping big name slots. Those who stayed at the main stage weren’t disappointed by the dance party for Classixx and the incredible show for which Empire of the Sun has become known. Sunday presented even harder choices with stacked lineups across all three stages. Sunday’s highlights included underground kings Jamie Jones back-to-back with Seth Troxler, the tech house set by Dirtybird’s Justin Martin, the soothing ambient sounds and visuals by Odesza, and the weekend’s closing set serenade from fun electro-funk duo Chromeo.
Also worth mentioning were the sold-out after-hours parties that were located around the city at normal San Diego electronic haunts like Spin, Bang Bang, Flux, and even on the Hornblower for Pete Tong’s special Saturday night blowout. Assuming you were smart enough to purchase these tickets well in advance, the after-hours parties meant that the 11:00 PM curfew wasn’t really that big of a disappointment. By the time we stumbled out of the after-hours bars with the sun rising, it was already time to get brunch and prepare to do it all over again.
Photos courtesy of Goldenvoice
[…] After the problems that plagued the first CRSSD, it was a relief to see that all of the hiccups were cured. The people spoke and CRSSD listened. This time, will call and media check-in was moved to the northeast corner where there was far more space, proving to immensely help the line disaster of last time. With memories of waiting an upward of 4 hours just to pick up credentials and wristbands, it’s mind-blowing to think that will call wasn’t placed here in the first place. […]