Wave House in Mission Beach capped off its annual ALT games competition with a free concert featuring the popular California reggae group Rebelution. The concert attracted an enormous crowd, transforming an already overcrowded beach into a teeming sea of people.
While walking down the boardwalk to Wave House, I realized I had underestimated just how many people love the word free, especially in this economy. People of all ages were scrambling to find the quickest way into Wave House. I was greeted upon arrival with a line that was almost long enough to discourage me from attempting entry. Almost.
I walked around with my buddies as we scoped out the scene. Our chances of getting in were looking bleak. "Looks like another night at the bars for us," one friend said. We all sighed.
As if to answer our prayers, a 21 and over line began to form before our very eyes. We quickly slid into the line, which was still relatively short. With about one hour left until the band was scheduled to go on, we knew we were golden.
The beachside venue featured sandy floors with tiki torches between the small bungalow bars. The concert was jam packed, mostly with stumbling, slurring and cross-eyed college students ravaging the understaffed bars like vultures.
The nine p.m. scheduled start came and went, but no one seemed to notice right away. The more time dragged however, the more restless the crowd became. After 10, people began booing and shouting obscenities to the techies on the stage. Before long, my frustrations got the best of me and I couldn't help but join in on the shout-fest. The shouts continued until Rebelution finally made it on stage.
As if the late start was not bad enough, the band experienced technical difficulties during the middle of the opening song. Halfway through, the sound to the lead singer's microphone cut out. The band did a good job of improvising during this microphone mishap and it was smooth sailing from there, until they experienced the same problem at the end of the show. Nonetheless, the Rasta group from Santa Barbara was not deterred from putting on a high-octane show.
After a rocky start, the band settled in and quickly captured the audience's attention by grooving around the stage while belting out the words and shredding the guitar. The lead singer's energy was contagious and it was quite apparent that the entire crowd was engrossed (and thoroughly intoxicated). You couldn't help but sway with beat of this feel-good music.
The reggae tunes resonated a mellow mood that casted a spell on its listeners and did not wear off until the end, when the crowd erupted during the last song of the encore. All the energy pent up from this mesmerizing performance was released and the warm night air was filled with a reggae lullaby sung by its drunken beach choir.
