Stern Grove Festival — Attraction in San Francisco

I hadn't been to Stern Grove in more than a decade because it stopped programming jazz. Back then, I found the venue uncomfortable because I sat for two hours on an inclined spot of bare dirt way above the basin floor, with both bad sightlines and awful sound.

This year, I was surprised to see Herbie Hancock and the SFJazz Collective lined up for an enticing Sunday bill. I was very happy to score tickets when they first became available and was looking forward to the concert.

We arrived 45 minutes before the 2pm start of the show, coming in from the 23rd Avenue entrance. On the way in, we passed the grassy meadow where you can't see the stage, so have to watch the show on a big screen TV. I knew we were in trouble because it already was at standing room only capacity.

We continued into the main basin. The area below the walkway was filled with picnic tables sold for $2500 to $4000 and a largely unoccupied media area. The general admission audience was parked on the side of a tall, bare dirt hill amid large trees that would obscure sightlines. There was absolutely nowhere to sit that we could see. Staff told us that there wasn't anyplace to sit except, maybe, at the top of the hill. As we are 74 and 75 years old, that didn't seem a realistic solution.

The staff member said the only other option was the meadow, where we could watch the show on TV, so we walked back there. There still was nowhere to sit, so I tried a different tack: I have a torn ligament that requires me to wear an ankle brace, so I asked about ADA seating. I was pointed to a taped off strip of bare grass on the meadow, which had no seating at all and in which all the spots already had been claimed.

At that point, we decided to leave. As we were leaving, we saw hundreds of people trying to enter the venue. With half an hour to go before showtime, they weren't stragglers but they weren't going to be able to sit or even stand anywhere.

I know my opinion is unpopular, but I think this the worst venue at which I ever have attempted to enjoy music. Too many tickets distributed, virtually no seating anywhere comfortable, a big portion of the audience seated on an adjoining meadow watching TV, and no ADA accommodation all seem disrespectful of audience and musician alike, at least if you don't spend a small fortune for a reserved table.

I don't see myself retuning, but, obviously, tens of thousands of happy campers fill the basin every Sunday, so I know that others don't see things as I do. If you do plan to go, it appears essential that you arrive about noon when...

Listen, we all know why it’s free. You pay in other, more horrifying ways. I’m not saying this to deter you!! It’s worth it but you still need to be prepared for the concerts.

For an amazing concert experience: show up to the line at 5am, wait 9 hours sipping spritzers in your lawn chair; bring a picnic and a metric ton of alcohol. Promptly enter and claim the first open grass seats, laying the blanket down and relax while you get day drunk at a concert that would cost +$150 normally.

For the experience normal people encounter: show up 3 hours before the gates open, stand in the line for 4 hours because it’s so long that it takes over an hour for you to move up the line. Once you enter, you begin to descend a massive embankment littered with people, and you notice the grass seats are all taken by a sea of happy people—all that’s left is the hillside you’re currently shuffling downward while trying not to fall and be crushed by your yeti full of white claw. You look around at available “seats”, but all you see is what appears to be the shelled remains of WW1 trenches, complete with terrified, scarred, and miserable soldiers. The dust and dirt is already kicking up and clogging your lungs. What’s this? You see a spot! And it has a view of the stage between the branches of a bush?? For 10 haunting minutes, you climb up a dirt hillside through brush and rocks, getting sticks and thorns in your shoes. Once in the brush, you place your blanket down onto what feels like a dumpsite of bowling balls and porcupines. If you lean to the right, you can almost make out the drummer! Maybe it’s actually just an amp? Can’t really tell, but at least you’re better off than the drunk, laughing, 20yo college kids next to you literally just sitting behind a tree stump. Over the next grueling 3 hours, you can’t really hear anything, so it’s more of just an impromptu hangout with your pals while you talk and drink beer full of dust and dirt aerosolized by you trying to not slide down this sheer hillside.

The porta potties are gross as well, but it still beats Ticketmaster fees. Just...

The Stern Grove Festival used to be one of my favorite SF traditions until they put a racist on-stage to perform as headliner. Masego’s lyrics about Native Navajo women were disgusting and never should have had a voice in the city. The festival organizers didn’t do the most basic of due-diligence. To give you an idea, this is just one piece of lyrics from his song ‘Navajo’:

“I thought she was an indian (Navajo) Now she's slangin' thangs like a simian (now I know) uh All my life, I wanted me an indian (there she goes)”

Yes — you read that right — Masego’s lyrics compare Navajo women to simians (apes) invoking harmful primitive stereotypes. How is this a public SF performance in 2024??Secondly, his lyrics compare Native Women as objects that you can “get” — ignoring the horrific historical trauma of native women being seized, kidnapped and murdered that sadly continues today through the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement.

Unbelievably, this song did in fact play for thousands of people on July 21st 2024, as Masego’s signature song — without any thought about how racist it was to Native Americans

Imagine if you were a Native American in the audience? Imagine if you were a Native American who had a kidnapped family member?

Shame on Stern Grove Festival Association for allowing this song and performer. You utilized donor and tax-payer funds (via grants) to promote racism against Native Americans. To marginalize our first Americans. That song should NEVER have been played in a...