Awesome Fest 11 Saturday @ The Office, Bar Pink, Soda Bar, & Space Bar, San Diego

The Awesome Fest daytime shows don’t start until mid-afternoon, but you still encounter many a bleary-eyed or hung-over punk wandering in after the first few bands have already played. The daytime shows were held at The Office, as usual, and Bar Pink, a new venue for this fest. Bar Pink is closer to The Office than previous venue U31, and is partly owned by John Reis of Rocket From The Crypt, Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, and others. Anchoring the Saturday afternoon shows was Bad Cop/Bad Cop.

After an afternoon spent partying with bands and booze, many attendees took a power nap in order to re-energize for the night’s festivities, while others simply grabbed a quick dinner and headed back to Soda Bar and Space Bar. As always, the night started out lightly attended and ended packed. Tonight’s closers were Toys That Kill, but other highlights included Chicago’s Canadian Rifle and Los Angeles’ Dimber.

By Paul Silver