Last Sunday Paul and I went to Alice 97.3's Now and Zen Festival in Golden Gate Park. Peter Bjorn and John, Gin Blossoms, Joss Stone, James Blunt and the strangest crowd you've ever seen - a San Francisco crowd.

The first really odd thing I noticed was an abundance of old people. This lady sitting next to us literally looked like she might be someone's grandmother and, yes, that IS butterscotch! The weirdest part was that about halfway through the concert she was joined by a younger woman who kept smoking cigarettes and was wearing black lipstick and swearing a lot.

In contrast, on the other side of us was this young couple with their maybe two year old baby. Poor kid got pulled out of his stroller for Joss Stone's performance and immediately commenced crying his little head off because all he wanted was a nap.

Despite the fact that this was supposed to be a Zen festival, there was actually quite a lot of negative energy. Mainly due to the fact that where all these people are standing and blocking the view? That is where people used to be sitting on the grass until latecomers came and tried to stand in the bare patches of grass and ended up forcing the whole front area to get up. There was much cursing and yelling and threats of bodily harm. Not very Zen. Just your average hippies, though, I guess.

By the end of it, you either had to stand or get a lovely view of everyone's bottoms.

Does this remind anyone else of the "What doesn't belong" game we used to play in elementary school?

Or how about this dude who looks like he fell out of another decade?

And then there was Random Nacar Dad.

Of course there were many old hippy couples everywhere.

And old hippy ladies...you'll just have to take my word for it that they are old because from the back you can't really tell. That reminds me, the other day Paul and I went to this burger place in the neighborhood and there were these three old ladies (in their 60's) in tie-dye shirts talking proudly (and loudly) about the days when they used to smoke black tea. WTF? Only in San Francisco.

By the way, I am now major-ly in love with Joss Stone. *Swoon*

Finally, was close enough to James Blunt to tell him how I think his Beautiful song makes him sound like a complete loser - but I chickened out =(

Paul and I came to the conclusion that only in SF would you see such an eclectic crowd at a concert featuring these artists. What do you expect from a city full of aging hippies who can't let go of their youth?

Labels: San Francisco