San Francisco’s Stern Grove Pageant Is Again
What the classic venue offers in a post-pandemic world and how to get tickets
The local band The Seshen opens the 84th annual Stern Grove Festival. Photo: Brittany Powers
“Y“A better party than if you were stuck in hell for the last 15 months … these are the new roaring twenties,” shouted the Mayor of San Francisco London Breed at the Stern Grove Festival 2021 – which started on the first day of summer, into the microphone. Sunday June 20th. “San Francisco is back, Stern Grove is back!”
It didn’t take much persuasion for the crowd to move into this familiar normalcy, either.
People got up, howled, and interfereddShe laughed and danced – masked – throughout the three-hour event. In many ways, it was the perfect inauguration of our post-pandemic Bay Area world – outside, under a misty sky, between eucalyptus trees, with a diverse and lively crowd.
The show must go on; A sound engineer prepares before the performers take the stage for the first time in 15 months. (Photo: Briana Chazaro)
Although I grew up in the Bay Area, I’ve never been to the legendary Stern Grove. The music festival – which held its first public music event in the summer of 1932 when the San Francisco Symphony took the stage – has long been a free venue for the public. For over 80 years it has been a place of comfort, joy, partying and of course listening to the sounds of the city and beyond. Unfortunately, like most things, it derailed in 2020 when quarantine moved in. But now it’s back and more alive than ever – for the first time in person and live-streamed.
In what the San Francisco Bay Area is today, families from all walks of life gathered in this majestic outdoor space to watch three local music acts play live. I put it in italics live because, well, when was the last time you felt alive in a crowd of thousands while listening to an artist sing and dance for you?
You can throw a blanket in the grass, sit on the spacious stone grandstand steps, or reserve a picnic table for your group (be careful, they cost $ 1,500 and must be booked well in advance).
That year the festival kicked off with San Francisco’s own La Doña – a native Latinx singer who sounds like a mix of Selena, Mac Dre, and Spanish rancheras – as the opener. I think there couldn’t have been a more fitting way to instill a renewed sense of community and hope in the Bay Area while she sang in Spanish, remembering the Juniteenth and referring to her hyphy roots while setting the tone for one energetic, hella stated bay performance.
San Francisco’s young talent La Doña. Photo: Thalia Gochez for El Tecolote.
It was followed by Berkeley’s electrosoul radio group The Seshen. Full Disclosure: I attended the event because one of my homies, Kumar Butler, is a member of the band and he brought the tickets to my attention. Since the event is free and public, you have to register for a competition before every single concert and with a little luck you will get a seat. Because of COVID, the tickets are even more limited – and therefore in demand. When Kumar informed me and a few friends we all registered and luckily one of us got the Tix. Tickets “sold out” (a misnomer as they are free) within 60 seconds of being released, so be warned.
OG gets Hyphy. Screenshot from a video by Briana Chazaro.
While The Seshen played their set, an elderly gentleman nearby danced his limbs as he interacted with everyone who crossed his path – from kids to millennials to boomers. His irrepressible happiness felt like he was dancing for all of us. You could feel his connection with everyone around him, and his humor mixed with dancing skills gave all of us much-needed public display – something that has felt strange even to us locals these days.
He told me how he had seen WAR here decades ago, which revealed the feeling of the deep roots of the city and its people. The only thing that could have topped his moment was the last act of the concert: Ledisi.
Born in New Orleans but living in East Oakland, the proud black singer conjured up the spirit of Nina Simone – she literally did a cover halfway through her appearance – and ended the show with a song about police violence against black men and women. Watching the crowd sway in unity with their words and their groove was a reminder of how special the Bay Area is and why people from all over the world move here to experience these kinds of moments – and for free.
Ledisi pays tribute to Nina Simone. Photo: Myron G. Martin for WXXI.
Without a doubt, this won’t be the last time memories are made and connections forged in the beautiful green of San Francisco. The festival is offering nine more public concerts in the coming weeks. Cast includes everything from the San Francisco Symphony to Thievery Corporation to Daly City’s own DJ shortcut, ending with Oakland’s Tower of Power and Too $ hort. A list of dates and the complete line-up can be found on the official website of the 84th Stern Grove Festival.
And bring your dancing shoes.
