The extremely drought-burdened region of San Diego became “Soggy’eggo” last weekend. The historic weekend became San Diego’s wettest July ever recorded but that didn’t stop concert-goers from enjoying some great music at Cal Coast Credit Union SDSU Open Air Theater Sunday, July 19, 2015.

Some diehard music fans braved the elements donning rain ponchos and even trash bags to watch Barenaked Ladies, Violent Femmes, and Colin Hay take on the “2015 Last Summer on Earth Tour”. The torrential downpour and thunderstorms lasted all weekend soaking everything in its wake – maybe this is the last summer on Earth.

It was a very slow start to a very soggy night with only a few concertgoers actually seated before 7:00 pm to see Colin Hay take the stage. Many concertgoers were still “Waiting in the Rain” on the patio looking for rain gear to buy or coming up with other ingenious ways to stay dry. Colin Hay took the stage with only his guitar in hand and a microphone center stage. Colin Hay is best known as the lead vocalist of the 1980s pop group Men at Work. Colin Hay is out supporting his new solo storytelling album, Next Year People. The self-titled song Next Year People definitely had a place in the night’s show; it talks about farmers that were devastated during massive droughts and their hopeful wishes for the next year. A youtube video series features tracks from the new album along with interviews and studio performances – check it out here.

The drenched raving crowd didn’t realize the rain was now beating down on them as the iconic 80s alternative rock band Violent Femmes took to the stage. They kicked off their set with Blister in the Sun, the lead track of their self-titled debut album, and featured in the 1997 movie soundtrack Gross Pointe Blank. Violent Femmes played most of their hit songs including Kiss Off, American Music, and Gone Daddy Gone and they end their night with Add it Up.

Through the night the stage became more of a jam band setting as they would bring another musician on stage and an array of instruments: Accordion, Xylophone, Horns, Double Bass, and Beat Box. The time between instrument changes seem to quiet the once-raving crowd as they realized their soggy predicament. With all the people moving on and off the stage, there were two hard not to miss bonus performers.

The first was the drummer, Brian Viglione. Watching Brian is a show in itself! Viglione has amazing raw energy as he pounds out the beat. His smiling joyful personality screams look at me as it draws you in.

The second was San Diego’s very own, Blaise Garza. Not only is Blaise a kick-ass Saxophone player but he plays multiple horns throughout the night including one of the largest a Contrabass Sax. All of the musicians on stage were strong compliments to Violent Femmes’ sound.

The weekend’s historic rain let up just before Barenaked Ladies took the stage. Frontman, Ed Robertson chuckled calling San Diego “Soggy Eggo” in an impromptu song about his day in San Diego. He later claimed the rains were brought to you by the Barenaked Ladies, he went on to say it rained about 90% of the other tour dates. Thank you, Ed! We desperately needed the rain in San Diego!
The entire band exchanged some comical banter between songs. Robertson chatted up the crowd saying he went out cruising around our hometown to find what he could find. Ed raved about his lunch at The Mission on J Street. The Mission is touted as one of the top 25 breakfast spots in the country located right here in downtown San Diego.

They played many of their hit songs including If I Had $1,000,000″, “Big Bang” and “One Week. They opened with the energetic song “Get Back Up” from their latest album Silverball. They brought Colin Hay and Blaise Garza back out on stage to help sing Men at Work’s “Who Can It Be Now”.

Ed Robertson later brought his teenage son on stage for the new song “Passcode” featuring him on guitar. After performing all their hits, the band decided as an Encore they’d perform a song montage including a rap of Sam Smith’s I’m Not the only one, Taylor Swift’s Shake it off, a dance-off to Bruno Mars “uptown funk”, Hozier’s Take me to Church, Queen Cover, and the very annoying Frozen soundtrack song “Let it go”.

Colin Hay performing at SDSU Cal Coast Credit Union Open air Theater in San Diego ©2015 MisMarissa – www.mismarissa.com All Rights Reserved

Barenaked Ladies performing at SDSU Cal Coast Credit Union Open air Theater in San Diego © 2015 Marissa Carter /MisMarissa.com, all rights reserved