Gallery • 31 Photos

Gaby Velasquez

By the time the sun set on Saturday, many festival-goers had gathered on San Antonio street to watch day two of Streetfest’s headliners, Collective Soul and the Goo Goo Dolls at the Budweiser stage. The second day to the annual festival brought artists of all kinds to downtown like the previous day had, with many eager to watch the main show later that evening.

Although the crowd was full during the first big performance of the night, there seemed to be a collective bore that everyone shared. Many scrolled through Facebook on their phones, took selfies pointed away from the stage and had conversations about everything but Collective Soul’s performance. Aside for a few attendees in concert t-shirts, the majority of the audience seemed unimpressed.

The problem seemed to be the lack of the right age group. Teenagers indulged themselves in social media. College-aged groups huddled around piles of beer cans, their grips tight around plastic cups and backs to the stage. Adults shuffled back and forth, seemingly trying to figure out how to dance to Collective Soul’s music. It felt like Collective Soul’s target audience was not in existence. The crowd sympathy-cheered and sang along to their last, and most famous, song, “Shine,” but their performance reception was severely lacking even though they put on a decent show.

By the time the Goo Goo Dolls took the stage, much of the crowd had dissipated, either enjoying themselves somewhere else at Streetfest or leaving entirely. It didn’t stop lead singers, John Rzeznik and Robby Takac, from occupying the night with their talent and voice.

The Goo Goo Dolls started the show with “Dizzy,” a hit song off their 1998 album “Dizzy Up the Girl.” While you could not hear many people singing along to this song, if at all, it was enough to get the crowd going. As the band continued their performance with songs like “Slide” and “Big Machine,” the crowd became more pumped.

Rzeznik and Takac kept the audience going as they bounced back and forth between some of the band’s greatest hits like “Better Days,” “Long Way Down” and “Broadway.” By the time they reached their most famous song, “Iris,” the crowd was singing along like its life depended on it.

While fun, this year’s Streetfest felt off. The crowd was less tight, not as compact or excited, even though two talented bands had just put on a nice show.  The festival concluded with another round of fireworks, and what was left of the already small crowd returned to their cars for the night.

Julia Hettiger may be reached at [email protected].