San Diego’s First Alternative Rock X-Fest in 1983

CBS 8 San Diego shared classic footage of the city’s first X-Fest in 1983. The event, which was hosted by alternative rock radio station 91X, took place at the San Diego Stadium. The show featured popular artists of the era (and beyond).

In 1983, San Diego alt-rock radio station 91X held their first X-Fest with an incredible lineup that included Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Ramones, Bow Wow Wow, Stray Cats and Modern English.

It also showcased a myriad of 1980s New Wave fashion, which reporter Carlos Amezcua thought too modern.

What you are seeing is all very modern, so they say. Modern to the young people who are here for the first ever modern music festival…The festival is loud but it is modern. The music must be good or else there wouldn’t be 25,000 people here. Suddenly I don’t feel so modern.

XFest 1983 San Diego

The San Diego X-Fest was cancelled in 2018.

91x and GoldenVoice have made the difficult decision to cancel X-Fest 2018 with Beck and Death Cab for Cutie on Saturday, Aug. 11th. After considerable thought and reflection, we feel we are unable to deliver the level of experience the fans expect from X-Fest. Tickets can be refunded at the point of purchase.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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