There were the same beautiful and sunny skies in San Diego as the third and final day of KAABOO began. To kick off the day was Vista Kicks, a new band on the rock scene who put on an awesome daytime set. It provided the perfect laid-back, retro sounds as if one was driving down the highway rocking out. The band’s setlist included “Gimme Love,” “Fight The War,” “Mona Lisa” and “Chasing Waves,” before concluding with their hit “Marceline.” 

Heading into a more intimate set was Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors. The band was in the midst of performing their song “Good Light” from their album of the same name. With both the vocals and guitar playing sounding like the records themselves, it made the set that much more special. They performed other good tracks including “American Beauty, “Ring The Bells” and “The Morning Song.” Holcomb then performed “What Would I Do Without You,” which Holcomb stated is his favorite song he has ever written. The band then performed “Live Forever” and “Fire and Dynamite,” before concluding with “Here We Go.”

Proceeding on to singer Quinn XCII, whose set just started after originally playing against Holcomb at 2 pm, making his set 17 minutes late.  Although he arrived late, he came out with full force in a vintage, blue Fila Jersey. He opened his set with “Candle,” featured on his album The Story Of Us, released earlier this year. “If you trynna have a good time tonight, put your hands up,”  he told the crowd as they raised their hands before he proceeded to play “Walls,” “Worst” and “Fake Denim.”

From there is where it was time for a set full of ’90s nostalgia: girl group TLC. Remaining members T-Boz and Chili brought the house down in retro overalls, staying true to their ’90s roots. They performed numerous hits and some recently released tracks. The group opened with the 1992 jam “What About Your Friends,” off of their debut album Ooooooohhh… On the TLC Tip, shortly followed by “Aint Too Proud To Beg.” They then proceeded to their Babyface-produced album, CrazySexyCool, performing “Diggin’ On You. Things got a little more sensual while performing “Red Light Special” including a lap dance. Shortly after, they played “Baby-Baby-Baby” and “Creep” as well as some new songs, titled “Sunny” and “Way Back.” The set then concluded with “No Scrubs” and “Waterfalls,” leaving the audience filled with nostalgic joy.

To continue with the nostalgic trend was a set from The All-American Rejects. The band opened with “Swing Swing” from their debut self-titled studio album. They then proceeded to play songs from their four-album discography including “Fallin’ Apart,” “I Wanna” and the classic “Dirty Little Secret.” Lead singer Tyson Ritter sported a white fedora with a Whitesnake band shirt, eventually calling his fedora a “Jurassic Park” hat. The band concluded their set with two songs filled with high school nostalgia, “Move Along” and “Gives You Hell.” With some downtime before Alice In Chains at the same Grandview Stage The All-American Rejects played, many free snacks and drinks were being handed out, both healthy and delicious. It was as if someone were walking in an outdoor Costco—samples at every corner. After retrieving some free samples of food and drinks, it was time to witness the Alice In Chains.

Alice In Chains brought a big crowd, opening with “Check My Brain” from 2009’s Black Gives Way To Blue. With little chat in between, frontman Jerry Cantrell was cool for school in all black introducing songs before playing them. The 15-song setlist included “Hollow,” “No Excuses, “We Die Young,” “Stone” and “The One You Know,” before concluding with “Would” and “Rooster.” Guitarist William DuVall was a powerhouse, performing his always noteworthy guitar solos. With only 30 minutes remaining, Wiz Khalifa was in the midst of performing “Real Rich” from his recently released Rolling Papers 2. He then proceeded to play the Grammy-nominated and Charlie Puth assisted single “See You Again” from the Fast & Furious soundtrack. Khalifa then performed club bangers “23” and “Molly” before concluding with “Fly Solo.”

Rushing back to the Grandview Stage, it was time for Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters, who delivered with a mesmerizing set. Plant opened with Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times, Bad Times,” shortly followed by “The Lemon Song.” The set overall was filled with Led Zeppelin songs and a few covers including Joan Baez’s “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You” and Bukka White’s Fixin’ to Die.” Plant did perform some songs off of his 2017 album Carry Fire, including the track of the same name, “Turn It Up,” “Poor Howard” and “Rainbow.” Sensational Space Shifters guitarist Liam “Skin” Tyson mesmerized the audience with his guitar playing in between songs. Plant concluded with a medley of “Bring It On Home,” “Whole Lotta Love” and “Santianna,” making it one of the most memorable sets of the whole entire weekend.

Heading over to pop superstar Katy Perry’s set, she was in the middle of performing a cover of Joan Osborne’s “One of Us” and continued the acoustic trend with “Thinking of You,” a gem from her album One Of The Boys, released in 2008. Shortly after performing “The One That Got Away,” the elaborate set that included a flamingo and a rainbow came to life. She performed hit after hit with an updated twist on her songs that suited well with the stage set, including “Part of Me,” “Swish Swish” and “Roar.” She then concluded with one of her most noteworthy songs “Firework.”

KAABOO 2018 had its up and downs with set times and sound quality, but overall, the performances and crowd made up for them. A special kudos to the Saint Archer Brewing Company, who not only provided a screen featuring clips from films such as “The Goonies” and “BeetleJuice,” but also including a balloon high in the sky, with people mistaking it for the moon all weekend long.

Wiz Khalifa

All Photos: Boston Lynn Schulz