KAABOO 2016 Review

KAABOO returned to Del Mar on Sept. 16^th through Sept. 18^th for yet another year of big name bands, witty comedians, good food, and plenty of beer. From K’s floating through the sky, free samples of food, and chances to win spectacular prizes, the experience was nothing short of amazing.

Floating “K’s” filled the sky at KAABOO

KAABOO scheduled a lineup of artists to play all weekend long. Third Eye Blind, Jimmy Buffet, The Chainsmokers, Jack Johnson, and Steve Aoki were just a few of the major artists headlining at the festival this year.

Not only did ticket buyers get access to the hottest bands and singers, KAABOO also stepped up their game in the laugh department this year. Darrel Hammond, Sarah Silverman, and Vanessa Bayer from Train Wreck were some of the hilarious comedians performing at the comedy show in the festival. Each act, including their un-named opening acts, were hilarious from start to finish.

Everywhere you looked at KAABOO there was a different kind of food, free hats flying through the air, and festival guests all dressed up (or dressed down) ready to experience all that the festival had to offer.

Although KAABOO proved to be an awesome experience, that isn’t to say it wasn’t without its hiccups. For most people, you had three options to get into KAABOO; 1.) Drive, sit in traffic, pay a $35 parking fee 2.) Take an Uber/Lyft, sit in traffic, and pay a raised Uber/Lyft fee 3.) Walk with the hundreds of other festival goers, parading across the streets into KAABOO.

With any festival, there is going to be traffic, fees and waiting, but problems also arose with the security at KAABOO. Once tickets were purchased, people piled into an unorganized mess to get through the eight small security entrances. When it takes almost two and a half hours to get into the gate, something needs updating, especially when fans are paying hundreds of dollars.

Another issue was that many people waited hours to see Steve Aoki on Saturday night. When 10,000 fans are trying to squeeze into a venue that fits 4,000, fights are going to break out…which they did. What started with frustrated fans, turned into police pepper spraying people who got a little too excited.

It is pretty much guaranteed that any festival, concert or event will have fights, traffic and not enough room. It is safe to say that even with those instances, KAABOO did a great job at handling each situation and moving forward with the show.

The festival also featured plenty of food and beer to go around. From creamy ice cream, to doughy pretzels and flavored jerky, the festival offered food for all types of people. Vegan, gluten free, and dairy free options were all available at the festival, and for those who didn’t want to buy food, there were plenty of samples of chips and popcorn all throughout the event.

Each year, KAABOO steps up their game a little bit more from the previous year, and they did it again this year. Back in April, KAABOO was confirmed for five more years in Del Mar, so expect for the 2017 festival to improve and come back bigger and better than this year.