may 13 — CONCERTS & EVENTS — Unclear Magazine

The Portland date of Sabroso Craft Beer, Taco & Music Festival marks an end to the seven date festival. With locations including Dana Point, Sacramento, Denver, Albuquerque, Tucson, Auburn, and finally Portland, the multidate trek was a huge success. Even on a Mother’s Day, crowds flooded The Portland Meadows to get their fill of local brews, tacos, music, and even Lucha Libre Wrestling.

In a city best known for it’s IPAs and microbrews, the beer tasting alone was a big hit. Upon entering The Meadows, patrons were handed commemorative Sabroso miniature cups and 15 tickets, to be traded in for a taste from one of the many vendors present. Portland’s most well known breweries from 10 Barrel, Deschutes, Ninkasi, Rogue, and many more were all present. Once the tickets were out vendors lined the sides of the festival grounds side by side with food carts and trucks, a wrestling ring stood tall in the center of it all to display Lucha Libres in between music sets, and of course the Sabroso Main Stage was packed all day and drew the attention of every patron.

Portland’s Sabroso lineup included Los Kung Fu Monkeys, Unwritten Law, Lit, Against Me!, Pennywise, and The Offspring closing out the day. It was a festival that felt very “Van’s Warped Tour”-esk for many reasons, one of them being nearly everyone in attendance was wearing their favorite band shirt. Shirts spanned the alternative rock genre featuring an assortment of punk bands including NOFX, Bad Religion, Black Flag, The Misfits, Nirvana, and of course a large collection of The Offspring merch throughout their eras.

With all the odds against them: on a Mother’s Day, on a 90 degree Sunday afternoon, and having played a Sabroso set the day before in Auburn, none of the bands disappointed. Each of the six bands made sure to give the final Sabroso date their all. Fans filled the sun soaked audience pit for each set, and even at times formed circle pits. Nothing compared to the moment The Offspring took the stage, however. Vocalist Dexter Holland was spotted by the crowd at the barrier, who all cheered loudly, but not as loud as the eruption that came when the music was lowered and Kevin John Wasserman (AKA “Noodles”) stepped onto the stage holding up his solo cup. Opening their set with “Americana,” The Offspring immediately grabbed hold of the entire festivals attention, and kept it for their hour. The Offspring have always fell somewhere between mainstream and punk rock, which caters to their success. Looking at the crowd, the festival goers ranged from small children, teens, all the way up to grown adults taking their families out to a music festival featuring a band they grew up listening to.

With 2018 just in the beginning stages of festival season, Sabroso was an incredible introduction to the many festivals and acts this year features.

Words and photos by Joe Hernandez