Some lucky San Francisco commuters learned of the Stern Grove Festival's lineup nearly two weeks before its scheduled release, thanks to accidental advertisements aboard city public transportation.
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Reddit and Twitter users posted pictures of the 2022 festival's lineup last Friday, after spotting ads touting the performers on Muni buses. Festival organizers on Saturday seemingly confirmed the promotional materials were legitimate leaks, playfully alluding to the flooding that prematurely canceled last summer's final concert in a tweet.
Too Short and Tower of Power will purportedly open the festival on June 13, according to the leaked advertisement. The Oakland performers were set to close the 2021 iteration of the festival last August, but 700,000 gallons of water flooding the grove forced organizers to cancel the summer's final concert.
Liz Phair (June 26), Cold War Kids (July 3), Old Crow Medicine Show (July 10), Cat Power (July 17), LeAnn Rimes (July 24) and the San Francisco Symphony (July 31) were among the other artists listed on the Muni ad.
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency spokesperson Stephen Chun told KCBS Radio that the ads, called "car cards," were placed in buses "earlier than what was scheduled." The original plan was to wait until Stern Grove announced the lineup on May 3.
"Most of the ads" have been pulled from the vehicles, according to Chun, and the agency is still looking into which lines they appeared on.
Chun said the agency is still "looking into" how they will roll out the ads after the May 3 announcement, but at this time they are still evaluating "the best, most strategic and effective way to do that."
Chun did not say say why or how the ads were released on buses early.
Stern Grove did not respond to KCBS Radio's request for comment prior to publication on Monday night.
After taking a year off in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Stern Grove Festival is holding its 85th concert series this summer. Free tickets can be reserved online at 2 p.m. 12 days in advance of each concert, meaning tickets for the apparent Too Short-Tower of Power show would become available at that time on June 1.
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