Stop Missing Shows

Broken Social Scene in San Diego

314 users on tonedeaf are tracking Broken Social Scene

Never miss another Broken Social Scene show near San Diego.

Broken Social Scene
Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSU — San Diego, CA
Tickets+CalendarText Friend

About Broken Social Scene

Broken Social Scene started as Kevin Drew's solo project in Toronto in the late 1990s and grew into this sprawling collective that nobody can quite pin down. The band proper includes Drew, Brendan Canning, and a rotating cast of musicians that sometimes feels like half of the Toronto indie scene showed up to play. Their landmark 2002 album You Forgot It in People established them as people who cared more about textures and weird production choices than conventional song structures. Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl became their calling card—a song that builds from whisper to something almost anthemic without ever getting loud. They've made albums that range from the guitar-heavy brutalism of Self-Titled to the more restrained, orchestral work of Forgiveness Rock Record. Live, they've become known for their willingness to stretch songs and improvise, turning rehearsals into semi-public events. The band's influence on indie rock over two decades has been substantial, mostly because they proved you could be successful while being genuinely weird about it.

Their shows are controlled chaos with eight to twelve people on stage. Expect long instrumental passages where the crowd just watches, intently. The energy builds subtly rather than exploding. People talk less than at typical rock shows, actually paying attention.

Known for Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl, 7/4 (Shorelines), Feels Good, Cause = Time, Handsome Ghost

Broken Social Scene + San Diego

Broken Social Scene last touched down in San Diego back in 2010 at House of Blues, running through a setlist that hit both the obvious touchstones and the deeper cuts their crowd lives for. They opened with 'Pacific Theme' and spent the evening threading between the anthemic stuff like 'Stars and Sons' and 'Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl' with weirder choices like 'Texico Bitches' and 'Guilty Cubicles.' By the time they closed out with 'Major Label Debut,' the whole thing felt like a comprehensive argument for why this Toronto collective still matters—orchestral arrangements collapsing into controlled chaos, the way only they know how.

Broken Social Scene in San Diego News

Live Music in San Diego

San Diego's indie rock scene has historically leaned toward surf-influenced and garage sensibilities, but there's always been room for the more cerebral, architecture-minded bands. A group like Broken Social Scene—where composition matters as much as chaos, where strings and horns have equal footing with guitars—represents a different flavor of ambition. The city's venues have hosted plenty of intricate indie acts, though San Diego's underground has typically gravitated toward more straightforward rock structures.

San Diego road trip to see Broken Social Scene?

Stay in La Jolla if you want upscale coastal vibes — it's worth the splurge. Dinner at Duke's La Jolla offers views and solid seafood without being pretentious. Spend the day before the show walking Windansea Beach or browsing the galleries around Prospect Street. If you want to understand the city's Mexican-American cultural fabric, head to Chicano Park in Barrio Logan — the murals are legitimately world-class. Hit a taco shop on Logan Avenue afterward. The neighborhood pulses with the energy that informs music like Peso Pluma's.

Stop missing shows.

tonedeaf. reads your music library and emails you when artists you actually listen to have shows near San Diego. No app. No ads. No noise.

Sign Up Free