U.S. TEENS CALL CONCERT, COUNTRY AN ‘E’ TICKET

The nearly 28,000 concertgoers made MexFest look more like a high school beach party than a rock ‘n’ roll show. Groups of people on blankets sunned themselves Tuesday while a cool breeze wafted through the green.

Young girls garbed in bikini tops and boys in straw hats and Bermuda shorts played with beach balls between band sets. One of the more popular pastimes was blanket toss, in which a volunteer is hurled into the air by several friends holding the edges of a blanket.

Jean Alley and her friend brought a deck of cards to kill time during the nine-hour event.

“This has been an experience,” Alley said. “Just taking the taxicab from the border was a cultural experience.”

David Matthews of Imperial Beach said he came to MexFest more out of curiosity than to see the bands.

“I wanted to see what it would be like to go to a concert here,” the 36-year-old said.

“They call it MexFest, but all they have is gringo food,” he said while he and a companion wolfed down hot dogs. “I thought they would at least have tacos. I think the prices are too high for the people down here. It’s more like an American concert transported to Mexico.”

The minimum price for tickets was $22, which may account for the lack of attendance by Mexicans. Signs posted on all the concession stands reading “No Aceptamos Pesos” (“no pesos accepted”) were ironic reminders that, while the concert was held on Mexican soil, it was being run by Americans.

Rosana Scolari of Tijuana said she didn’t think it was fair that she had to change her pesos into dollars before she could buy a drink.

“This is Mexico, not America, so why isn’t my money good here?” she said. “But I do think it’s great that all these Americans came. Let them spend all their money here.”

Alma Ledesma of Rosarito and her friend Monica Espinoza of Tijuana said they think having concerts at Caliente Race Track is “the greatest.”

“They never have concerts here,” Ledesma, 17, said. “Most of the time we can’t go to San Diego and Los Angeles because our parents won’t let us.”

Ellen Grafstein of San Diego said her parents would prefer that she didn’t come to Mexico.

“I’ve heard that you can be thrown in jail and can just rot there because you’re guilty until proven innocent down here,” she said.

Derek Magdalak, 19, also from San Diego, said he regularly comes to Tijuana.

“I think having a concert here is cool,” he said. “You can drink, for one thing. We’re taking the trolley back so we won’t be driving drunk. I think they ought to have more concerts here.”

Magdalak’s sentiments seemed to reflect the consensus of the crowd. When “MexFest ‘87” was flashed on the two huge video screens on each side of the stage, the crowd cheered zealously.