Outside Lands Recap

In the spirit of my 2010 Coachella recap, here are some thoughts on last weekend’s Fester-esque trip to Outside Lands in San Francisco.

  • Arrived a little late on Friday, mostly getting the lay of the land while gearing up for Paul McCartney’s highly anticipated headlining set and fulfillment of my lifelong dream to see a Beatle live.  (Yes, I realize that in some regards this might be me.)
  • Band of Horses were ok, but not exactly what I expected. The National were more impressive and quite solid. But Sir Paul exceeded all expectations and then some.
  • I could go on and on but I’ll try not to, consolidating down to two points: If the reason I went to shows was to seek the perfect performance, I could stop now. (Don’t worry, I won’t.) And if you say your favorite band is anyone other than the Beatles, you are a liar.
  • Ok, a little bit more. Singing along to “Paperback Writer” was a transcendental life moment. As was “We Can Work It Out” and “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” and “Hey Jude.”  Unexpected surprises included “Magical Mystery Tour,” “Your Mother Should Know,” “All Together Now,” “Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” and “Day Tripper.” And my neck still hurts from banging my head to “Helter Skelter.”  Wow…
  • The Beer Lands & Wine Lands concepts were pretty cool, though I was most impressed with the special beers at the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp tent. Shawn Smith from Fester would have been in heaven — assuming he could get a wristband and some scrips…
  • I liked the location in Golden Gate Park better than the Empire Polo Field where they hold Coachella. Cool wooded walkways, a nice hillside view of the second stage, a fun old-timey side stage (complete with 3 card monte for a buck!) — plus it’s not 3 gajillion degrees out in the middle of the desert.
  • Day two highlights included Thao & the Get Down Stay Down (still holding the lead for my album of the year), Tallest Man on Earth, and the Head and The Heart.
  • The most fun of the whole weekend (outside of Paul) was the Bring the Rock show in the Barbary comedy tent at noon on Sunday. Quoting the perfect description: “Comics and Musicians tell funny stories about music and then…they rock.” The rocking was all cover songs (Replacements, Lucinda Williams, Stone Temple Pilots, Motörhead, Social Distortion) that loosely tied to the previous story. If this was a recurring thing in LA I’d go see it every month.
  • Day three became the inevitable festival lightning round day due to setlist conflicts. Got to see Camper Van Beethoven play “Take the Skinheads Bowling,” Fishbone cover “Date Rape” by Sublime, some kick-ass rocking from Deap Vally, and the first half of a fun set by Trombone Shorty.
  • Hall & Oates were a neat nostalgic trip, though I still can’t fathom how they could NOT play “Private Eyes” or “Kiss on My List.”
  • Rounding out the night Dawes were impressive and warrant a further listen, Willie Nelson made for nice hillside viewing, and I think I re-aggravated my “Helter Skelter” neck injury with some guilty pleasure rocking out to “Give It Away” at the end of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Next up on the belated Fester festival tour will be Way Over Yonder in October. See you there!

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