I usually pass on the large music gatherings, but San Francisco's inaugural Outside Lands Festival had a line up I could not resist. Golden Gate Park played host to 60 of the world's best bands and musical acts; and I ran in circles, attempting to document all of it.
Friday began with a bagel in the Presidio, a pre party near Haight St. and a long walk through the park. Cold War Kids, Manu Chao and Beck were top priorities before Radiohead closed night one, but we vastly under estimated the 35 minute hike and huge lines. We ended up missing Cold War Kids, and only catching 3 or 4 songs from both Manu Chao and Beck. Fortunately, Radiohead was well worth the price of day one. They flawlessly ran threw In Rainbows along with a few classics; Karma Police, Idioteque and Fake Plastic Trees.
Saturday's logistics were much smoother. We arrived to the park around 1:30, in time to see Devendra Banhart play a lively set, where he covered "In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry. M. Ward followed, performing his 2006 album Post-War front to back. This was by far the highlight of my day. Tom Petty headlined day two, kicking it off with what I figured he would finish with; Mary Jane's Last Dance, Free Falling and a few others off the greatest hits album. This allowed for us to duck out a little early and beat the traffic.
Day three, the legs were tired, but this was the lineup I was waiting for; Bon Iver, Andrew Bird, Broken Social Scene and Wilco. Surprisingly, the best was first. Justin Vernon's four piece drew the largest "side stage" crowd all weekend and did not disappoint. He began with the first four tracks off "For Emma, Forever Ago", peaking when the hole crowd was screaming "what might have been lost" over and over again.
Quite a few bands shared with the crowd who they were excited to see at the festival, which was pretty cool. Devendra explained "You know, we're at the festival too... I'm rushing over to see one of our favorite bands, Liars, right after our set." M. Ward shouted "See you on the Primus lawn" as he left the stage, and Broken Social Scene introduced Wilco as "the world's best band".
I ran through my disposable pretty quickly, so I decided to take 5 second video clips instead of digital pictures. Here are about 40 of them, stacked on top of each other, I think it's pretty descriptive of the weekend.