Outside Lands, August 22 - 24 in San Francisco

Continuing my travels to see concert festivals, I went to San Francisco for the first Outside Lands. Between Coachella and Lollapalooza, a festival can't be too incredibly different: there are a few big fields and a bunch of bands playing on a bunch of different stages and a bunch of people there. Though like Lollapalooza, this event was held in a park at the center of the city. But the most notable difference is the weather: the first few days it never got over 70 degrees (and that's being generous), generally overcast, though the air was crisp and clear, if misting rain at random points. And this is how San Francisco usually is every day. In August. Which is supposed to summer, I just got used to it in places that have reasonable seasons. On Saturday at the high point of the day I had on a sweat-shirt and was still shivering like it was winter. Though Sunday I underestimated the city and it was warm enough to get a sunburn on my face so fair play, San Francisco. I was up there for the weekend and stayed with Heath, who also went to the show with me, and Kris, who also came to the show to hang out for a bit. Heath is always a great concert companion. Of course he was there most for Radiohead but I was there for the whole concert experience in general.

I finally saw Cold War Kids, after missing them at the previous two festivals and maybe seeing them at the next one (they're a band that follows me around, apparently). They did some new stuff but I didn't hear "We Used To Vacation" though we missed about half the set; Manu Chau was fine, I'm sure, but I only saw five minutes of his set before heading over to another stage, leaving a lot of time since there was a ridiculous and unexplainable bottleneck to get between the main area and a meadow that had two other stages; at first I wasn't completely looking forward to seeing Radiohead, since I had just seen their festival-headlining set just two weeks before (and since I had gotten separated from my friends, whose enthusiasm was helping mine along) but they changed up the set enough to make it nearly a whole other show, even switching up the order of the songs they repeated. They still played most of In Rainbows but they played a lot more of OK Computer, particularly "Airbag" and "Exit Music (For a Film)," and "Talk Show Host." At this performance I was a lot farther afield than in Chicago so I wasn't being smooshed by 75,000 people and it wasn't humid and hot. The only bruise on such a great performance was when the sound cut out – twice – for about a minute each, with no explanation, and it happened the next night but I don't know if it was common on that stage; there's not been a moment of Nellie McKay's life that she hasn't been disarmingly charming. She played the teeny-tiniest stage of the festival, which suits her, and I couldn't imagine her playing a much bigger place but it's a shame she doesn't pull a bigger crowd, even though she got a good number to her performance. She did her catchiest songs, alone on her piano or ukulele, including "Mother of Pearl", the funniest song ever about feminists and an awkward song about zombies, appropriately titled "Zombie," but it showed her goofy side – always charming; Regina Spektor was on a big side-stage, performing by herself, and she got a good-sized crowd so I couldn't closer to check out her rack; Cake still attracts a decent crowd, though I'm not really sure why. Nothing against them or their music, which are fine, but I don't recall them having a hit for over 10 years; Tom Petty put on a fine show for the people there, who presumably haven't been following him on tour, but it was a bummer for me since he played a lot of the same set he played at the Hollywood Bowl a few months ago, to the point that I was guessing – correctly – each song he was about to play next. Nothing wrong with that if that's the only show of his you're going to see, which would apply to most of his fans, who are well past the age of going out for more than one night a year for a concert, but it was disappointing for me, when I expected at least a bit more of a show; Stars are an all-time favorite band of mine and it's endlessly frustrating to me that they're not much bigger than they are. As it was, their set was the reason for me going to the show far earlier than any other day (2 o' clock!) but it was worth it. There are no exact words for it but it was a transcendent experience; a week before the show I read a review about Bonnaroo and the reviewer was going nutty about K'Naan, whose set fit into the schedule so we checked him out and he turned out to be one of the best acts of the weekend. Minimalist roots-rap with a message but that message was as important as it was catchy; I saw some of Andrew Bird, mostly on Stars' recommendation and because his slot fit into my schedule, but he didn't do anything for me. I can't even describe his music. Just fairly beyond me at the time; I don't know Broken Social Scene but I'm a big fan of Stars and Feist, who are all part of the same big, Montreal circle. The crowd was really excited for them and I'll check out their stuff when I find it; I also went to see Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings but they were in the background since I was hanging out with friends at the time, which, even more than the music, is what a festival should be about. The same thing about the Walkmen (playing a too-small stage), ALO (know nothing about but they sounded good), and Rogue Wave (which I was mildly avoiding, having not gotten them last time); I'm as big a Wilco fan as they come but I've been left cold the last two times I've seen them. They're a fine live band no matter what they do but when I've seen them they just didn't seem that into it, playing more songs instead of playing with more enthusiasm at the headlining show. This time, though, they were excited to be there, or about something, and you could tell. They ran through a good set and the tightness of it only helped, being that they only had an hour and a half to play (on the bill under Jack Johnson? Who screwed that one up?). Definitely a highlight of the festival, as well as a great way to end the show.

Radiohead's set-list:
"15 Step"
"Reckoner"
"Airbag"
"There There"
"All I Need"
"Nude"
"Talk Show Host"
"The National Anthem"
"The Gloaming"
"Videotape"
"Weird Fishes/Arpeggi"
"Idioteque"
"Karma Police"
"Jigsaw Falling Into Place"
"Just"
"Exit Music (For A Film)"
"Bodysnatchers"

"Pyramid Song"
"You and Whose Army?"
"Paranoid Android"
"Fake Plastic Trees"
"Everything In Its Right Place"

Tom Petty's set-list:
"You Wreck Me"
"Listen to Her Heart"
"I Won't Back Down"
"Even the Losers"
"Free Fallin'"
"Mary Jane's Last Dance"
"End of the Line" (Traveling Wilburys cover)
"Can't Find My Way Home" (Blind Faith cover)
"Gimme Some Lovin'" (The Spencer Davis Group cover)
"Saving Grace"
"Breakdown"
"Honey Bee"
"Learning to Fly"
"Don't Come Around Here No More"
"Refugee"

"Runnin' Down a Dream"
"Gloria" (Them cover)
"American Girl"

Wilco's set-list:
"Remember The Mountain Bed"
"Company In My Back"
"You Are My Face"
"Spiders (Kidsmoke)"
"Hummingbird"
"I Am Trying To Break Your Heart"
"Handshake Drugs"
"Jesus, Etc."
"Impossible Germany"
"Via Chicago"
"California Stars"
"Hate It Here"
"Walken"
"I'm The Man Who Loves You"