Outside Lands, August 9 - 11 at Golden Gate Park

We had skipped Coachella for the year (the first year ever missing for me) so we decided to replace it with another festival.  It was a reason for Carla & me to take a vacation, giving us an activity to ground us when we went out of town.  The rest of the year was a lot of work so we both weren't thinking much of vacations but a long weekend away seemed like it could get us away.  The girls (Vanessa, Noa, Rachel, Ghazaleh) were talking about doing Outside Lands and that sounded good to us.  We weren't completely so into in the line-up, but only because we'd already seen so many of the bands there before.  And we knew we could party together or do our own thing on our own if we wanted.  Being in San Francisco, and together, was active enough.  We decided to drive up there, along the 1, which always promises to be a high point of a trip up north, and it was.  We got to stretch out our short vacation a bit more, though we didn't need my truck to get around in.  The festival itself turned out to be just part of our activities, as we ended up seeing more of the city; there were a few acts we went in to see, though we didn't leave much to get out of it beyond that.  Most of the bands we saw we thought we'd see some other time, whether we eventually did or not, but seeing a few of them there in that environment made for some unique experiences.  We wandered for a while after getting in the first day, and mostly strolled the grounds when we weren't looking right at a band.  We got together and watched Band of Horses, which left no impression on me but we had a good time with the girls; Nile Rodgers of Chic had a great year after the Daft Punk thing and I rather wish I had listened in more than just passing by on the way to the potty, since he/they sounded great.  There should be more disco in the world; we stopped by to see what Wavves are about but we didn't get much from them; for Friday it was our plan to see The National.  By now you should know that that band means something deeper to Carla & me and they were up to our expectations, as always.  It was a harder set, like they were trying to rock a little heavier to keep up with the rest of the bands there, and Matt was a lot looser, perhaps, I would guess, because he had been a touch inebriated.  But in those circumstances, and since it made for a more unanchored, funner performance, he could be forgiven.  He's a professional.  The set, with the Kronos Quartet playing with them, leaned toward the newer songs, which, I had realized too late, I was mostly unfamiliar with since I hadn't gotten the new album (though I remedied that shortly after we got home).  My enjoyment of the set didn't suffer in the least for it.  A predictably great set, and one that made getting in and out of the festival for the day worth it; both of us had seen Paul McCartney before so, as monumental a deal as that would be for anyone, for us it wasn't as much as seeing him the first time.  We were more concerned elsewhere.  But it was still great to see him.  And it's not like he's not going to play plenty of songs.  He even switches it up every tour so there's a variety, among his own solo songs with the Beatles and Wings songs.  It's not like he's going to play a bad Beatles song, and there are surely enough post-Beatles songs he plays for the hardcores.  There's no reason he has to keep going back to songs from over 45 years ago since he should have the freedom to play a few new ones, which he does, though he never overdoes it.  As he usually does, he played for three hours, right up to the curfew, and there was never a lack for material.  We watched most of the set, coming in and out of it as we wandered, stuck around for the best bits, including the encore, which was mostly the same as the last time each of us saw him.  But a sterling performance all around, and one fitting for the legend he is.  He wasn't the main attraction there for us but he would be at the top of the list for other things we never mind to see.  Then we went out with the girls and drank, partying for as much as we'd planned for the weekend.

We made it in on Saturday with no great expectations save for the one band we were there for.  It seems like someone recommended the Growlers so we checked them out for a minute; Jurassic 5 were the other big deal for the festival us.  We'd missed them at Coachella -- one of the few acts that would have drawn us there if we'd decided we would go -- and we had no guarantee they would come through L.A. with another show (though ridiculous to think now).  I usually had a casual relationship to their music, often just listening to what Rick was playing frequently when we were hanging out, and the only album I had was Strength in Numbers (apparently not even their best one).  Carla was a serious fan and it was important to her to see them there. A friend told me once that they're the rap group that people who don't like rap could listen to and I wouldn't disagree with that.  They have a broad appeal, rooted in hip-hop but an accessibility that makes them close to the rock music they're surrounded by and which becomes their base from their DJs' picks. They certainly rock out like a rock group, and put on a party even when it's the middle of the afternoon and thousands of cantankerous North Californians aren't sure if they're drunk yet or not. Lots of white people jumping up and down and plenty of a party.  A good time for all, and certainly paying off their draw, especially for us.  Though strange seeing a band from my own town for the first time in San Francisco.  But they're not so localized that they would seem alien, and there's something about them that has a world-wide appeal, if by way of the American west coast; we were expecting to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at FYF later in the month so we weren't so dedicated to seeing them but the girls wanted to go so we did that.  It very quickly become a mid-field dance party to beat out the gloomy San Fran weekend afternoon and we had a blast.  They were touring for Mosquito but they mixed in plenty of It's Blitz! so it was some dance-y material and we got down.  (A good thing, too, since we weren't able to see them later on.)  Even when they're phoning in a performance, the songs are good enough to carry them through.  And you can't beat anything you can dance to when you're with those girls; we looked at Grizzly Bear for the moment as we were leaving.  That subdued, rustic sub-genre has never done much for me but Carla digs them, and it was a good way to bring us down and get us out.

Saturday night as we were leaving we made the decision to skip Sunday.  Of course we wanted to hang out with the girls but we were often so separated from everyone that it might not have happened that we would have all been able to get together in the first place.  We had planned for our trip to be filled by the festival but once we got there we wanted to give more time to seeing the city and being in the metropolitan part rather getting more of the park.  We missed Hall & Oates (the main attraction for the day, having seen them before and hoping for a better set, but not enough to have us go in for the day), Vampire Weekend (which we could live without), Matt & Kim (always a great show but short), and the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Carla isn't a fan, and I'm not a big one), so we didn't feel we missed so much.  And we ended up having a great day in the city, as was the weekend, and as was the festival, once again, for however much we gave to it.

Missed, on the days we were there: Smith Westerns (probably because they went on too early), Yeasayer (I would have seen any other band instead); Phoenix (not keeping us around for the rest of the day); Nine Inch Nails (I'd just seen them at Lollapalooza and didn't feel a need to see them again).

Paul McCartney's set-list:

"Eight Days a Week" (Beatles)

"Junior's Farm" (Wings)

"Magical Mystery Tour" (Beatles)

"Listen to What the Man Said" (Wings)

"Let Me Roll It" (Wings)

"Paperback Writer" (Beatles)

"My Valentine"

"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five"

"The Long and Winding Road" (Beatles)

"Maybe I'm Amazed"

"I've Just Seen a Face" (Beatles)

"San Francisco Bay Blues"

"We Can Work It Out" (Beatles)

"Another Day"

"And I Love Her" (Beatles)

"Blackbird" (Beatles)

"Here Today"

"Your Mother Should Know" (Beatles)

"Lady Madonna" (Beatles)

"All Together Now" (Beatles)

"Lovely Rita" (Beatles)

"Mrs. Vandebilt" (Wings)

"Eleanor Rigby" (Beatles)

"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" (Beatles)

"Something" (Beatles)

"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" (Beatles)

"Band on the Run" (Wings)

"Back in the U.S.S.R." (Beatles)

"Let It Be" (Beatles)

"Live and Let Die" (Wings)

"Hey Jude" (Beatles)

"Day Tripper" (Beatles)

"Hi, Hi, Hi" (Wings)

"Get Back" (Beatles)

"Yesterday" (Beatles)

"Helter Skelter" (Beatles)

"Golden Slumbers" (Beatles)

"Carry That Weight" (Beatles)

"The End" (Beatles)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs' set-list:

"Sacrilege"

"Gold Lion"

"Mosquito"

"Art Star"

"Under the Earth"

"Heads Will Roll"

"Soft Shock"

"Despair"

"Maps"

"Cheated Hearts"

"Pin"

"Zero"

"Date With the Night"

The National's set-list:

"Fake Empire"

"I Should Live in Salt"

"Don't Swallow the Cap"

"Bloodbuzz Ohio"

"Sea of Love"

"Demons"

"Afraid of Everyone"

"Conversation 16"

"Squalor Victoria"

"This Is the Last Time"

"I Need My Girl"

"Graceless"

"England"

"Mr. November"

"Terrible Love"

Jurassic 5's set-list (incomplete):

"Back 4 U"

"I Am Somebody"

"Jayou"

"Improvise"

"Harlem Shake" (Baauer cover; part of Cut Chemist's mix break)

"Quality Controlv

"Concrete Schoolyard"

"Jurass Finish First"

"In the House"

"Freedom"

"Red Hot"

"A Day at the Races"

"Verbal Gunfight"

"What's Golden"