San Francisco's Golden Gate Park hosted the First Annual Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival to much applause and yearning. With so much available open space, it's hard to imagine that there hasn't been a music festival that has rocked the park past sunset.
Saturday's festivities began at 1:00pm, and featured SF's lovely cloudy weather.
Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet Featuring Béla Fleck
I wasn't too thrilled about seeing any of the opening acts, but I'm glad I decided to see banjoist Abigail Washburn along with the Sparrow Quartet, who were joined by acclaimed banjo player Béla Fleck. The group had just come back from playing in Beijing for the Summer Olympics, and they were really jazzed about playing in Golden Gate Park.
The group's bluegrass music really matched well with the festival and its early easy-going attitude. The crowd was quite large, which surprised the group who were expecting a much smaller audience for the Sutro stage. But they didn't disappoint, especially with the Chinese folk songs they played like "Kanding Qingge" which Washburn cited as a favorite overseas.
They also played "A Fuller Wine" that she wrote after listening to Puccini Opera and Woody Guthrie back-to-back. The finale "Strange Things That Happen Everyday" was the group's attempt at breaking the festival's harmony with a dose of "death, doom, and destruction."
Everest
Los Angeles-band Everest was the next band I saw at the Presidio stage, and with the thirty minutes they were allotted played almost straight through with nary a word. Their mellow indie rock went well, with "Rebel In The Roses" being a stand-out performance.
Devendra Banhart
Easily the best performance of the festival, indie rocker Devendra Banhart did well to match the festival's vibe with its brand of laid-back rock. The crowd was ecstatic with the cover of Mungo Jerry's "In The Summertime."
Banhart had so much energy, complaining that since he was from San Francisco he couldn't get away with his crazy dancing. He danced anyway, but not with the robot that he mused about being one of his main moves. They hit the right chord of mellower affair like "Samba Vexillographica" with more body-moving tracks like "Long Haired Child" very well. The set was slightly shorter than advertised because the band really wanted to see Liars perform.
Sean Hayes
New York native and current SF resident Sean Hayes proved the perfect reflection of Outside Lands. "Alabama Chicken" was certainly his more amusing tracks, which Hayes described as what happens when you meet an Alabama chicken in Birmingham."
Article comments
1 - Andrew
Are you kidding me? You are like the fifth critic who left early. Not to attack you but, isn't that a little unprofessional? Its a concert, people smoke weed and if its outdoors they will smoke cigerettes. If you can't deal with it, then move to another, less crowded area. I heard it fine from the edge of the crowd near the fence and the exit where there was plenty of fresh air. But no, instead you concluded that you should just leave?
2 - Tan The Man
In my next article I would have explained it, but I guess I'll write a comment, I suffer mild eye dryness and the constant barrage of smoke irritated my eyes so much that when I woke up the next morning I could barely open my eyes which also happened to be bloodshot. Thus I couldn't attend Sunday's events...
3 - Tan The Man
I also carried eye drops with me but they didn't help...
4 - drew
thank you for wasting 5 minutes of my life on your whiny drivel. gee, the dorks & losers association is rather fitting.
i hope the pitchfork piggy-backing and overall very lame outlook continue to work out for you. must be nice to get press access for producing something that is utterly useless!