Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival Entertainment Art Golden Gate Park San Francisco, CA August 28, 2009 – August 30, 2009

The first band I caught was the Duke Spirit on the Presidio Stage. They were an energetic rock band with a charismatic front woman that likes to belt out some edgy lyrics with attitude. After their set, I went to the Polo Fields, where the main Lands End stage is situated as well as some corporate installations, to find the Free Yr Radio tent which was going to have some performances and interviews with artists. Lucky for me, I arrived as Portugal. The Man was about to start and caught a nice acoustic mini-set (approximately 4 songs) with a couple of dozen other fans. I then returned to the Presidio Stage to catch a bit of Los Campesinos!, a Wales indie band that was energetic and had some unique instrumentation such as violin and xylophone to make some delightful, melodic, pop noise.

Heading next to the Panhandle Solar stage (so named as there are solar panels providing power) to catch Zee Avi. Zee is a young (and very petite, almost dwarfed by her guitar) lady from Malaysia who rose to prominence via a viral Youtube following. Her style is kinda jazzy pop, and her tunes quite easy on the ears. She had a healthy crowd of curious and fans at the smallest stage at Outside Lands.

Following her set, I headed back to the Presidio Stage to catch Blind Pilot for some indie-folk music from Portland, and then bounced back to the Panhandle stage for some gritty r&b from Austin’s Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears.

The day was coming to a close so it was time for some major headliners. Tom Jones at the Sutro Stage put on a great set with some classic tunes such as “She‘s a Lady,“ “Delilah,” “What’s New Pussycat,” and “It’s Not Un usual.” Tom also covered Prince’s “Kiss.” I never thought I would catch Tom Jones at a festival in San Francisco, or that his voice would be so strong and his stage presence so dynamic. And, yes, I did see a pair of panties tossed onto the stage.

Pearl Jam closed the night with a show on their too-short tour for Backspacer. Eddie’s voice was a little raspy but the band was so tight that most fans were more than willing to help on the vocals. For me, the highlight was a cover of the Who’s “The Real Me” (any festival is immediately enhanced with a Who song), and the encore covers of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” and “Throw Your Hatred Down” were sweet even though the hoped-for appearance by Neil did not materialize.

Saturday began with some Ryan Bingham, which ended up being one of the standout sets of the weekend. His country edginess and honky-tonk roots were the perfect start to the day and his hard-scrabble lyrics were interesting listening. I only wish his set had been longer. After his set I checked out a few songs by Extra Golden, which had enough African vibe that they were like Vampire Weekend. But then I headed to the Twin Peaks Stage for Street Sweeper Social Club, Tom Morello’s latest venture, and the antithesis to the earnestness of Ryan Bingham. With Boots Riley on vocals, the sound is more hip-hop than Rage Against the Machine, but the silly adolescent rebel lyrics were still there. Tom’s guitar playing was similar to Rage, which explained the crowd gathered for their set. They also brought some strangeness by covering LL Cool J‘s “Mama Said Knock You Out.”

Although I already caught Portugal. The Man in an acoustic set, I headed to the Panhandle Stage for their set, and it was a different vibe entirely, with psychedelic electric grooves and a large crowd. Sandwiched between Streetsweeper and Mastodon on a small stage a few hundred feet from Twin Peaks is a sweet slot at Outside Lands. Mastodon brought some dark metal to the afternoon, but the sun distracted from the dark and loosely-structured songs.

And how do you follow Mastodon at the Panhandle Stage? With Bat For Lashes? Well, ok. Whatever, it worked for another large contingent of music fans. Natasha Khan has a wonderful voice (think Kate Bush) and is a dynamic front person. The Christ statue center stage was a great dramatic touch.

For the evening, I again wandered over to the Land’s End stage for Black Eyed Peas, although I’m not sure why. Perhaps to catch Fergie and her wardrobe dysfunction. - and it was dysfunctional. She wore some outfit that looked like it was leftover from the Barbarella movie set. The set was heavy on the cheese factor, including the usual hip-hop maneuvers and dancers. Like many others, I left early to catch Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band at the Sutro stage.

Conor Oberst delivered a nice set of country-tinged rock that was a highlight of the festival. Jenny Lewis sat in with Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley band to cover her group Rilo Kiley’s “Portions for Foxes.” It doesn’t get any better. Sadly, Conor is reportedly retiring this band soon.

The night ended with a 3-hour jamming set by the Dave Matthews Band that had fans fighting for prime viewing spots in the polo field. Dave mixed his classics with new songs from Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. Apl.de.Ap and Fergie joined the band for “Jimi Thing” and I’m sure I’m not the only person who found it strange. Much better was a sit-in on pedal Steel by Robert Randolph for covers of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” and Sly Stone’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).”

Sunday at Outside Lands was much cooler, with normal temperatures for Golden Gate Park. That and the cancellation of the Beastie Boys meant smaller crowds for the final day, although there were plenty of great bands. I began with some soulful Bettye LaVette on the Land’s End stage for a few songs before heading to the Sutro stage for Australian songstress Lenka. Lenka was a nice surprise, with an indie attitude paired to a cheerful pop sound that sounded more like it came from her adopted home in California than from the Outback. I also managed to catch the end of the set by San Francisco’s indie pop darlings the Morning Benders on the Panhandle stage.

I wandered back to the polo field to catch a couple of acoustic songs by Heartless Bastards in the Free Yr Radio tent, before catching a frenetic set by Matt & Kim back at the Panhandle stage. Although the festival crowd was smaller on Sunday, a lot of people must have gone to Matt & Kim because it was packed with exuberant people who were more than happy to sing along. Both Matt & Kim were talkative also, with Matt cracking that they didn’t get health insurance this month so they could get a t-shirt gun, and Kim mentioning the dangers of hoop earrings and drumsticks commingling. They covered “Freebird” (shouldn’t everybody) and “Final Countdown” (should anybody) to end their set.

Next up was the most-anticipated set of the day, by the Dead Weather on the Twin Peaks stage. They had a large crowd that was eagerly jockeying for position as if it was the Beatles. Alison Mosshart from the Kills definitely brought an aggressive presence to the band, while Jack White’s enthusiastic fans ensured a guaranteed audience from the start. Although he mostly played drums, Jack did step out front for a duet with Mosshart that implied some sexual tension that surely broke some hearts among Jack’s fans. After Dead Weather I split my time between Lucinda Williams and Heartless Bastards (electric this time, and much better with a much longer set). Then it was back to the Land’s End stage for M.I.A, in one of her only performances this year. She had an interesting outfit with a tiger-face that featured tiger ears as shoulder pads. She tossed a bunch of party horns into the audience so they could add to the cacophony. She had some strange dancers with her. She reportedly wanted to back out after the Beastie Boys canceled and played a couple of verses from the Beasties’ catalogue. She did cut her set short though.

Outside Lands ended with a set by Tenacious D. Although the crowd had thinned out by now, they did an admirable job filling in for a sad situation. Jack Black was in fine form (even seemingly doing flips until Kyle Gass pointed out it was a stunt double and was forced to leave the band for half a song by an angry Jack) and it was his birthday weekend. Their set was part music and part acting/comedy and an entertaining end to Outside Lands.

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