My Experience At 2012 Outside Lands Music And Arts Festival

For four years now, I make the yearly pilgrimage to Golden Gate park for the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival. Obviously, Coachella is much closer to where I live in San Diego, but I have to say that Outside Lands is always much more enjoyable. Yes it is a music festival, but it also is an arts and food festival and here are some reasons why it’s just so awesome:

THE MUSIC

Every year I feel like I am getting too old for Coachella. Mind you, I had fun this past year (read the article here). But every year I go to Coachella, I feel there is an increasingly large quantity of rave bands that I’ve never heard of or even care about. When I go to Outside Lands, I know I am in for one of the most eclectic lineups imaginable. In past years I have seen Modest Mouse, Pearl Jam, Tom Jones, Mastadon, MGMT, Tenacious D, MIA, Band of Horses, Bright Eyes, Phoenix, Phish, and the list goes on and on. This years lineup was probably one of my favorites. This year, some of the headliners were Beck, Regina Spector, Jack White, Neil Young, Foo Fighters, Franz Ferdinand, FUN, Justice, Skrillex (bleh), Sigur Ros, Metallica, and STEVIE FUCKING WONDER. The last one specifically blew me away within minutes. As soon as the Stevie Wonder show started, he was seen walking out (totally solo) playing “How Sweet It Is” on a fucking keytar. He hadn’t even sat down yet but my mind was already blown. What came after that was an hour and some change of pure musical bliss with just one beautiful hit after another. Besides Stevie Wonder, there were some great smaller bands I was really happy to see. My Coachella favorite Wallpaper played Friday afternoon which was a lot of fun. Some other notables were Tanlines, Geographer, Trampled by Turtles, Fitz and the Tantrums, Washed Out, Zola Jesus and the super ridiculous South African Rap/Rave duo Die Antwoord.

Sigur Ros hasn’t been on tour together in four years and I have to say that it was a surreal experience to see them blasting their weird Icelandic what have ya. Neil Young put on a spectacular show, shredding on guitar and crooning in his magical way like there’s no tomorrow. This is quite impressive for a guy in his mid-60s. Also, listen to Washed Out if you haven’t heard of them. They have a acid-rock ethereal sound that is just pure awesome. My only problem with the fest is the scheduling. There were so many instances when I had to make a decision between multiple bands at any given time but that is something that happens to me at other festivals. As long as I can see some rad sets and nom on delicious grub then I am good with that.

THE FOOD

For those who don’t know me, I love food. Music might be a huge draw for me but I have to say I’m always most excited trying the best San Francisco has to offer in terms of local tasty-ness. Last year, Outside Lands introduced the food truck forest. It’s exactly what it sounds like…a beautiful forest littered with food trucks. This year however, the popularity of food trucks had increased past the forest to a point that the things were next to all of the stages now. Besides the food trucks, the main stage has a cornucopia of delicious treats to choose from. I dined on such decadent things as fried chicken sandwiches with jalapenos and apple-nut slaw, fried mac n cheese slices, and my favorite…pork belly Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches. Other festivals (Coachella included) only seem to have burritos, chicken fingers and over-priced pizza. Mind you the food isn’t the cheapest but I have to say that it is really worth it. If you are like me, a good adult beverage is a must when chowing down on decadent eats.

THE BEVERAGES

Beer Gardens suck. Every time I go to a festival with a beer garden, I shudder at the fact that I know I’m about to enter that shamefully awkward alcoholic internment camp for an overpriced Heineken Light. Even worse, it means I can’t be at a stage listening to music if I plan on drinking. That isn’t the case at OL. This fest does have the absurdly priced Heinekens but it’s better because you can walk around with your alcoholic beverage and enjoy music at your leisure. And if Heineken isn’t your thing, OL has two giant tents dedicated to both Beer and Wine called Beerlands and Winelands respectively. Now at these magical places you can purchase a book of Monoploy looking money to purchase beers or wine from places all up and down California.

I never felt like there was an intense wait for drinks either which is really helpful unlike the god awful lines I’ve seen in beer gardens of the past.

THE PEOPLE

I hate crowds. With every fiber of my being, I can’t stand large quantities of humans in a spot at once. They always have but whether it’s Comic Con or another music festival you have to accept that crowds are just going to happen. Every year OL has become ever more popular but this year I think was the easiest/mellow experience I’ve had dealing with large music fest crowds. It also helped that I had such a phenomenal crew with me.

A few months ago, I suffered from a breakup with my girlfriend which for obvious reasons was a low point in my recent days. Apart from just changing my status quo, I had planned on sharing a vacation rental with her and some other friends. Shortly after the breakup, I withdrew myself from the group for fear of it being weird. With my plans of where to stay in San Francisco in flux, I had a guardian angel in the form of my roommate Jon. One weekend Jon invited some of his friends from his hometown of Huntington Beach to stay with us in San Diego.

Over the weekend, I really bonded with this group and they told me how none of them had ever been to Outside Lands and were planning on going for the first time this year. They invited me along and I was grateful not just because of the situation I mentioned earlier but because I really love being a part of a group that is experiencing such a culture explosion like a music festival.

This group rolls about 9 deep and the main focus is just nothing but good times and even though most of them hadn’t even been to San Francisco they all showed great adaptability and had nothing but great times. We all had very similar music tastes but if there was an instance where someone wanted to see something else, there would usually be little splinter groups who would break away to go elsewhere. We never lost someone for a large period of time and made our meet up spot the giant Outside Lands windmills. No one ever felt pressured to miss something they wanted to see and there was never drama which was pretty awesome.

Now if you are curious if I ever ran into my ex-girlfriend while up there…I did and guess what. It totally wasn’t awkward and maybe it had something to do with time but I have a feeling that it has something to do with just the environment of Outside Lands. Ok, there we go, I got that out of my system so thanks for listening to that aspect …anyways… You won’t find any crazy angry people (well outside of a few weirdos I met in the Metallica mosh pit) at this festival. And that’s something I’m grateful for. As the years go on, I feel that this is one festival I can continue to go to and enjoy myself.  I even witnessed a game of Twister played by total strangers while I was waiting for Jack White.

So, yeah, you have now successfully read my rant about my favorite music festival. Now I urge you to go out and seek this fest for yourself. I have attached a bunch of information for those who have never been or plan on going in the future. Feel free to contact me through facebook or my Instagram username of zackohdos. I would love to hear feedback if you’ve been to the fest or if you have festivals you are into.