Day 1: Underwear and sun, at the same time
We came, we saw, we sweated. San Francisco Outside Lands attendees were gifted with a heat wave, sans rash, for the first day of the weekend-long festival, and never before have we seen people more confused (the natives knew this was an oddity). Also, all the indie boys who decided to take off their shirts only upped the hotness factor, considering their torsos served as a light deflector and blinded everyone in sight. Holy whiteness, Batman.
With seven stages situated on two meadows and the main polo field in Golden Gate Park, we have to say that this year’s experience toppled last year’s (you know, where I cried a bunch and then scraped my elbow), with a million tents set up for food, photobooths, prizes, massages, wine tastings, free hugs, trampolines, and even a phone charging station. And while the smaller stages boasted a very impressive knit of indie, electronica, and even hip-hop acts, the main stage line-up felt slightly too 90’s. I do own Pearl Jam’s “Ten” on cassette tape though, so maybe I’m not one to judge.
Highlights include:
- the choice people watching we were afforded as we wandered around the site
- Silversun Pickups and Los Campesinos! slaying their sets
- running around San Francisco at night with no jacket on
- remembering how much we were in love with Incubus’s Brandon Boyd in 11th grade
- Throwing blue lacey underwear at Tom Jones
Day one, you ain’t so bad.
Autolux
Akron/Family
Los Campesinos!
The Dodos
Silversun Pickups
Tom Jones
