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Headstash's OUTSIDE LANDS Review Guide

: By Max Urquhart; Published on August 16, 2011

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Headstash's OUTSIDE LANDS Review Guide

August 12-14 – Golden Gate Park – San Francisco, CA
4th year – Estimated attendance: 40,000-60,000 each day

2011 Lineup: Muse, Phish (2 sets), Arcade Fire, The Black Keys, Deadmau5, The Shins, MGMT, Girl Talk, The Decemberists, John Fogerty, Erykah Badu, The Original Meters, Beirut, The Roots, Artic Monkeys, STS9, Big Boi, Big Audio Dynamite, Warren Haynes Band, Major Lazer, Little Dragon, Julieta Venegas, Sia, OK Go, The Greyboy Allstars, Josh Ritter and The Royal City Band, Old 97's, Mavis Staples, !!!, Latyrx feat. Lyrics Born and Lateef, Best Coast, Collie Buddz, Phantogram, Charles Bradley, Foster The People, Lotus, STRFKR, Junip, Pajama Party, The Infamous Stringdusters, The Vaccines, Toro Y Moi, Vetiver, The Limousines, The Stone Foxes, The Joy Formidable, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Wye Oak, Ana Tijoux, Orgone, Lord Huron, Tamaryn, Grouplove, The Fresh and Onlys, Ximena Sariñana, Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers, Diego's Umbrella, Ghost Robot, Ellie Goulding, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Phantogram, New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, Kelley Stoltz, Release The Sunbird, K. Flay, Arann Harris and The Farm Band, Christina Perri, Vetiver, Paper Diamond, ESKMO, The Vaccines, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Bob Schnieder, Cosmic Superpunch, Ty Segall, Charles Bradley and The Menahan Street Band

Festival Website: http://www.sfoutsidelands.com/

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Weather

Cloudy and slightly chilly on Friday – around 60 degrees during the day and around 50 at night. Sunny and beautiful on Saturday and Sunday. It was nice to see the sun for awhile after a bit of a bleak first day weather-wise.

Friday Highlights

Is it wrong of me to just say Phish? Because they really were that good.

Saturday Highlights

Sia had a beautifully fun day set. The Roots played a lot of classics and kept the energy high. Paper Diamond is really progressing with his live act and it's impressive to see his growth as an artist. It was the smallest venue (500 capacity) I'd ever seen STS9 at and naturally, there were many highlights from that show.

Sunday Highlights

Deadmau5's production value continues to impress and got people moving like no one else all weekend. The Infamous Stringdusters were a nice change of pace and a welcome dash of bluegrass to the heavy indie/electronic/rock lineup. The best part of the day might have been being able to explore the gorgeous festival grounds and chilling in the forest.

Lowlight

Claustrophobia. The crowds were pretty big each day and I couldn't get anywhere close for The Black Keys. Imagine what it was like for Muse.

Three Surprises

Golden Gate Park. It's massive.

The crowd. It was even more massive.

Minnie Mau5. The enigmatic Deadmau5 brought out a female singer for about 30 minutes. Though it got a bit stale by the end, it was a welcome

Phish Review

Set I: Kill Devil Falls, Wilson, Funky Bitch > The Moma Dance > Peaches en Regalia > Sample in a Jar, Possum, Tweezer > Mound, Suzy Greenberg > Axilla > Mike's Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove
Set II: Rock and Roll > Steam > Piper > Roses Are Free, Julius, Life On Mars, Birds of a Feather > Fluffhead > Backwards Down The Number Line > 2001 > Chalkdust Torture
Encore: Cavern > Tweezer Reprise

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Phish is on another level right now. It took them a little while to get going in the first set, but when they found the groove they really blasted off. “Funky Bitch” after “Wilson” had people moving and segued perfectly into “Moma Dance > Peaches en Regalia.”

After a two-year absence, the popular Frank Zappa cover recently made its return. It’s a song Phish really makes their own with the unique jams and obscure noodling.

Photo Credit: Jessie Popper

It almost goes without saying these days, but the “Tweezer” had a really awesome jam as well. Phish is really sounding great lately and the first set had something for everybody.

The second set opener “Rock and Roll” had an awesome, spacey jam outro very similar to the much talked about Gorge version from the weekend before but not nearly as long.

“Piper” had what I recognized as a nice Type II jam in it before what in my estimation was one of the best “Fluffhead” versions in years later in the set.

Bassist Mike Gordon took centerstage during “2001” where he staked his claim as the best funk bassist around.

After the encore of “Cavern > Tweezer Reprise” it was easy to see the happiness all around in the crowd. Phish had just slayed San Francisco.

STS9 Late-Night Review

Set I: This, Us, Empires > New Soma, Instantly, The Golden Gate, Ramone and Emiglio, Atlas, What is Love?
Set II: Scheme, Really What?, Evasive Maneuvers > Monkey Music > Kamuy, Be Nice, New New 4 U U
Encore: Somesing

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The excitement was really high for this show, as the diehard Sector 9 fans were hoping for something super special. Though it may not have lived up to the hype (and let’s face it, most shows never do), it was still an awesome and amazing experience riddled with highlights and interesting moments.

With the capacity of The Independent was only 500 and being 21 and up, people outside were offering upwards of $200.00 for a ticket. Even though the venue was tiny and almost definitely had more than the allotted capacity, it still felt spacious and comfortable.

I have been to venues of that size that would sell another 200 tickets and just cram people in there. Luckily, The Independent doesn’t do this and waitresses easily walked around the entire venue serving drinks.

Photo Credit: Jessie Popper

“This, Us” was a good opener and “Empires” – one of the strongest songs off “Peaceblaster” – to follow was well placed. Segueing into an electric version of “New Soma” that sounded more inspired by their acoustic take on the song gave the crowd a small taste of the versatility of STS9.

“Instantly” was one of the highlights of the first set, with guitarist Hunter Brown highlighting the end of the song, dropping the classic sample line “Instantly” over and over again.

One of the most quintessential Sound Tribe songs, “Ramone and Emiglio,” was the next real highlight of the show and was a strong version.

The second set is when the band really picked things up with an interesting segment of old-school songs: “Evasive Maneuvers > Monkey Music > Kamuy.”

As he’s prone to do, drummer Zach Velmer shined during the drum solos in both “Monkey Music” and “Kamuy,” wailing on his instrument and extending the jam heavily.

“Be Nice” had a different feel to it than usual and a rare and funky “Somesing” encore ended the show.

Atmosphere

It was really different than your usual festival with all varieties of people from the Phish kids to Deadmau5 lovers, to the hipster kids and the older crowd there with their families.

Every type of music lover was there and for the most part, it was a really nice and happy crowd – good people loving good music.

The decorations in the forests were really awesome, and because of San Francisco’s unique climate, the trees are very distinct in Golden Gate Park.

Multiple conversations were had about how beautiful the grounds were. It was a great venue for a big city festival. And unlike some large, mainstream fests, the sound was superb.

Best Pictures