I really love Outside Lands. It’s funny because my heart genuinely lies in the world of Punk, and something this big *shouldn’t* be my thing, but I love being able to disconnect from the outside world and just take in music with strangers and friends, and the best part- strangers that became friends that I only see at this event. And, yes, a fellow writer recently referred to Outside Lands attendees as “norms” (I saw what you did there, Alan!), but, man, I had such a wonderful, blissful time, dancing with strangers, eating amazing food, enjoying nearly perfect weather, and taking in some amazing music. I honestly can’t wait for next year, and hope I’m able to keep coming to the park for many years to come.
Odie Leigh
It was such a great way to start the weekend. Odie Leigh brought the charm, and her voice is a potent device. Imagine if Patsy Cline cut her teeth on both country and fuzzed-up indie rock, and you kind of get close. She brought joy and flirty energy, and the audience returned the feeling on this cold and overcast Friday.
The Last Dinner Party
I’ve made the case several times that goths are the happiest people I know. The Last Dinner Party pulled off a bright and jubilant set that didn’t shy away from the darkness but made damn sure that the light was there, too. Keytars and harmonies and singer Abigail Morris brought the Kate Bush-level theatrics to a set that defied my expectations. So much fun.
billy woods
Festivals are tough. And not everyone is really made for them. billy woods set was pure poetry. Dark and cerebral, it would’ve been one of my favorite sets in a different context. But- his brand of hip hop is almost entirely hookless. It’s just an intense wallop that keeps coming and really demands real attention. This was not quite the right space. It’s a shame, because he was pouring his damn heart out.
The Japanese House
UK’s The Japanese House (I know! It frustrates me, too) may have been the set to perfectly represent the overcast SF afternoon. Bubbly and catchy but mostly just plain pleasant. The crowd was full of swaying and hugs and smiles… I’ve never seen a crowd that simply seemed content. It was a joy!
underscores
One thing that’s rare at Outside Lands is truly heavy, aggressive music. underscores was the holy shit assault of energy and ferocity that I didn’t know I needed, but I’m so glad I stumbled over them. It was the first full audience pogo of the fest, and it was precisely what I needed. She even instigated a full-on wall of death towards the end of the set, which is unheard of at this thing!
Tyla
The bad news was that Tyla took the stage nearly 30 minutes late. I have no idea what held her up, but whatever it was, she managed to shake it off and literally put her all into the set. She sang live, she moved like an acrobat and showed us that it was worth the wait. Ironically enough, despite playing “Water,” its cameo came a bit later…
Renee Rapp
Moments into Renee Rapp’s set, I felt a sudden burst of water. I thought someone threw a drink onstage. Nope! It was the sky! Only once before have I experienced rain at this thing, and it was for the coldest Nine Inch Nails set ever. Rapp, on the other hand, fought back with energy and gusto. And the crowd complied- jumping and screaming every single lyric. Of course, Rapp’s Broadway-trained voice is ridiculously good, and she may have been playing the role of a rock star tonight, but she plays the part like a master.
Sidebar: Someone held up a sign that said, “Renee Rapp, Give Me A Pap!” and it rendered her speechless.
The Killers
www.chrisphelps.com
I last saw The Killers in 2008. They sounded great, but I certainly wouldn’t have called them charismatic. Fast forward 16 years, and the first words out of frontman Brandon Flowers’ mouth were, “We Are The Killers, and we are a great rock n roll band!” They then immediately jumped into “Somebody Told Me” with the gusto of a classic Vegas act.
And it wasn’t just Flowers. Guitarist Ted Sablay perfectly embodied the classic guitar hero. Drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr mugged for the cameras while also being a straight-up monster on the kit. They were filled out by two additional synth players, a bassist, and three backup singers from the classic arena rock tradition. And the set was wall-to-wall hits, playing a sizable chunk of their debut Hot Fuss, an Erasure cover, and songs that I didn’t realize I knew off later records. The set ended with the most perfect four-song closer (“All The Things That I Have Done,” “When We Were Young,” “Human,” “Mr Brightside”), reminding me that these guys can write generation-defining anthems in their sleep.
Lady Wray
Back in 1998, I worked at a record store and popped on Make It Hot by the Missy Elliott protégé, Nicole, and fell in love. I never heard from her again, then landed upon the OSL lineup and found that she had rebranded as Lady Wray, and that thrust her set to my top priority. And she did not disappoint, playing a sizable chunk of her latest psych soul masterpiece, Piece Of Me. But also played her 1998 hit, “Make It Hot,” causing a group of teen girls to stare at me in embarrassment in unison when I rapped every word to the breakdown with her.
Balthvs
The name is bad. The band is worse.
K. flay
I’ve been following K. flay through a slew of different sounds. But the pure, metal aggression of Mono still managed to surprise me in all the right ways. Her set was largely culled from this work, and the frustration of getting effectively getting the runaround by your doctors really came through in this set. She never stopped moving. Each line was a pure assault of emotion delivered with enough energy to power the city.
Amyl & The Sniffers
Oh, man. K. flay and Amyl back-to-back is the most glorious back-to-back set. Amyl & The Sniffers were especially fiery and were the first act to force me to dance. Like after we were cut from the photo pit, I couldn’t stop moving. I even forgot that my trick knee was giving me trouble until the set ended, and I went straight for my Tylenol reserve. As a 44-year-old does after a good punk rock show.
STRFKR
I’ll admit that STRFKR was part of one of my least favorite musical eras- the “we are a bunch of nerdy white guys making music to get played at Sephora” era. But I had a free hour that I wanted to fill, so I decided to go in with an open mind. And, well, once I got passed my initial “ick” with the smooth bass, disco drums, and airy falsetto of the era, I stepped back and took it all in. And it was pretty fun! There were dancing astronauts on stage, and the whole crowd was having a great, pretense-free dance party. I wanted to be the hater, but by the end I was grooving with the single most diverse crowd of the weekend, having a jolly time.
Grace Jones
Words escape me. I’ve been to hundreds of shows. I’ve never seen anything quite like that spectacle. Jones came out in a HYDRAULIC DRESS. She performed Iggy Pop’s “Nightclubbing” FROM THE ROOF OF THE STAGE, only to be lowered to the ground for her second costume change. She literally changed from one iconic look to the next for every single song. She actually yelled out: “I need some shoulders!” and climbed onto the back of the biggest guy she could find and made him walk through the crowd with her on his back. Her voice was in amazing form, and, to be frank, I hope to be half that hot when I’m 76. And she sang her set closer, “Slave To The Rhythm,” while hula hooping. Grace Jones is inhuman.
Sabrina Carpenter
My plan was to get in my allotted 3 songs in the photo pit and high tail it to The Postal Service. But I just couldn’t do it. Sabrina Carpenter, who feels like an overnight sensation but has been putting in road miles for nearly a decade, brought a disco country spectacle that was somehow equal parts Jenny Lewis, Dolly Parton, Dua Lipa, and Tom Jones. It was silly. The dancing was amazing. She also seemed entirely unpretentious and almost startled by the love she received. She accepted gifts from the audience. When “Please Please Please” began, I felt chills. “because I liked a boy,” a song I’d never heard before tonight, was performed with such emotional intensity that I may have actually cried. By the end of the set, I almost didn’t want to hear “Espresso” because every single song and moment was stronger. In fact, “Espresso” felt like the closing credits to the best movie I’ve seen all year.
Oh yeah- she brought out Kacey Musgraves to sing “Boots” by Nancy Sinatra. Normally, that would’ve been the headline, but I actually forgot that it happened by the end. Sabrina Carpenter definitely deserves her newfound superstar status.
Cimafunk
The Sunday morning set at OSL is always my favorite set. Last year, they went a bit off the traditional of bringing the funk (but they brought the UPSAHL, which was pretty great). Today, they gave us Cimafunk, which was straight-up horn-driven Latin funk, and it was stupid fun. And seeing the sea of pink cowboy hats bobbing up and down for them at 12 p.m. was a jubilant way to start my day.
Lael Neale
Back in college, I went to a show at an abandoned auto garage in Hayward. It was entirely blissful, lofi indie pop, and it was a magical experience. Neale somehow managed to take me right back to that auto garage. I was transfixed by the magic of something so intimate in such a massive setting, yet she never seemed dwarfed by the setting. Instead, she made the massive meadow feel as intimate as her songs.
Elyanna
Palestinian-born Elyanna played a potent set. Her dancers and percussionist came out first, giving an epic, high-energy intro. Then Elyanna appeared to thunderous Middle Eastern beats and proceeded to give us 45 minutes of impressive dancing and singing. She gave us something that was both rooted in tradition and very fresh. It was also abundantly clear that this booking was designed to inform us that Palestinian culture and its people are worth saving and need saving, and we need to stop sending bombs to Israel.
CMAT
I still can’t describe CMAT. But boy, is she intense. That was one ridiculous, energetic, and passionate set. She claims to be a country singer, and she kinda is? But that set was also punk as fuck.
Chappell Roan
Yup. I’m all in on the Chappell Roan. Like, super all in. The ferocity of the screams when she took the stage was so overwhelming that I almost lost balance. The opening refrains of “Femininomenom” were almost drowned out by the rapturous screams of the crowd.
As with every Chappell Roan show, there is a theme. And the theme today was, well, the one-year anniversary of “HOT TO GO.” The band wore the same outfits from the video (which happened to align which the Golden State Warriors uniforms), and committed to a fully athletic set. She taught us all the dance, despite the fact that hardly anyone didn’t know it. The voice, the songs, the passion, the charm. I went into that set liking her music and left the set madly in love with her. Just like the 20,000 other people in that field with me.
Sturgill Simpson
Sturgill Simpson’s performance at Outside Lands 2024 was nothing short of electrifying, set against a backdrop of Mark Twain-esque San Francisco weather—a cool, breezy day that kept the vibey, day-drunk crowd comfortably buzzing. The audience, a mix of seasoned fans and curious festival-goers, swayed and grooved to Simpson’s genre-blending sound. There was an almost palpable excitement in the air as the first notes rang out, and from that moment on, it was clear that Simpson had the crowd in the palm of his hand. Dressed in Converse sneakers and sporting a haircut reminiscent of Elijah Wood, Sturgill Simpson exuded a laid-back, yet commanding presence on stage. Despite his unassuming appearance, he led his band—a tight, well-oiled machine, reminiscent of Waylon Jennings or perhaps even a musical Wizard of Oz. Each musician locking in perfectly with the next, creating a seamless blend of sound that carried the crowd through a set that felt both timeless and refreshingly new. At one point, I couldn’t resist yelling out song titles from “Noir Du Passage,” hoping to catch Sturgill’s ear. For a fleeting moment, I could have sworn he glanced my way. Whether he heard me or not, the setlist—punctuated by ripping guitar solos and subtle nods to the Grateful Dead—was a testament to the evolution of his sound with this current lineup. The music felt vibrant, alive, and wholly unique to the moment. I walked away feeling incredibly lucky to have witnessed such a masterful performance.
