Outside Lands Festival is this weekend, which has booked nearly every touring act hitting the west coast in late summer, making it a tough to find something else to do… But, I’ve compiled the list for all of the people that aren’t willing to pay $100 a day to hike through Golden Gate Park.
If you insist on supporting the big mega-festival, here’s the schedule by day and by night. And if you have a spare 3-day pass that you just feel like giving to a sad blogger that can’t afford one, e-mail me at dakin@spinningplatters.com, or you can join me at one of these shows:
(Note: You can also e-mail if you think your show is deserving of being on my list… Just link me to sound samples, and e-mail me by Friday the week prior to the show. As you can see, I do my list Tuesday-Monday.)
Tuesday, August 25th
Fruit Bats, Death Vessel, AB & The Sea at The Independant, 8 PM
Fruit Bats follow suit with the current crop of bands signed to Sub Pop these days, which is a nice clean sound, with pitch perfect harmonies that wouldn’t feel out of place in 1967, but still sound contemporary. To make a quick a dirty comparison, if Fleet Foxes are CSNY, Fruit Bats are The Byrds. (Also appearing at Amoeba SF at 6 PM)
Diana Krall at Wells Fargo Center For The Arts (Santa Rosa), 8 PM
Wednesday, August 26th
Dredg, RX Bandits, As Tall As Lions at The Fillmore, 7:30 PM
Dredg are a local prog-metal band. They are quite good. RX Bandits were one of the hardest touring bands in the ska/punk scene of the mid-90’s. In recent years, they’ve evolved in to a jam band, more akin to The Cat Empire than Reel Big Fish. As Tall As Lions do big-atmospheric rock anthems. Nobody on this bill fits with anybody else on this bill. And that’s why the show will be great.
Goh Nakamura, Tomo Nakayama, Odessa Chen at Cafe du Nord, 8 PM
Thursday, August 27th
20 Minute Loop, The Famous, Billy & Dolly at Cafe du Nord, 8 PM
Catchy, dreamy, and sugary. All of the best qualities to find in a pop band. 20 Minute Loop will keep your head swimming with the gorgeous male/female harmonies and layers galore!
Canyons at 330 Ritch (Popscene), 9 PM
Friday, August 28th
Judgement Day, Ninja Academy, Prids, Red Giant, Anon Remora at 924 Gilman St, 8 PM
Attention East Bay music lovers: If you don’t want to deal with the traffic, the expense, or the crowds of Outside Lands, but still want to be amazed, support your local all ages, volunteer run venues and witness the greatest metal band ever! Consisting of distorted violin, cello, and drums, and have fans as wide ranging as The Matches, Pete Yorn, and Slash, you really should give your ears the treat they deserve. You don’t need to see Pearl Jam from a mile away, you need to see this.
The Velvet Teen, The Ghost, Drowning With Our Anchors, For.The.Win at Thee Parkside, 8 PM
Go Kart Moses, Apothesary, Tigers on the Moon, Captain Amazing and the OK I Guesses, Trippin’ Flys at 130 Sunrise Drive in Brentwood, CA, 6 PM
Saturday, August 29th
The Pretenders, Cat Power, Juliette Lewis at The Mountain Winery, 7:30 PM
There were some pretty ingenious package tours this summer, but this one was definitely the gutsiest. We have three of the most intense stage performers in the history of rock n roll, but they are also three of the least mentally stable people in the history of an art form filled with loose cannons. Will Chrissie Hynde storm off the stage in a fit of anger? Will Chan Marshall forget what she’s doing and walk off mid-song? Will Juliette Lewis scare the living crap out of you with her stare? Or will you end up with a potent evening if indescribable showmanship mixed with some of the greatest songs ever written?
Death Angel, Skinlab, Kaos at The Uptown Nightclub, 9 PM
I’ve just got to say that whoever is booking at The Uptown needs to keep it up. The shows keep getting bigger and better. I hardly miss living in San Francisco with this place around the corner. Thank you!
Sunday, August 30th
The Minus 5, The Baseball Project, The Steve Wynn IV at Great American Music Hall, 8 PM
First we have the band, which is 1 part Young Fresh Fellows, 1 part Dream Syndicate, and 1 part REM, with a few friends and family members mixed in to flesh out the sound. Then, you give them a topic to center a record around. Let’s make it baseball. What is the next thing you do? Make them take it out on the road… This show isn’t really 3 bands playing, it’s 1 band with 3 names doing 3 sets, and all of them will be very different and very good. And, seriously, how often do you get to see someone that normally plays arena at the Great American Music Hall for $16? Let Peter Buck rock your socks off! He won’t mind…
Uptones, Coup de SKA, Tantrum at Amnesia, 8 PM
Monday, August 31st
Jimbo Trout & The Fish Black Crown String Band, Amnesia, 8:30 PM
Amnesia is quickly becoming another force to be reckoned with in terms of booking. Every Monday they have a free bluegrass show, which is a fantastic way to start out the work week. Just don’t drink too much moonshine, you’ve got work in the morning. (Well, 86% of you do…)
One of my former favourite bands is playing Parkside and I didn’t even know! (stupid outside lands)
Anyone want to see The Velvet Teen with me?
You know, if you’re not being hardcore and going to Gilman…