Outside Lands Festival Diary: Part 4 – Sunday, 8/30/09

She was pretty excited to be seeing M.I.A.
She was pretty excited to be seeing M.I.A.

Today was mainly a working day for me.  I needed to be at the info booth by 4:00, and I wasn’t going to get to the park until almost 2:00, so what would I be seeing?  The short answer?  Not much.  The long answer?  A lot of really cold people, a few minutes of a few bands, one entire set, and a lot sad people. Continue reading “Outside Lands Festival Diary: Part 4 — Sunday, 8/30/09”

Outside Lands Festival Journal: Log 1, Day 2

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Os Mutantes!!!!!!!!!

Here’s my Outside Lands story. You may already be asking yourself why I am starting on Day 2. The answer is simple. I did not attend the first day. I went last year on Friday, and was so annoyed by the set up of the festival, that I did not attend again, and I was considering not doing it at all this year. I felt that security was far too sparse throughout the inside of the venue, and I also felt that they layout of the stages made it difficult to navigate through the venue. The biggest issue from 2008 was placing Radiohead on the main stage immediately after Beck played a side stage, which was about 15 minutes away by foot on a normal day, but they also made the walkway between the two stages about 2 people wide. To make matters worse, the audio kept cutting out during Radiohead’s set.

Continue reading “Outside Lands Festival Journal: Log 1, Day 2”

Outside Lands Festival Diary: Part 3 — Saturday, 8/29/08

Like watching TV on the Radio in my backyard
Like watching TV on the Radio in my backyard

I was excited to wake up and find my cold had subsided, and off I went back to Golden Gate Park for an early afternoon of volunteering and listening to bands chosen especially for me based on their proximity to my volunteering site.  My exciting adventures for today included potentially getting food poisoning, a random passerby saying some really strange stuff to me, and almost getting into a fight.  Join me on Saturday at Outside Lands. Continue reading “Outside Lands Festival Diary: Part 3 — Saturday, 8/29/08”

Outside Lands Festival Diary: Part 2 — Friday, 8/28/09

He seems surprised to be here
He seems surprised to be here

You know how when you have a little cold and you take cold medicine, and when the medicine finally kicks in, your cold breaks?  And you get really sweaty?  Now what if you were taking cold medicine on a hot day at a sunny music festival?  You’d be having my day.  So for me, and surely for many others, Friday at Outside Lands was a fun, sweaty time. Continue reading “Outside Lands Festival Diary: Part 2 — Friday, 8/28/09”

Outside Lands Festival Diary: Part 1

I have to know this backwards and forwards
I have to know this backwards and forwards

Some news organizations get full access to festivals like Outside Lands.  They get a photo pass, backstage access, free tickets, free food, special parking, and other forms of special treatment.  Some blogs get a lower level of access to these festivals, which would include free tickets, and perhaps a photo pass. And finally, there’s up-and-coming, fast growing music sites like Spinning Platters, who work for a ticket.  This will give you an entirely different perspective on Outside Lands, access be damned.  We’re not here to hobnob, we’re here to have a good time.  And answer your questions at the info booth. Continue reading “Outside Lands Festival Diary: Part 1”

Spinning Platters Podcast: Episode 4 – Outside Lands Festival

We're getting psyched for this weekend
We're getting psyched for this weekend

Episode 4 of the Spinning Platters podcast is now available below, and in iTunes.  Dakin, Gordon and D.P. are joined on this episode by Carlos Rodela of Mevio.  You can see him weekly on Rad on the Web and Press Pause, or hear him below.  This week’s topics are:

  • What we’ve been listening to
  • Outside Lands Festival Cage Match — We put bands playing at the same time up against each other to decide who you should be seeing
  • Rad on the Web, and what other joy you’ll find on the Mevio Tech channel

Click on to listen, or even better,  subscribe to the Spinning Platters podcast on iTunes. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Podcast: Episode 4 — Outside Lands Festival”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide To Bay Area Concerts: August 25th-31st

If anybody thinks bats are ugly, make them look at this picture. And go see one of their two shows Tueday night.
If anybody thinks bats are ugly, make them look at this picture. And go see one of their two shows Tuesday night.

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.)

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide To Bay Area Concerts: August 25th-31st”

Spinning Platters Picks Six: Bands That Seem Likely To Headline Outside Lands

6 likely candidates to cover for the Beasties at Outside Lands
6 likely candidates to cover for the Beasties at Outside Lands

(Update: Another Planet announced today that Tenacious D are going to be replacing The Beastie Boys… Odd choice, and one that I never would have expected…)

So, it seems that the good people at Another Planet are taking their time with revealing who will take over the headlining slot for the Beastie Boys.  I’d like to take the time tell you which six acts are likely to take it over.  This isn’t a wish list, this is a well researched list of acts that are popular enough to headline a large outdoor festival, that are currently active, are available August 30th, and do not have any other shows in the Bay Area within 3 months before and after the show. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Picks Six: Bands That Seem Likely To Headline Outside Lands”

Outside Lands Festival Lineup Analysis

Outside Lands Festivalgoers dancing to Manu Chao last year...
Outside Lands Festivalgoers dancing to Manu Chao last year...

They released the initial line-up for this year’s Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival, and if you haven’t already seen it on the 20,000 other sites that are posting it, here it is…
Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Beastie Boys, Incubus, Black Eyed Peas, MIA, Jason Mraz, Ween, Band Of Horses, TV On The Radio, The Dead Weather, Atmosphere, The Mars Volta, Thievery Corporation, Modest Mouse, Tom Jones, Silversun Pickups, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, The National, Q-Tip, Brett Dennen, Built To Spill, Mastodon, Raphael Saadiq, Calexico, Os Mutantes, Midnite, JJ Grey & Mofro, Kinky, Deerhunter, Lila Downs, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave, The Dodos, Betty Lavette, Dengue Fever, Heartless Bastards, The Dirtbombs, Lenka, Akron/Family, John Vanderslice, Matt & Kim, Portugal. The Man, The Morning Benders, The Duke Spirit, Zee Avi, Blind Pilot, Sambada, Ryan Bingham, West Indian Girl, Extra Golden…

Now, I think it looks pretty good, and I can discuss all the bands at length if you wish, but I am a bit more worried about all of the things that can go wrong with this show. Continue reading “Outside Lands Festival Lineup Analysis”