Tag Archive for 'Golden Gate Park'

First Ever Live Music Festival Webcast on YouTube: San Francisco's Outside Lands

Outside+Lands

There has been a lot of talk lately about live music. Some of us have noted that concert sales are thriving despite the recession, and there seems to be almost a revival of festival-going going on. The Taking Woodstock movie is coming out, which is sure to conjure up some nostalgia and fuel some fires that have been laying dormant. One of the more notable festivals on the West coast is definitely San Francisco’s Outside Lands, which is taking place this weekend.

For those of you who live in or have ever been near the Bay Area in August you know it’s a big deal. The historic Sunset District of San Francisco plays host to this 3 day festival in Golden Gate park, which includes an incredible lineup spanning just about every genre and showcasing both big names and lesser known gems.

Fans who were looking forward to the Beastie Boys headlining will have to shake it off and get excited about Tenacious D jumping in instead. Hopefully, M.I.A. will be able to do the same. She was none too pleased about the change.

In addition to being highly interactive and social media friendly, Outside Lands has taken it a step further and is going where no concert has gone before. It is being broadcast live on YouTube! While we’re doling out the accolades, let us also mention that they are doing their part to keep it green.

Planning on going? Have you seen all the tools out there to help you get organized? First of all, you can stay up-to-date via twitter. (Please note that it’s a “twitterbot for people going to Outside Lands Fest. Send tweet to @osl to broadcast back to everyone following osl.”) Also, you might want to download the iPhone app, try using Ranger Dave’s Magic Scheduler, or hop on to CrowdFire (a place to add your photos, videos, and tweets.)

Radiohead at Outside Lands

Last night, on the first evening of Outside Lands in San Francisco, Radiohead took the stage as the final act. Playing to an absolutely packed Polo Grounds, the band tackled some new favorites and some old classics in what I thought was a pretty well balanced set list. Thanks to 58hours.com for the complete set list. The group came out promptly on time and rolled through their first songs. I thought the standouts of the show were “Videotape” and “Idioteque” followed by “Karma Police” and the ending duo of “Fake Plastic Trees” and “Everything in Its Right Place.” The problem, however, was that when everyone who wanted to see Radiohead at this three day festival paid $100 for their tickets, I doubt they thought that they would get a show with not one but two audio cut outs. Once in the beginning of the show and then, very unfortunately, in the middle of “All I Need,” the sound cut out completely for 20-30 seconds.

While Radiohead kicked ass in their set, turning dark and somber tunes into crowd-aweing pieces and their more upbeat tracks into high energy beautiful chaos, I have never seen a professional concert of this magnitude have the kind of inexcusable sound issues that they had last night. Yorke apologized for it multiple times, but for the price people paid to see them, there shouldn’t be issues like this.

Outside Lands continues today and tomorrow in Golden Gate Park with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers headlining this evening and Jack Johnson on Sunday.