Outside Lands 2014 shines spotlight on familiar and new musicians
Held at the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Outside Lands 2014 featured music and celebrated food and art of the Bay Area. This year’s musical performances included Kanye West, Arctic Monkeys and The Killers. (Courtesy of Patricia Ferido)
By Noor Gill
Aug. 12, 2014 3:34 p.m.
With fog rolling through the eucalyptus trees, music booming across the park and festival-goers heading toward the entrance to the pulse of music, Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival began as it always has.
In its seventh year, the three-day festival was held in the fields of Golden Gate Park, offering a broad range of musical talent and celebrating the food, wine and art of the Bay Area.
The music festival kicked off last Friday with high-energy performances by Holy Ghost!, Disclosure, Arctic Monkeys and Kanye West.
Electro-funk pair Chromeo, playing at both Coachella 2014 and more recently at Lollapalooza 2014, proved to be one of the more livelier performances during the first day, compelling the crowd to dance along to more than just its most recognizable song “Jealous (I Ain’t With It).”
When Guy and Howard Lawrence of Disclosure came on the the stage after Chromeo, they failed to fully live up to expectations. While the duo mentioned that the crowd was probably the largest they’ve ever performed in front of, in contrast to Chromeo, Disclosure’s stage presence lacked the same intensity that some of its beats provided.
After Disclosure’s set, thousands of people remained at the main stage, anticipating Kanye’s impending performance. Would he wear one of those peculiar masks? Would he break out in an impassioned rant? Would he stop mid-song to perform an auto-tuned speech about the importance of self-confidence?
The answer to all of those questions is “yes.” At one point he even called out the press, saying that instead of focusing on the negative, they should embrace the moment, the time, the era, the “Yeezy” season that everyone is living in.
With Friday ending with a mix of good and bad performances, Saturday’s mellower lineup consisted of stronger performances including Tycho, Local Natives and HAIM.
Day two surprises ranged from an animated performance by relatively new psychedelic dance group, Jagwar Ma, to an onstage same-sex proposal before Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s performance of “Same Love.”
However, day two still provided some comforting familiarity with artists like Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers as well as Death Cab for Cutie playing classic songs such as “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.”
As the festival began to come to a close, the last day brought more upbeat musicians such as Flume and Tiesto to counter the slight exhaustion experienced by the festival-goers that comes with the last day of any multi-day festival.
The Flaming Lips set established itself as one of the more distinct performances on Sunday. The group’s performance consisted of an assortment of bizarre props populating the stage including people dressed as rainbows and butterflies to a creepy baby doll that lead singer, Wayne Coyne, clutched to his chest as he sang.
Although The Flaming Lips offered the unusual, The Killers stole day three, seemingly the most successful headliner of all three nights.
The band played as energetically and dynamically as possible, with lead singer, Brandon Flowers dramatically striding across the stage and catering to the audience in every way. The Killers played songs that everyone in the crowd could sing such as “Somebody Told Me” and “When You Were Young,” as well as throwing in a perfectly appropriate cover of Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.”
Although in its seventh year, Outside Lands has the ability to mix old with new. The event provided nostalgic musical moments coupled with unheard of songs from lesser-known artists, allowing this festival to remain a bright spot in the Bay Area calendar for years to come.
– Noor Gill
