Outside Lands 2015: Saturday
Now in its eighth year, the annual Outside Lands festival will once again bring top-flight music acts, headlining comedians, internationally known DJs and the kind of world-class cuisine, beer and wine San Francisco is known for to Golden Gate Park this weekend. Since it's inception in 2008, Outside Lands has established a deserved reputation as one of the country's best summer music celebrations.
That reputation is part of what led to the festival selling out for the fifth year in a row, thanks in part to one of the best line-ups Outside Lands has had yet. In addition to headliners Mumford & Sons, returning favorites the Black Keys and piano legend Elton John, the marathon festival offers up a host of established stars (neo-soul giant D'Angelo and his band the Vanguard, '80s punk singer Billy Idol, roots rocker Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, alt-country greats Wilco), major indie acts (guitar heroine St. Vincent, Australian psych band Tame Impala, British electro-rockers Hot Chip, LA-based crew Cold War Kids), rising R&B and hip-hop performers (next generation lyrical master Kendrick Lamar, the Bay Area's own G-Eazy, throwback vocalist Leon Bridges, UK singing sensation Sam Smith, retro southern soul group St. Paul and the Broken Bones), and popular EDM acts (SF resident Amon Tobin and his mind-bending ISAM 2.0 stage show, production wizards Porter Robinson, Caribou aka Dan Snaith, RL Grime and the Bay Area's Toro Y Moi).
The culinary side of Outside Lands has come to garner nearly as much attention as the music over the years as the festival has continued to expand the range of food offerings, culinary demonstrations and specialized areas. In addition to the long-standing cornucopia of food-focused "Lands" featuring Northern California wineries and breweries as well as local restaurants and food trucks -- A Taste of the Bay Area, Wine Lands, Beer Lands, Choco Lands and Cheese Lands -- the festival will offer up another full schedule of appearances at the GastroMagic stage, a demonstration/performance space that was introduced last year. The stage will creatively pair restaurants and chefs with musical artists, as for Saturday's second annual Beignets & Bounce Brunch with Big Freedia that will feature the New Orleans bounce pioneer and reality television star handing out beignets made by Brenda's Soul Food to those willing to twerk for food.
Comedy fans will doubtless gravitate towards the Barbary, the antique tent presenting an all-star crew of comedians and variety shows co-curated by local institution SF Sketchfest. Saturday's schedule includes such outstanding comics "@Midnite" champion Ron Funches, Rory Scovell and Hari Kondabolu, a performance of the Upright Citizen Brigade's famed long-form improvised sketch comedy show ASSSSCAT featuring UCB founders Matt Besser, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh along with guests Danielle Schneider, Jon Gabrus and Jen Kirkman as well as two sets from members of "The Daily Show" news team including local comedy hero Al Madrigal, Jordan Klepper and Hasan Minhaj. Dance-music enthusiasts may have plenty to enjoy on the Twin Peaks Stage, but the Heineken-sponsored space the House will feature local and international DJs throughout the festival. Saturday highlights include several Bay Area luminaries including iconic local hip-hop DJ and historian Davey D and DJ tandems Brother in Arms (aka J.Boogie and DJ Theory) and Floorwax featuring Motion Potion & DJ Zeph.
Saturday night, the Land's End Stage line-up will be topped by headlining blues-rock revivalists The Black Keys. Arguably the biggest guitar-and-drums duo to make waves since the White Stripes, the band brings a touch of raw soul to their stripped-down punk-blues sound. Singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney first joined forces in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. The pair's first recording, The Big Come Up, emerged spontaneously after Auerbach's then-current band blew off a recording gig at Carney's basement studio. The pair started bashing out their stew of back-porch blues and funky garage rock off the cuff and a new band was born.
A series of acclaimed independent label albums earned the praises of such artists as Radiohead and Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant, the Black Keys entered distinctly different territory with its 2008 effort Attack & Release. Originally conceived as a collaboration with infamous guitarist and pioneering rocker Ike Turner and producer extraordinaire Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz), Turner's death in late 2007 threatened to derail the project. Instead, the duo decided to finish the album, turning out a recording that introduces new instruments and moods to the mix with startling results.
After taking a detour with the hip-hop oriented Blak Roc album -- which featured such notable MCs as Mos Def, Wu Tang heavyweights the RZA and Raekwon, Ludacris, Pharoahe Monch and Q-Tip -- and side projects (Auerbach issued a solo album, while Carney recorded an effort with his indie-rock outfit Drummer), the prolific group enjoyed a major commercial breakthrough in 2010. Its gritty, soulful tribute to southern R&B entitled Brothers made the band's biggest chart impact yet. Powered by the Grammy-winning single "Tighten Up" as well as the rock radio favorite "Howlin' For You," the effort reached #3 on the Billboard album charts and topped many critic's lists as one of the best releases of the year.
Long a favorite on the summer festival circuit (the Keys got one of the most rousing responses at the 2011 edition of Outside Lands), the band scored another major hit with their album El Camino, which added touches of glam rock to the mix. The Black Keys bring their expanded four-piece line-up and songs from their psychedelic-leaning 2013 effort Turn Blue (once again produced by frequent collaborator Danger Mouse) to the Lands End Stage.
Leading up to the Keys sure to be raucous set will be performances from Tame Impala, Australian guitarist Kevin Parker's celebrated psychedelic band that has gradually moved in an electronic direction that culminated with their recent dance-minded electronic effort Currents, UK punk icon (as singer to late '70s band Generation X) and solo star Billy Idol, and LA-based alternative-rockers Cold War Kids and rising indie-pop songwriter Mac DeMarco.
At the other end of Golden Gate Park, the Twin Peaks Stage delivers a line-up spotlighting hip-hop talent that will be topped by Compton's latest lyrical kingpin, Kendrick Lamar. Inspired after seeing his heroes Dr. Dre and Tupac making the video for the hit song "California Love" when he was eight years old, Lamar immersed himself in hip-hop. By the time he was 16, he had released his first full-length mixed tape under the pseudonym K-Dot and garnered significant label interest.
Signed to upstart SoCal indie label TDE, Lamar honed his skills with two additional mixed tapes, contributing numerous notable guest verses and stage performances opening for the likes of The Game. In 2009, Lamar would adopt his given name and formed Black Hippy, a hip hop supergroup with his TDE label-mates Jay Rock, Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q. The following year, his mixtape release Overly Dedicated got the attention of Dr. Dre with the anti-gansta track "Ignorance Is Bliss," leading to Dre taking the rapper under his wing and eventually signing him to his Aftermath Entertainment label.
Lamar's proper debut album, Section.80 in 2011, earned him more raves, but it was his follow-up effort Good Kid, M.A.A.D City that broke him into the mainstream. A vivid travelogue of his teenage years, the concept album established Lamar as the heir apparent of West Coast hip hop. His latest effort, this year's To Pimp a Butterfly, has earned equally glowing praise and features boundary-pushing, jazz-influenced production from cutting edge studio mavens including Rahki, Boi-1da, Flying Lotus, Knxwledge, Sounwave and Thundercat. Hip-hop fans will enjoy the run-up to Lamar's highly anticipated headlining set, taking in sets from breakout local MC G-Eazy (who exploded on the national charts with his debut These Things Happen), SF's own indie-tronic favorite Toro Y Moi and glitchy, British electro-rockers Django Django.
Those looking for more traditional rock sounds will find them at the Sutro Stage in Lindsey Meadow with headliner Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals. Combining incendiary acoustic slide-guitar licks with soulful vocals, politically aware lyrics and groove-laden funk backing, songwriter Harper and his powerhouse backing band crafted a unique sound during the 1990s that appealed to classic rock fans, jam-band enthusiasts and college kids alike. With a solid string of studio releases and a reputation for transcendent live shows, Harper and company have built a loyal following.
The native Californian got his start playing guitar as a teen, eventually settling on acoustic slide as his signature instrument and garnering a fan base around Los Angeles with his solo gigs. He got signed to Virgin Records, scoring fans and radio airplay with the strident acoustic songs found on his 1994 debut Welcome to the Cruel World and its politically charged follow up Fight for Your Mind two years later. His third effort, Will to Live, formally introduced the Innocent Criminals as his backing group and further elevated his profile as Harper made inroads to mainstream audiences.
While Harper has explored acoustic and electric blues as well as a number of creative detours and collaborations (including production work for songwriter Rickie Lee Jones and an album with blues harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite), he had not worked with the Innocent Criminals during the past seven years until they kicked off a reunion tour with a sold-out run of four shows at the venerable Fillmore this past March.
Harper and company will be joined by rising acoustic-pop group Milky Chance, indie duo Angus and Julia Stone and LA songwriter Laurie Marling on the Sutro Stages. Watch out for the string of Bay Area groups playing the intimate Panhandle Stage including soulful Oakland-based upstarts Fantastic Negrito (who got national attention earlier this year when they won NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concert Contest), local beatsmith Giraffage and former Port O’Brien leader Van Pierszalowski and his latest project Waters. For more info on what else is going on at Outside Lands including complete schedules and maps, please visit the official website.
Outside Lands 2015
Friday-Sunday, Aug. 8-10, 12 p.m. $135-$695 (sold out)
Golden Gate Park