It was more than a month ago that I promised some big upcoming news within the few days following the post (see it here). Unfortunately, that news didn't come, and I even got a few complaints about where my big news was. WTF, they all said.
It was early March, during a planning meeting at Joey & Sarah's house. Perusing the festival guide at JamBase, the three of us were trying to find a shindig we could attend during the second half of our trip. I figured we might not be able to find one for a little while, since these things usually aren't announced until within a few months of their planned date.
But I was wrong. We discovered a festival in San Francisco, the Outside Lands Festival in historic Golden Gate Park, on August 28-30. Our schedule had us there August 30-31, so it just a slight jostle to make it work out perfectly for us.
We made this decision in good faith, after taking a look at last year's lineup at Outside Lands. With names like Radiohead, Jack Johnson and Tom Petty on the bill, we had few doubts that we'd be looking forward to a similarly hot selection of bands this summer.
When this year's lineup was announced less than a week ago, I didn't really know what to think. I tend to shy away from pop music on most fronts, and this year's lineup got considerably more poppy than last year's. By that, I mean poppy with regard to the crowds that these bands tend to draw in, and in some cases, the singles that I've heard far too many times on the airwaves. My radio's been playing Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder (shown here) for as long as I've known the difference between AM and FM.
But after some calming and deliberation, I have grown to be genuinely excited for this three-day long party in the hippie capital of the world. Many of the acts that I've grown weary of through incessant radio play, are supposedly as different as night and day when they're in concert. Popular bands like Incubus and the Beastie Boys (shown here) have a tendency to err on the side of funk when they play on stage, bereft of the confines of formatting their music for three or four minute radio slots.
Aside from those acts and a few others that I'm ranging from intrigued (Tom Jones) to thrilled (The Mars Volta) to experience, we will no doubt be blessed with time when no one of even any remote interest to us is playing, most likely during the day. We'll be using this time to wander our way across the city for my first (and Sarah and Joey's second) visit to San Francisco. Though the city will no doubt be clogged with extra people spilling over from the festival, it will be three days of my life that I'll enjoy from top to bottom.
And here's a link to the full lineup. We'd love to have some company.
-Tom
(From top) Image courtesy SFOutsideLands.com; photo by riotonsunset courtesy Flickr.com; photo by blythe_d courtesy Flickr.com
