Outside Lands 2014 -- Day 2 -- A Review

What a difference a day makes.  As sunny as Day 1 was at the Outside Lands music festival (here is my review of Day 1), Day 2 chose to do “just the opposite” and wore nothing but shades of grey.  And cold.  Rather than skin, layers ruled the day on Day 2 (true to form for San Francisco in August).  Those of us who have been here before were ready for it.  Others, not so much.  But, so it began .... (The pic on the right is a scene with my kids, Luca and Hunter, at the Main Stage).

For me, Day 2’s line-up was the weakest of the 3-day mega-fest (although still absolutely first-class).  And, being a family of 4, we got off to a later than expected start, catching only the final song from the Dum Dum Girls as we entered the park.  From there we stayed, for the most part, at the Main Stage (departing radically from our Day 1 choreography) -- first catching The Kooks (who played the kind of set you would expect from them -- no surprises), then Local Natives (whose mellow vibe suited the day), to Haim (never a favorite for me, but here a revelation in terms of their rock and roll chops -- the band has real talent), to Death Cab for Cutie (a long-time favorite band of mine who performed as expected -- real professionals -- but ultimately didn’t play the one song I most wanted to hear -- “Transatlanticism”).

Too much mellow up to that point, so we finally ventured to the Park’s opposite end -- to the Twin Peaks stage to hear (and feel!) the opposite -- dance!  It was, after all, EDM time -- and Duck Sauce was an act high on our collective “intrigue” list.  And, they knocked it out of the park.  THIS was the highlight of the day for all of us.  Their humor -- the collective energy of the masses -- and the duck bills everywhere reminded all of us what festivals are all about.  Music discovery.  Community.  Just plain getting away from it all.  The two DJs, refreshingly, do not take themselves too seriously (unlike the 2 from Disclosure).  Crowd pleasers.  (The picture on the left shows the scene at Duck Sauce’s set).

And, there we stayed for the rest of the night (as did all others of the generation much younger than I) -- first catching EDM act Boys Noize on the smallest of the festival’s stages (the Panhandle, which overflowed with the masses coming from Duck Sauce) and then ending the evening with Macklemore (whom I have seen before, and whose set -- despite his dedication -- fell flatter than usual, especially when he sang his new collaboration “Arrows” with musician Fences, who clearly was new to the game and needs to learn showmanship from Macklemore ... which he undoubtedly will over time).  Nonetheless, Macklemore is a classic -- and, singing “Same Love” in San Francisco, complete with an on-stage live same-sex marriage, was magical.

We exited the park on the opposite end -- passing by Tom Petty on the Main Stage (which had been a difficult Sophie’s Choice) -- but with absolutely no regrets.

Another classic day with my wife and kids ... and with music ....

Here is our line-up for today:

Watsky
Lucius
Flume
Jenny Lewis
Lykke Li
Cut Copy
The Killers