Happiness is going to the Outside Lands Music Festival in
San Francisco with your daughter and having the time of your life. Yes, that's what I did this month and I can't believe that at my old age of 50 something, that I can actually rock it and rave it with all the rest of the young ones at the festival.
Keelan and I decided to invest in VIP tickets after watching past Outside Lands videos that showed that there was no where to sit in general admission areas. I can't stand and dance for hours at a time, and I certainly won't sit on the dirty California dry grass where the stages were erected. The VIP section was the right choice with its plush and ritzy decor, tents to shield us from the sun, plenty of bars to get yourself tipsy all day, and Outside Lands favored foodie booths to indulge yourself in expensive tapas-sized meals. Spending several hundred dollars daily on food and drink is easily done in the VIP section of Outside Lands. So be prepared if you decide to go that route for a music festival. All-in-all, everything tasted good, so no complaints in that department.
I have not been at a music festival as big as this one in my life. I was blown away by the hordes of people who came. All I was thinking when I first arrived on the first day of the festival was how much money those promoters were making on this venture. I thought, 'I really missed my calling by not going into promoting music bands at festivals.' And what great music we did indeed dance to and filmed with our YouTube Live channel.
My favorite musical gig was Billy Idol. Yes, I know....a blast from the past. But the Rebel of Rock took me back to my young days when I lived in San Francisco working my first job in retail at Union Square. Those were the good ole days - Echo Beach and IBeam in Haight Ashbury.
Another group that was really impressive in live concert during Friday's lineup were Indie band Glass Animals who performed at the Sutro stage. They played our favorites along with their big hit 'Gooey' which all sounded amazing. After that was Chet Faker on the same stage and I absolutely loved his DJ mixes. Going from Porter Robinson's act at the Twin Peaks stage to Mumford and Sons who performed at the Land's End stage (snooze), we caught D'Angelo from a distance. We didn't stay for the whole set as he had too many people standing at his stage area for us to appreciate his performance. I regretted this because I heard D'Angelo was one of the best in the festival, besides Leon Bridges who we also missed, thanks to unreliable Muni bus operators who gave us the wrong bus info to Golden Gate Park which made us really late to Outside Lands opening day. Moving on....other bands that we liked were the sister act First Aid Kit, Wilco and we caught the end of George Ezra's set at the Sutro stage.
Going back to Saturday's playlist, Keelan and I were able to catch Unknown Mortal Orchestra at the Twin Peaks stage, Tame Impala which was great to watch wonderfully talented Aussie musicians, and finally the closing band was Black Keys. The crowd went crazy when they came on stage. Keelan was transported to another dimension while she took in the Black Keys tunes. She was in a state of bliss 'til the end of their set, and then lights out, bars closed, and all festival goers were quickly whisked out of one exit gate in hoards. San Francisco street life reality shock - no organized transportation from Golden Gate Park. Nightmare! Another gripe that I have that could have made things smoother - now here's my pampered self coming out - why wasn't there a VIP section at the Sutro stage?!!!
Oh well, Saturday was a less hectic day anyway because we arrived earlier to the Golden Gate Park to eat yummy Indian food at Curry Up truck, and drink wine at the cashless Winelands tent where your credit card is charged and programmed into your festival wrist band. You can purchase your wine using your band, with dozens of Napa Valley wineries to choose from. That was fun yet strange as I felt I was in the Justin Timberlake movie 'Timed Out' where all your cash is programmed into a chip in your arm. Unfortunately, in the movie when you run out of cash in your chip, you die. At Outside Lands Winelands, when you run out of money on your wrist band, you run out of wine, and then you have to replenish your band with a credit card. Still freaky....
We ended up not going to the third day of Outside Lands because we were just plain exhausted from the first two days. My feet were killing me, as I chose to wear fashionable 2 inch boots each day. I may have been in pain at the end of each concert day, but I did look good - in Kiki Mode fashions - in my vain opinion. Keelan and I were both styled in Kiki Mode Fashions during both days at the San Francisco festival. We did miss Elton John and two of my favorites, Hot Chip and Odesza. But Keelan and I will catch Odesza live in Wellington, New Zealand next month. Yeah!
We'll do Outside Lands again next year because it was too much fun. But we'll definitely hire a car to drop us off to the festival and pick us up after the festival - no matter how much it costs. We were never able to get on a Muni bus after each festival night, nor could we find taxis waiting or driving by the park exit. Thank you UBER!
More videos to follow!
We'll do Outside Lands again next year because it was too much fun. But we'll definitely hire a car to drop us off to the festival and pick us up after the festival - no matter how much it costs. We were never able to get on a Muni bus after each festival night, nor could we find taxis waiting or driving by the park exit. Thank you UBER!
More videos to follow!
#outsidelands
#glassanimals
#billyidol
#tameimpala
#chetfaker
