You may remember my little rant last year about Outside Land’s ridiculous choices for their 2009 line-up. This year I am no longer angry at their choice of bands; this time I’m more…confused. It’s quite obvious that Outside Lands is lacking on budget and local support. The once three day long juggernaut that boosted acts like Radiohead, Tom Petty, Dave Matthews, and Pearl Jam has now become a fraction of festivals like Bonnaroo, Coachella, and Sasquatch. It was once a worthy opponent, but now I’m not so sure. Lets start with the headliners; Kings of Leon and Furthur. Kings of Leon may be a decent modern rock band, but as a headliner? Maybe I’m not familiar with the enormous fanbase this band has, but I guess we’ll see. Furthur? Am I the only person here that thought, “Who the raging fuck is Furthur?” This ought to bring you up to speed on my Grateful Dead knowledge. Ex-Dead band members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh are pretty much the stars of this epic hippie fest of a band. I can personally say that I will be skipping this act all together, however, this is San Francisco. What I mean by that is, The Grateful Dead was born here and if there is going to be one last place on Earth where a mass of Deadheads will gather together with their tie-dyed t-shirts, birkenstock sandals, and dreadlocks to awkwardly dance (if that’s what it’s called), do LSD, and just ‘mellow out’….it’s going to be San Fran-fucking-cisco. Speaking of odd fans, look for the Social Distortion fans aka ‘Sick Boys’. You may feel like you time traveled back to 1979 as you waltz through Golden Gate Park, take that however you want. To keep that atmosphere alive, we have Al Green (criminally low on that line-up poster), which to my surprise is still alive and kicking. Now we do have some pretty decent acts; The Strokes return to the stage, My Morning Jacket make the rounds, and Phoenix keep the energy alive. You can’t go wrong with Gogol Bordello, Cat Power, Empire of the Sun, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (more hippies, yay!), Janelle Monae, and The Soft Pack. I’m a bit unsure about Bassnectar’s appearance on the line-up though. A nighttime slot would make sense during Furthur’s set, but I’m not sure if that’s going to happen.
Well unless we have some kind of surprise headliner or guest in the coming months, this has to be the most unimpressive of the Outside Lands line-ups. Not the worst though, I can’t think if a single band on this year’s line-up that I hate more than racist co-workers (last years line-up had more than I could handle). I honestly can’t believe anyone would travel out of state or even from LA to check out this year’s event. Maybe some diehard Kings fans or Deadheads. But other than that, this may be a very tame Outside Lands.
P.S. – Am I just bitter that there is no Black Star reunion like it was rumored? …maybe
You can purchase 2-day tickets here.
Full line-up and information here.