Outside Lands 2009: Day 2

Forces larger than myself were keyed into the fact that San Francisco dwellers are not used to the sun being so....well, hot. As such, Day 2 at Outside Lands was far more subdued than Day 1. With a gentle breeze blowing off the ocean, the day made for a more relaxing outing inside San Francisco's little paradise.

1:30: I'm on a MUNI full of very cranky concertgoers. I make friends with a slight man sporting a large handlebar mustache. His plans for the day? "We're gonna BBQ and do this shit RIGHT!" I couldn't agree with him more.

2:05: I'm being searched as I enter. The chain link fence herding us in suddenly collapses and a very bald man is running away. Staff is less that enchanted.

2:15: I meet up with Steven and Brandon. We muse about lemonade and the like.

2:20: Groundation begins. Now when it comes to reggae I'm very particular, but these guys are the real deal. Armed with an army of horns, reverb, and good times, these Sonoma natives kick out the jams.

2:40: It's occurred to me that there is a green haze hovering over the crowd. It explains the awful dancing of white people.

2:50: Harrison Stafford informs the crowd that Groundation is "conscious music" not pop music. I can get behind that insomuch as most of the crowd's consciousness has been altered. Joking aside, however, Groundation's take on traditional reggae is very percussive and jammy. Stafford's lyrics about spiritual discovery and over coming personal struggle are wonderfully compelling as well.

3:15: I stop by the Panhandle stage and catch a few minutes of Portugal. The Man. I'm convinced they need to decide on a genre and stick to it. Post-hardcore doesn't always mix with piano balladry and odd percussion. Well, maybe if you're Chiodos.

3:30: I notice that in addition to the balding 40 year old men, the audience gathering for Mastodon have two very distinct camps. One is the white/dreadlocked rasta crowd and the other is 40 year old soccer moms. This is perhaps the most bizarre crowd I've evern been in.

3:55: Mastodon take the stage and pummel the audience for an hour. The mixing was a tad off as Brann Dailor's double bass overwhelmed most of the band's meaty riffs, but their overall quality of play was tight and lean.

4:15: I come to the conclusion that naming the band "Mastodon" is about the most metal thing one could do. Mastodons were big and violent, just like metal.

4:50: Brent Hinds shows us how much he likes the whammy bar for a good five minutes. He conjures some evil sounds from his axe, his fingers flailing and bending to match the group's thrash-meets-prog sound. It's what one would expect: Big and violent.

5:10: I run towards food. All that rockin' empties the stomach quickly.

5:30: Steven meets up with me again as we camp out for TV On The Radio. We talk about awful concertgoers. Kids today just don't know how to behave at shows.

5:38: Crazy lady quote, "I'll get TV on YOUR radio!"

5:40: TV On The Radio take the stage for an incredible performance. Opening with "Love Dog," the group makes full use of a live horn section as Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone's soulful vocals dip and dive.

6:00: The crowd is flat out dancing to the grimy groove of "Red Dress." For a band that crafts their albums so meticulously in the studio, it's refreshing to see TV On The Radio add a bit of swagger. Ultimately, their songs come across more like a horn driven armada than detailed experimentalism, but the result is still astonishing.

6:40: The band closes with the up-stroked energy and verbose wordplay of "Crying." The crowd hungered for more as TV's thick break beats and robust horns brought the funk and the fun.

7:00: Steven leaves to go meet up with Brandon as I'm joined by my friends David and Whitney. We catch up, chew the fat, and eagerly await the next act.

7:30: With a fleet of musicians and two very afroed individuals, The Mars Volta take the stage for what can only be described as an hour and a half long musical freak out. They open with "Goliath," Cedric Bixler-Zavala wailing into his taped up microphone as Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's wah engorged lead work twisted and turned with the group.

7:40: "Don't drink the black coffee, because there is a fish in the perculator." -Bixler-Zavala

7:50: All the fears I had about seeing The Mars Volta live have vanished. While the group interspersed some ambient and spacey jams, they stuck to songs fans knew off their 4 album output. "The Widow" impressed with monoliths of deliciously funky riffs while "Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)" crashed down with prog-rock style.

8:56: They annouce there will only be one more song, and as the crowd takes in the freakish backdrop of a skeletal fish, The Mars Volta assault the audience with the post-hardcore-meets- Frank Zappa jazz rock of "Wax Simulacra." I don't know how they do it, but The Mars Volta make messy and seemingly random sounds feel cohesive and digestible in a live setting.

9:15: I meet an Austrailian man that overhears me talking about Incubus' performance the day before. He informs me their cover of Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" was a bit "faggy." We're not friends.