MAGNET’s Maureen Coulter reports from the 2010 Outside Lands Festival in Golden Gate Park.
Saturday, August 14
5:30 pm
Google Maps owes me $6. For the third time in a row, its directions have led me to Narnia. And not in the talking-animals-and-good-white-witches kind of way. After getting off the highway, I spent 60 minutes idling among a fleet of hybrids until I found myself crossing the Golden Gate Bridge (hence the $6 toll), on the opposite side of the city.
All was not lost, however, because I managed to steal a few sweet shots at Vista Point before I turned Blue Steel (my Toyota Camry) around and headed to Golden Gate Park. I headed inside just in time to catch the end of Pretty Lights’ and their strong bass thundering down the Polo Field. I also slipped into the Big Hassle Media press conference presenting Taylor Goldsmith from Dawes and Julian Dorio of the Whigs as well as representatives from Manifesto!/Whetstone Winery, Philz Coffee and Maverick Restaurant.
Midafternoon, Gogol Bordello, the frantic punk gaggle from New York City, hurdled onto the Twin Peaks stage. Lead singer Eugene Hutz looks like he emerged from a really hip and artsy concentration camp. His lanky, wraithlike body flailed deliberately around the stage, shrilling into the microphone as the other army fatigue-clad band members manhandled accordions, bass guitars and violins. The crowd responded by waving their arms and jumping around in a rock and roll Irish jig. Their funkadelic rock sounded like Primus and the Clash invaded the Olive Garden.
In the press pit, the typically awkward music writers and photographers were swinging their limbs and raving over the band’s manic fusion. By the end of the afternoon, you could tell they wanted to end their set like a little kid wants to get out of the ball pit at McDonald’s. They had to be practically yanked offstage and jammed their way through the credits before finally taking off.
