Ramblings from OutsideLands, Day 3.

Woods

Represented their new album with ripping guitar work and great keyboards.

Lucious

This Brooklyn band with two lead singers in matching outfits and blond wigs tore it down, going from chill and soulful melodies to heart-thumping war cries.  One of the highlights of the whole weekend.  

Paulo Nutini

I never would have guessed this singer is Scottish, not Brazilian.  He did a nice job bringing his brand of popular UK music to the main stage, and won plenty of new U.S. fans.

Flume

Fantastic DJ – one of the best of OutsideLands by far and had an endearing number of Jamaican musical sound bites in his set for a native Australian. 

Lykke Lee

Amazing show by this Swedish indie pop singer.  She really knew how to interact with and win over the San Francisco crowd.

The Flaming Lips

The stage set up was hilarious – like a disco mushroom trip.  I’ve loved the ‘Lips since the early 90’s but unfortunately live they were more fun and stage set gimmicks than quality sound.  

The Killers

After seeing them at the intimate Independent the previous night, it was interesting to see them rock outdoors in front of 30,000 people.  Their energy and stage presence translated well.

Tiesto

Probably the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen went bonkers to this Dutch DJ, though it was a little too frat kid-poppish for my taste.  I’ll stick with Flume from earlier in the day, though he must be doing something right! 

After hours:

We caught Kool and the Gang at the Independent, where all the doormen and bartenders met us with, “You’re back AGAIN?!”

A Sunday night crowd with their dancing shoes on was just what we needed to end the weekend, and their familiar rich sounds lead by the horn section was good for the soul. 

MC Hammer played a short set and to his credit, he wasn’t just a novelty, reliving his 1980’s success.  He looked good, dressed sharp, played new credible rap songs, and brought out younger musicians and rappers to get down with him.  He actually earned a lot of respect for continuing to make good music and not just show up and collect checks.