For Those About To Rock

Stage tragedies become sad cautionary tales

At a concert I attended a few weeks ago, everyone stood shoulder to shoulder, cramming into the space to see Muse.

We were so tightly packed that I was dangerously close to losing my footing and falling on a group of seven or eight people who refused to stand.

Suddenly, a concertgoer turned and swung his backpack. A friend and I slowly tilted and then fell off like a tree a lumberjack had cut to a stump.

I went keister-first toward one of the sitters, who managed to get out of the way and let his backpack take the brunt of the fall.

“Can we help?” one of them asked me after my tumble.

“Yeah,” I said. “You can stand the (expletive) up.”

I took the time to remind them that this is how bad things happen. I spoke of the Roskilde Festival in Denmark in 2000, when Pearl Jam “lost nine friends we’ll never know” because they were crushed to death.

They shot me daggers with their eyes. Fans actually chanted “Stand! Up!” and they still didn’t. Finally, minutes before Muse took the stage, they did.

With Roskilde in my mind, hours later I read about a different kind of concert tragedy that has been a strangely frequent occurrence this summer — stage-related disasters.

A stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair last month before country music duo Sugarland took the stage. Seven people have died to date. Lawsuits were recently filed.

Days later, in Hasselt, Belgium, a stage collapsed at the Pukkelpop Festival while Chicago’s Smith Westerns performed. As the structure crumbled, the band’s manager yelled to leave the stage. Although the band escaped, four died.

Two other recent incidents include a stage collapse at a Cheap Trick concert in Ottawa and a lighting rig that was blown backward before The Flaming Lips’ show in Tulsa, Okla.

There are many concert tragedies. With the Altamont Free Concert more than 40 years in the rearview mirror, no one in the Bay Area needs to be reminded of how things can go terribly wrong at a live concert.

In 1979, 11 people were crushed to death trying to enter the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati to see The Who.

It brought about a virtual ban on “festival seating,” which made all of a venue’s seats on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Part of the tragedy in Cincinnati, too, was a lack of order. Only a handful of the venue’s gates were open before show time, creating a bottleneck that led to the stampede.

What came out of that was a virtual industry-wide halt to festival seating and much clearer rules and protocol about opening gates, when to do so and how it’s done.

While there are lessons to be learned from the recent rash of incidents, at the risk of sounding morbid, accidents do happen.

It seems that at least one person dies nearly every year at Bonnaroo in Tennessee, be it from drug overdose or heat exhaustion. When you get tens of thousands of people in a space like that for a few days, you’re effectively creating a little city. Statistically, the more people, the more the odds increase that someone won’t go home.

The incidents in Belgium, Indiana, Ottawa and Tulsa all have something in common — inclement weather.

A nice day of more than 100 degrees turned into a windy downpour in Tulsa. Wind and rain brought down the stages in Belgium and Ottawa.

In Indiana, organizers were in the process of formulating a plan to shelter crowds from winds topping 70 mph when the structure crumbled.

However, it’s hard to call for harsh, industry-wide standards because weather varies from location to location and, in some instances, hour to hour.

It’s unfortunate and it’s sad, but accidents do happen.

Most likely, the incidents in Belgium and Indiana will become cautionary tales to future concertgoers, much like the The Who or Roskilde tragedies.

But they’ll also be reminders to concert organizers who have one duty that is even more important than making sure every rocks out and has a good time — making sure everyone is safe.

Outside Lands takes a step forward

Rhett Miller and Murry Hammond of Old 97's perform Saturday on the Sutro Stage in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, at the Outside Lands Music Festival. (Photo by Nick DeCicco)

When looking ahead to the 2012 music festival schedule, Outside Lands’ date just became a whole lot more important.

Last weekend’s fourth installment of the annual music and arts event in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park drew about 60,000 people each day, including citizens of Solano County. Two of the three days were sellouts.

The quality and improvements this year elevate the fest — already a prime-time player in the nation’s festival schedule — to the level of Texas’ South by Southwest (often abbreviated SXSW), Illinois’ Lollapalooza, Indio’s Coachella or, the big kahuna, Tennessee’s Bonnaroo.

What makes those festivals some of the biggest are the way they shape and set the tone in the music industry and the impact they have.

Their scope and ambition are part of it.

Outside Lands was dangerously close to vanishing, much like a number of other festivals launched in 2008, such as Rothbury in Michigan, All Points West in New Jersey and Mile High Music Festival in Colorado.

This year’s Outside Lands didn’t just survive, however. It thrived.

It started by building on its successes. It kept Wine Lands, a tent that features an array of regional wineries offering their wares.

It invited San Francisco and other Bay Area food vendors to sell their treats, an experience concertgoers discussed with the same importance as which bands people saw. That grilled cheese and bacon sandwich I had for lunch on Saturday while I watched Macklemore and Ryan Lewis was my favorite guest appearance of the weekend.

But it has to touch more than just those trudging around the fields of the park, which also puts it on the large scale. It is said if an artist has a breakout performance at SXSW that it can spark the blogosphere for the summer.

The same sort of buzz is building behind Welsh noise rockers The Joy Formidable after a thunderous Outside Lands performance. My ears are still ringing from that splendidly cacophonic finale of “Whirring.”

The biggest and most significant thing that worked well this year, however, was the most important thing: the music.

In order to go back to three days after two in 2010, Another Planet called on three distinct and different headliners: Vermont jam band Phish, British neo-prog rockers Muse and Canadian indie rockers Arcade Fire.

No matter where you were in the park at any given moment, you were seeing something cool. While I was catching tUnE-yArDs on the Sutro Stage in the park’s Lindley Meadow, Mavis Staples invited Arcade Fire’s Win Butler to join her on a cover of The Band’s “The Weight” on the main stage.

A day earlier, when many more people chose Arctic Monkeys, I went to the Sutro Stage to see San Francisco’s Vetiver, which rolled out a well-received cover of The Grateful Dead’s “Don’t Ease Me In.”

The best back-to-back punch all weekend came Saturday night, when The Black Keys’ stunning, raw, 70-minute set of blues rock was followed by a completely different kind of animal. Muse, the Saturday headliner, offered a visual feast including lights, lasers, fog and video screens to go with hits such as “Uprising” and “Starlight.”

Of course, Another Planet doesn’t control everything. Outkast’s Big Boi was a no-show due to technical difficulties and some bands just never find their footing with shortened set times.

But what it can do is craft a diverse roster of artists and an experience befitting a city that is such a cultural and musical stew. That’s just what Another Planet did.

How proud a moment was it for the Bay Area music scene when a legend such as John Fogerty took a sun-soaked stage in Golden Gate Park for an hour and rattled off hit after Creedence Clearwater Revival hit?

That’s what Outside Lands does that puts it in a class with SXSW, Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo as one of the nation’s finest music festivals. It’s a draw for talent of all sorts in a beautiful park, tailor-made for a city unlike any other in the world.

That gives hope and promise to forward-looking promoters and organizers who have their eyes set on bringing Outside Lands back for a fifth time next summer.

If last weekend was any indication, music lovers everywhere are watching to see what is cooked up.

To see Daily Republic photographer Mike Greener's photos from the event, bounce on over to the DR website.

Outside Lands '11, Day Three Dispatch

Under the light of a full moon, Montreal's Arcade Fire brought the fourth Outside Lands Music Festival to a close Sunday in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

The Canadians wrapped a 90-minute set and the weekend with "Wake Up" and "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)," capping an energetic set that launched with "Ready to Start" (above) and hammered through some of the band's best, including "The Suburbs" and "Keep the Car Running."

Before "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)," lead singer Win Butler recalled playing the city's Great American Music Hall years earlier and arming the attendees with flashlights.

Earlier, the humble singer called upon the crowd to help energize the band's set. Earlier in the day, Butler made a guest appearance with Mavis Staples, who referenced one of The Staples Singers greatest hits.

"She said, 'We've been 'Taking You There' for 61 years. Take us there for one second,' " Butler said. "We're only as good of a band as you are (an audience)."

The crowd replied in kind. The "No Cars Go" refrain of "Us kids know" sounded like an inclusive anthem for indie rock when the band was backed by tens of thousands singing along to every word.

On the same stage an hour earlier was The Decemberists, the Portland, Ore., indie folk rock band. Lead singer Colin Meloy, sporting a fresh beard, worked to cause pains for venue security when he encouraged "camel fights," the act of people raised on someone else's shoulders grappling with another person doing the same.

Later, before "O Valencia!," he jokingly encouraged an insurrection to rush the stage while security members ate pizza for dinner, prompting the band to split from its spontaneous "dinner jazz jam" into its joke song "Dracula's Daughter." ("You think you got it bad? Try having Dracula for your dad.")

Also helping The Decemberists was Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek (left), filling in for founding member Jenny Conlee while she battles breast cancer. Watkins performed the female vocals on "The Mariner's Revenge Song," as well as delivered a pitch-perfect lead for "Won't Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga)."

"Mariner's Revenge" was the show stopper for The Decemberists. The song involves the crew of two ships being devoured by "the angry jaws of a giant whale," at which point, festival goers were urged to yell and scream as though they, too, were being devoured. Before that, tens of thousands swayed to and fro to mimic the rocking of a ship at sea.

The comedy and musical theater were a great departure on the heels of local boy John Fogerty, who turned out one Creedence Clearwater Revival song after another in an hour-long turn on the main stage. A man with no shortage of hits, the set featured a torrid closing run of "Up Around the Bend," "Down on the Corner," "Bad Moon Rising," "Fortunate Son" and "Proud Mary."

"I know the song says born on the bayou, but I was born right here," said Fogerty, who hails from Berkeley.

Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band eased into an hour-long spell on the Lands End main stage. The band's namesake wheeled in place between lines and found firm footing literally and figuratively during the set's fifth song, "Rattling Locks."

Later, during the bridge of "Harrisburg," he stepped onto the gear piled at the front of the stage and told a rambling story about pulling into a Motel 6 which only offered Fox News on TV. The story segued into a short belt of Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime."

"Rumors" was a highlight. Guitarist Austin Nevins took center stage while Ritter crawled on his knees toward drummer Liam Hurley, strumming all the while. Later, when the band closed with "To the Dogs or Whoever," before the final closing riffs, Ritter and the Royal City Band stood frozen in place for upward of a minute.

As Ritter was warming up, Latryx (right) was winding down on the Sutro Stage. Lateef the Truth Speaker and Lyrics Born from Davis brought a full-band hip hop attack with a string quartet, two horn players, guitar, bass, male and female backing singers. The two gauged crowd response to who had traveled to be there, with Lateef giving shout outs to Fremont, Daly City and Vallejo to humorously tepid response.

Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs played to "the biggest crowd we've had come to see us at a festival" immediately before Latryx. Her woozy, tribal rhythms drew several thousands to the Lindley Meadow, with "Bizness" and "Gangsta" among the highlights.

I stopped for only a brief moment to see Lord Huron take a turn on the Panhandle Stage, which ran off of solar power. The band showed stylistic agility, leaping from a slight reggae groove in one number to a indie rock pondering in another.

Diego's Umbrella kicked off the day on the Twin Peaks Stage with a spirited set of gypsy rock grooves, including "Downtown." All six members of the San Francisco band dressed in white dress shirts and pants adorned with red vests. Lead singer Vaughn Lindstrom and guitarist Tyson Maulhardt strutted, stood on amps and worked hard to get a small crowd dancing early in the sun.

Later this week, appearing both here and in the Daily Republic, I'll have a final piece to wrap our coverage of the Outside Lands Music Festival this year, including pictures from DR photographer Mike Greener.

Outside Lands '11, Day Two Dispatch

Muse gave a triumphant finale to the second night of the Outside Lands Music Festival on Saturday in Golden Gate Park.

The British neo-prog rockers lit up the Lands End main stage — literally, with a visual feast including fog, lasers, video screens and an elaborate lights show. It was all-systems-go from the opener, a fist-pumping "Uprising," through the thunderous night closer "Knights of Cydonia."

Lead singer Matthew Bellamy was the consummate showman, doing the power slide across the stage during "Supermassive Black Hole" and hurling his guitar at the conclusion of "Stockholm Syndrome."

He roamed the stage with confidence and swagger, extinguishing any doubts as to whether the group deserved top billing for the weekend.

Though Muse had the best effects — and the aid of a night time slot — The Black Keys delivered one of the days finest sets, an hour of snarling blues rock. Joining them on stage was a giant inflatable tire with the band's name and location (Akron, Ohio) on it.

It did little to distract from a blistering gig which featured Keys classics such as opener "Thickfreakness" or "Girl is on My Mind," as well as a surprisingly raw and thumping "Next Girl."

The start of the Keys' set overlapped with the end of the Old 97's, which delivered rollicking country favorites in its stand on the Sutro Stage. "Champaign, Illinois" brought the crowd to its feet with a singalong, while Murry Hammond took lead on "W. TX Teadrops."

On the same stage before them was San Francisco indie folk rockers Vetiver, which built as their show progressed. With Arctic Monkeys playing Lands End simultaneously with a set that included "I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor" as well as "Brick by Brick," the latest single from Suck it and See, many missed Vetiver soak up the sun with a moody set that didn't really pick up steam until the band busted out a cover of hometown faves the Grateful Dead's "Don't Ease Me In." That got the Sutro Stage crowd up and dancing, giving new life to "More of This."

As Vetiver started, OK Go was closing out a fun set on the main stage. The Chicago pop rockers are known for their videos, but showed they have the live chops, too, dressed in primary colored suits and turning in a hand-bells-only rendition of "Return" and inviting original guitarist Andy Duncan on to the stage for their breakthrough single, "Get Over It." Lead singer Damian Kulash also took his guitar and mic stand into the crowd for a solo, acoustic take on "Last Leaf."

The Vaccines (right) delivered a smokin' set as the sun peaked out for the first time all weekend on the Twin Peaks stage in the early afternoon. The band was in rapid fire with quick, short bursts including "All in White" and "We're Happening," cranking out a dozen songs in its 45-minute time spot.

Hometowners The Stone Foxes were both funny and bluesy on the Sutro Stage, with drummer Shannon Koehler uttering such chuckle-worthy sentiments as "You got our Pacemakers thumpin'!" and telling the crowd they were "the most tasty treat a man can have other than ice cream." He also noted the famed words of another hometown hero, San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Linecum, when he said, "F--- yeah, dude!"

Starting the day on the main stage was one of the day's biggest surprises, Seattle hip hop duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. The pair switched easily from preacher mode on "Otherside," which samples the Red Hot Chili Peppers' song of same name, to trumpeting their hometown baseball club, the Seattle Mariners, on "My Oh My." There was also some bit about needing to know who in the crowd was born in which decade in order to properly establish a reference to David Bowie's "Labyrinth" film.

Read again tomorrow for the final day, which will cover Josh Ritter, John Fogerty, The Decemberists, Arcade Fire and more.

Outside Lands '11, Day One Dispatch

The glow sticks flew and beach balls bounced as Phish (above) helmed the main stage of the fourth annual Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival on Friday in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

The Vermont jam band didn't pull out any big rarities during its 3.5 stint, but it did season its set with some of its staples, such as "Wilson," "Mike's Song," "Weekapaug Groove" and, to close the set, a roaring "Chalk Dust Torture."

Lead singer and guitarist Trey Anastasio, clad in a leather jacket, showed off his underappreciated chops throughout the night, including a skillful solo on "Possum."

The band also tossed in some of its customary covers, including songs by Frank Zappa, The Velvet Underground, Ween and David Bowie.

With a lengthy set time, Phish forced festivalgoers into a choice between themselves and acts with competing time slots. The Shins played one of its first shows since 2009 to close out the night, but after an hour-long delay, OutKast's Big Boi was a no show on the Sutro Stage due to "technical difficulties."

Before Phish, across the field on the Twin Peaks Stage, was Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the indie rock outfit originally from Connecticut. While the band's third LP, Hysterical, is due next month, it was the tracks from the group's self-titled debut which grew the greatest response.

MGMT took nearly an hour on the main stage in mid-afternoon, though it was hardly sun-drenched as the day was murky, cool and overcast throughout. The group's set was split between tracks from its two LPs, Oracular Spectacular and Congratulations, although curiously absent was the big, Grammy-nominated hit, "Kids."

Up and coming Foster the People gave a spirited performance which got a packed crowd dancing at the Sutro Stage before that, soothing a crowd which had many showing up for "Pumped Up Kicks." One highlight was "Call it What You Want," a dance floor jam, although there were issues with the audio crackling.

The funky bass and keyboard grooves were on display during Lotus' (right) turn on the Twin Peaks Stage, playing their instrumental boogies for a sea of fans bobbing up and down in time — one individual twirled a baton throughout the show.

Starting my day was Welsh noise rockers The Joy Formidable, who delivered one of the day's best sets, packing a wallop in its six-song stay on the Sutro Stage. The set closed with "Whirring," a blizzard of noise and churning rock which survived multiple false endings.

Check back tomorrow for the dispatch on Day Two, which will include notes on Muse, The Black Keys and more.

Outside Lands captures Bay Area flavor

The Black Keys perform Aug. 22, 2008, in Golden Gate Park at the Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco. The duo returns to the festival Saturday night. (Courtesy photo)

Each summer for the past four years, I’ve looked at my musical calendar with dates circled in August and thought, “I can’t wait.”

This year is no different as Friday marks the arrival of the annual Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in Golden Gate Park.

The three-day fest marks Northern California’s largest musical event of the year, drawing nearly tens of thousands each day.

Vermont jam band Phish, British neo-prog rockers Muse and Canadian alt-rockers Arcade Fire headline each night of a three-day platter with more than 70 bands, dozens of Bay Area food vendors, regional wineries and more.

The festival has become known for its rich San Francisco flavor on the stage, in the crowd and at the chow lines.

“Ninety-nine percent of the food that we serve out there (is) from local restaurants,” said Allen Scott with Another Planet Entertainment, the festival’s promoter. “Over 20 percent of the artists in the festival are local as well. So we definitely want to celebrate San Francisco.”

One of the performers with a Bay Area tie is Foster the People, whose singer, Mark Foster, was born in the area.

Foster’s group has grabbed headlines thanks to the summer’s deceptively dark hit single, “Pumped Up Kicks.”

Foster, who recently co-wrote a song for the “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” musical with Bono and The Edge from U2, said San Francisco is his favorite city in the nation.

He said “Pumped Up Kicks” has raised the band’s profile and the size of its crowds, a phenomenon noticeable earlier this year when the group took a turn on a stage at the Coachella Music Festival in Indio.

“We were playing to 300 to 400 capacity rooms,” said Foster. “Then we walked out on stage and there was, I don’t know, 14,000 people or something. I mean it was just packed.”

One of this weekend’s performers uncowed by crowd size is The Decemberists’ bassist, Nate Query.

Query and the Portland, Ore., indie folk rock outfit (right) are on the road in support of “The King is Dead,” the band’s first No. 1 record on the Billboard charts and one of the year’s finest platters.

It’s a study in critical reaction as “King” follows 2009′s “The Hazards of Love,” a 17-song rock opera that the group performed in its entirety — even at festival gigs.

“It also was really cool to just do that show, which was really unique, I think, at a festival instead of everybody trying to play their most upbeat and popular stuff,” Query said. “There’s at least a couple of times where we’d have this really quiet moment and you could hear, like, The Roots across the field being 10 times louder than us.”

With four stages and a DJ tent, the same sort of overlap will happen at Outside Lands, too, forcing festivalgoers to make choices such as Friday’s dilemma, when Phish takes the stage for 3 1/2 hours while Erykah Badu, Outkast’s Big Boi, The Shins and others take their turns on neighboring stages.

The gig is Phish’s first inside San Francisco city limits since 1998. Muse, meanwhile, takes a bow on the main stage Saturday night, playing one of a handful of American dates this year. Sunday headliner, Arcade Fire, has been hot on the festival trail this summer after a surprise victory for the album of the year Grammy for “The Suburbs” in February.

Other performers this weekend include MGMT, Big Audio Dynamite, The Original Meters, The Black Keys, The Roots, Arctic Monkeys, Warren Haynes Band, OK Go, Christina Perri, Deadmau5, John Fogerty, Beirut, Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band, STS9 and more.

I’ve got my schedule planned out and I’ve ironed out my scheduling conflicts, including a heartbreaking choice between The Black Keys and The Roots for Saturday night.

The Keys are one of the first artists to play the festival twice, appearing at the inaugural gig in 2008. I skipped them that year and chose to see Beck instead, meaning this year, it’s the Ohio blues rock duo’s turn over South Philly’s legendary Roots crew.

Those choices are part of the festival experience. If previous installments — which included Radiohead, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon and Tom Petty — are any indication, having those dates on the calendar circled for the last few months was justified.

Single-day tickets for Friday and Saturday are sold out. For more information, visit Outside Lands.

If You Go ...
Here are six artists who aren’t headliners, but still worth checking out:

• Lotus (2:15-3:05 p.m. Friday, Twin Peaks Stage) — Electronic jam band known as road warriors for their commitment to 100-plus energetic live gigs a year.

• The Vaccines (2:10-2:55 p.m. Saturday, Twin Peaks Stage) — English garage rock revivalists ride in supporting their Columbia Records debut, “What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?”

• Old 97's (5:45-6:45 p.m. Saturday, Sutro Stage) — Rhett Miller-fronted alt-country pioneers creep toward 20 years on the road behind stellar songwriting.

• tUnE-yArDs (1:15-2 p.m. Sunday, Sutro Stage) — Oakland resident Merrill Garbus’ experimental low-fi freak folk becomes a band in live settings. Listeners might recognize “Fiya” from a BlackBerry commercial filmed in San Francisco.

• Latryx (2:30-3:20 p.m. Sunday, Sutro Stage) — Climbing out of the same Davis hip hop scene that birthed Blackalicious, Lateef the Truthspeaker and Lyrics Born comprise this two-man alternative rap duo.

• Beirut (6:50-8 p.m. Sunday, Sutro Stage) — Shapeshifting folk rockers clean the palette on a neighboring stage right before Arcade Fire closes out the weekend.

The Decemberists photo courtesy Capitol Records.