Street Sweeper Social Club's Tom Morello plays at the Outside Lands Music Festival in August 2009. This year's installment of the festival kicks off Saturday at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. (Photo by L. Paul Mann)
There is something about San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music Festival that is quintessen- tially Bay Area.
Part of it is the food, which is served by vendors from throughout Northern California, showcasing a diversity as expansive as the host city.
Part of it is the people, an earthy stew that puts hipsters, neo-hippies and the costumed eccentrics in Golden Gate Park all at once.
But, until now, the local flavor hasn’t been captured in the festival’s headliners.
This weekend’s third installment finds Southern pop rockers Kings of Leon sharing the bill with Furthur, the latest offshoot from San Francisco jam band legends the Grateful Dead.
Though previous installments have been kind to local artists, the 2010 edition is the first to have a Bay Area act top the bill.
It also is the smallest rendition of the event in its three-year history. Previously a three-day, six-stage event, the 2010 version has been trimmed to four stages span- ning Saturday and Sunday.
To compensate, there are a number of late-night shows, including Jimmy Cliff, Hercules and Love Affair and Levon Helm at various San Francisco night spots tonight and other shows throughout the weekend.
In the park, festival goers will find a diverse roster of artists, which has become Outside Lands’ signature. The genres span from iconic soul crooner Al Green to the Southern-fried country rock psychedelia of My Morning Jacket to indie folk rocker Cat Power.
Furthur, meanwhile, plays a patchwork quilt of Grateful Dead material, covers, songs from the artists’ solo careers and new material. Bob Weir and Phil Lesh have reunited with the Dead’s long-time lyrical cohort, Robert Hunter, for three new songs: “Muli Guli,” “Colors of the Rain” and “Seven Hills of Gold.”
The group, which also includes members of Ratdog (Jeff Chimenti), the Benevento/Russo Duo (Joe Russo) and Grateful Dead tribute band the Dark Star Orchestra (John Kadlecik), was formed in 2009 and performed its first show last year at The Fox Theater in Oakland.
While Furthur has rich, long-standing ties with the region and the host city, Sunday’s headliner is Southern pop rockers Kings of Leon.
After years of opening for high-profile acts such as Bob Dylan and U2, Kings of Leon’s fourth album, 2008’s Only by the Night, catapulted the group into international stardom behind hits such as “Use Somebody” and “Sex on Fire.”
Look for the group to include cuts from its forthcoming platter, Come Around Sundown, due in October. At Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee in June, the band unveiled two of its tracks, “Southbound” and “Radioactive.”
One highly anticipated performance comes Saturday night when The Strokes take the Twin Peaks Stage. The gig is one of a handful of festival dates this summer for the New York City garage rockers after a four-year hiatus. The band is currently working on its fourth LP, due some time next spring.
Other performers include Phoenix, Social Distortion, Wolfmother, Cat Power and Nas with Damien “Jr. Gong” Marley. Also planned is a DJ tent with nonstop performers.
Originally announced as part of the lineup was Daniel Lanois’ Black Dub, which was forced to cancel due to Lanois’ motorcycle accident in June. While recuperating, the man behind the console for U2 and Bob Dylan has worked on producing Neil Young’s latest record.
The event’s trademark wine and food vendors are on hand again this year. Those attending the festival who are seeking sustenance can gorge on anything from gourmet mini cupcakes to organic raw vegan foods to macaroni and cheese.
For the wine connoisseur, there is a splash of Northern California vineyards offering a taste, including numerous Napa Valley wineries.
The festival kicks off at noon Saturday in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Tickets start at $140 for both days or $75 for a single day. For a complete schedule and more information, visit the official site.
If You Go ...
Here are five artists who aren’t headliners but still worth checking out:
• Cat Power (7:05 to 7:55 p.m. Saturday): Subtlety is the key with Chan “Cat Power” Marshall, whose distinction is her breathy vocals and sparse, languid piano and guitar arrangements.
• My Morning Jacket (5 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday): Perhaps the poster children for the festival’s diversity, a Kentucky quintet that started out making outer space country found its way through bluesy hard rock and even dabbles in homages to Prince.
• Garage a Trois (4:30 to 5:10 p.m. Sunday): A stew of rock, funk and jazz that combines the talents of Galactic’s Stanton Moore with keyboardist Marco Benevento of the Benevento/Russo Duo. The other half of the duo, Russo, is a member of Saturday night headliner Furthur. • The Devil Makes Three (2:10 to 2:55 p.m. Sunday): Santa Cruz trio steeped in bluegrass and blues rides in on the strength of Do Wrong Right, the band’s third full-length LP.
• Gogol Bordello (3:05 to 4:05 p.m. Saturday): Now major-label recording artists, this nine-piece collective from the Lower East Side of New York City filters accordion through a gritty ’70s rock ethos to find its own distinct flavor: Gypsy punk.
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