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all words and photos by Dakota

…

(see this image BIG)

Day 1

The Outside Lands experience.

Mmmm… and so now, please allow me to take you on a journey to my second favorite city: San Francisco.

I recently (as in a couple of weekends ago now…) attended the Outside Lands Festival in Golden Gate Park. There were six stages and if I had to approximate, 100 bands? Needless to say, impossible to capture it all, so I bring you some of my choice shots, favorite bands, and pretty much whatever I could get… shooting was a bit cutthroat at the festival, too many photographers.

The headliners for the festival were Pearl Jam on the first day, Dave Matthews the second and Tenacious D on the third to replace the Beastie Boys who had to cancel due to Adam Yauch’s health issues. I have pictures of none of those bands. Why? Because photographers needed special releases to shoot those bands, and I didn’t get them. But really who cares right, I mean, that’s what I’m going to tell myself, whatever, Connor Oberst is waaay cooler with hipsters anyways.

So here are a few shots of hometown heroes The Dodo’s:

Then The National, so amazing live. So amazing.

I kind of accidentally ended up seeing Q-Tip as I was waiting by the stage to meet with Eric and Rob of Thievery Corporation for a style piece I was working on for AOL. I have to admit, although I was prepared for the worst and have sort of resigned myself to believing that Q-Tip is far beyond his glory days, I was pleasantly surprised when he played his hits from A Tribe Called Quest and even brought Phife onstage for “Award Tour”… it was quite awesome, actually.

Awesome art installations all over the grounds (click to see bigger versions).

Day 2

I have no idea who these people were, but they were singing ridiculous porn-type education knowledge to children while wearing clown/mime costumes, so they were eminantally worth photographing in my book…

Portugal. The Man… lead singer John Gourley and I actually got to hang out a little bit. He’s from Wasilla, Alaska (of Sarah Palin fame)… and his band is named after a country on the Iberian peninsula. They killed. You heard it here first, check these guys out, seriously.

Jason Mraz, mmm, yeah, not really sure what to say about this guy. I honestly lost respect for this guy seeing him in concert if only because he’s such a dipstick on stage. “Peace and love and give the guy standing next to you a hug for coming with you to the show, this is what peace looks like… ” barf. Death and murder, I should have gone to Mastodon instead. Chicks dig him?

Bat for Lashes, indie chick-rock, multi-instrumental sensation Natasha Khan and company. Incredible live. See them. Hear them.

Connor Oberst playing with his most recent iteration of whatever the hell he’s doing, don’t ask me.

Please watch this video… Patrick Scott’s “Light Portal” was actually one of the coolest things I saw during the whole festival… it’s an interactive exhibition combining music and light and sensors activated by proximity, very cool.

Oh, Dave Matthews, while you occupy a very special place in my 11th grade heart, I was unable to capture photos of you due to lack of a credentials. Ew. Nobody cares. We all know what you look like anyways, and that stupid voice is cool when you sing, but when you talk onstage you sound like a moron.

Day 3

Matt and Kim, funnest band ever, they both look like their faces are going to break from smiling so hard when they’re onstage. Fuckyes. So simple, yet so good.

My first time seeing Modest Mouse live. I think I will love this band forever.

Band of Horses, by far the most profoundly inspiring performance I witnessed at the festival. Just a beautiful kind of sound. Unbelievable live, I would go so far as to say even moving.

And that pretty much sums it up… I caught a little bit of a burlesque act near the tail end of the festival. Good stuff. Thanks for reading.

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