Concert Review: Outside Lands at Golden Gate Park, Day 1

The street cars were filled to the brim with braided and bangled urban hippies as they passed thirsty, hopeful concertgoers, screaming on the platform. I think three J street cars passed me before I could squeeze my tiny frame through the crowd.

By the time I made it to the park I had completely missed my little press meeting, and was about to miss Beck, so I scrammed to get my ticket and rushed over to the Sutro stage as fast as my little stoned legs would carry me. Ok, so proof there is no God: Beck, The Black Keys, and Lyrics Born were scheduled at the same time. I made the executive decision to see Beck.

Beck
Have to say I regretted going. The show felt tired. Now, part of that feeling could possibly be attributed to the low volume. Personally, I don’t think you should be able to hear yourself breathing during a concert, which I could. (More panting, actually, I was dancing pretty hard...) But I don’t think that it was just the volume. The second song was "Summer Girl", which Beck spoke instead of sang. I don’t think this was a stylistic choice. It just sounded like Beck didn’t really care anymore. Also of note: Nobody was dancing (except for me and about five other people). It was sort of strange.

Radiohead
So about three quarters of the way through Beck I had to make a decision. Get a good seat for Radiohead or see the rest of Beck. I decided to stay for the rest of Beck, which I don’t exactly regret, because I think all of the decent spots for Radiohead were taken way before Beck even started. But holy shit it was crowded! I ran over to the Land’s End stage right after Beck finished and as soon as I saw Tom Yorke’s face on the big screen I felt a sob well up in my throat. People were shoving past me and yapping on their cell phones as I stood entranced by the emotional power of their performance. What a stark contrast from Beck, who seemed to have lost track of the emotional core of his songs somewhere along the way. Radiohead conveyed every subtlety of every song with the attention and dedication usually seen at the song’s debut.

AND THEN THE SOUND CUT OUT! TWICE! Plus, there were some really annoying hoola hoopers that kept on knocking into me yelling, “I’m TRYING to hoolah hoop!” to which I replied, “I’m TRYING to see Radiohead, you ditz!” And then I ran before she could successfully chuck her devil stick at me. I have to say, the crowd was a nightmare that night. The only well-behaved moment came when the entire audience was bathed in pink light during "Karma Police", which everyone sang along to. That moment pretty much made the entire night worth it. Wow, what a night.