Last weekend marked the second year of San Francisco’s annual Outside Lands festival.  Headliners this year included Dave Matthews, Pearl Jam, and Tenacious D, as well as a host of other acts.  In a world that seems to be already overcrowded with unimaginative music festivals, do we really need another?  More importantly, does Outside Lands deliver enough to warrant your ticket money in these harsh economic times?  IYS reports.

It’s great in some ways, and unfortunate in many, but giant festivals are growing in popularity while smaller shows just aren’t pulling the crowds they used to.  The fact of the matter is, the vast majority of people who are willing to drop $225 on a weekend at a festival would not spend nearly as much going to individual shows throughout the course of a year.  Thankfully there are still bands who are exceptions, who tour extensively whilst stay profitable doing so; but for the most part, as far as the business of live music goes, the money is in the major events.  That means more and more festivals are popping up all over. So what sets one apart from another?  How should one know on which to spend one’s hard earned, recession battered cash flow?  Removing travel and distance from the equation, there are two main factors: The music and the atmosphere.  I’m happy to say that this year’s OSL delivered well above expectation on both accounts.

The lineup for this year’s festival didn’t present many surprises (aside from the necessary replacement of headliners Beastie Boys with comedy rock duo Tenacious D), but their performances definitely didn’t send anyone home disappointed.  Jack Black and Kyle Gass (Tenacious D) spent at least as much time with their skits as they did playing their familiar set of tunes, including ‘Wonderboy’ and ‘Tribute’, but that didn’t give anyone cause for complaint.  Black’s a-typical comment that “the devil f***ing sucks” and “Jesus is awesome” led to an epic rock battle with Satan himself, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a soul in the audience without a goofy grin on their face.

Indie favorites, Band of Horses, brought an unprecedented energy to their set on Sunday, leaving everyone wondering why they weren’t scheduled for the main stage.  The Dead Weather needed to live up to quite a bit of hype, but exceeded everyone’s expectations on the strength of Alison Mosshart’s rock goddess performance alone.  Other highlights at the show included the soft-spoken Bat for Lashes, crowd-mover M.I.A., and one of my personal favorites, Akron/Family.

The atmosphere of Outside Lands was what really set it apart, however (and no, I’m talking about Slug and crew, though their set was pretty good too).  The full title of the festival is San Francisco’s Outside Lands (Music & Arts Festival), and the fact that it takes place in San Francisco was just as much on stage as any of the artists.  Everywhere you looked, everything you could do -- it was all very directly related to the Bay Area itself.

The first thing to note is the location of the event, nestled deep in San Francisco’s famous (and massive) Golden Gate Park.  Through roads were all closed down, encouraging festival-goers to bike or walk the one-mile plus distance through the park to their destination, where they would naturally pass by numerous points of interest including the Conservatory of Flowers, the beautiful Japanese Tea Garden, streams and waterfalls, and many monuments celebrating moments in San Francisco history.  As there is no camping option at OSL, this daily routine set the stage and the mood for the festival for everyone who attended.

Secondly, the food at most festivals is nothing to write home about.  It serves it’s purpose, it may be decently tasty, it’s almost certainly very unhealthy, but nothing you’d remember when you’re headed back home.  OSL was different, however, choosing to provide it’s patrons with “a taste of the Bay Area”, rather than the standard mega-event fare, and the result was fantastic.  Dozens of local restuarants, grills and bakeries were invited to showcase their foodstuffs, and while you would expect that to mean prices would go through the roof, it really didn’t.  I’ve never been to any event even half the size of OSL with as delicious an edible lineup as we were offered.  Kudos, festival planners.

What’s food without drink, though?  Whatever it is, it’s nothing like OSL.  Aside from standard soft drink and beer options, the festival once again took the opportunity to let local businesses shine with the smash-success “Winehaven” tent.  25 different wineries had booths and knowledgeable representatives in the tent, and festival-goers were encouraged to take a few minutes (or hours) from their hectic entertainment schedule and redeem purchased tickets for tastes or full glasses of some of the finest wine ever to come out of California wine country.

Security is obviously also a big deal at any major event. Overzealous police at a festival can easily ruin the mood of any crowd, and I’m happy to say that such was not the case.  In what seemed to be an extension of San Francisco’s relaxed attitude towards recreational marijuana use, festival security was very mellow about it’s usage within the gates, choosing rather to focus on keeping out weapons and unofficial merchandise instead.

All things said and done, was Outside Lands the greatest festival I’ve ever attended?  No.  Was it a great time? Yes.  Do I plan on attending again?  Yes.  So long as Superfly, the festival organizers, continue to focus on atmosphere just as much as they do lineup and promotion, I’ll have my tickets in advance every year for a long, long time.  Maybe next year I’ll see you there.