Half full or half empty? Outside Lands single-day lineups out

Wiggah please. All Points West gets My Bloody Valentine and Tool, and the left coast gets Jason Mraz and Tom Jones? All bitching aside, San Francisco's very own summer music festivus gigantus, the three-day Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival happening Aug. 28-30 in Golden Gate Park, has a pretty solid lineup if you take only Saturday and Sunday into consideration. Earlier today the promoters unveiled which bands play each day --so lemme break down how this will play out. Friday is all about Pearl Jam --expect the park to be teeming with tens of thousands of Pearl Jam fanboys who very well may amass the largest gathering of facial hair this side of the Mississippi. Oh yeah, and there's also bands that nobody cares about like Incubus, Thievery Corporation and Tom Jones. And don't forget the Silversun Pickups, a.k.a. this year's Jack Johnson a.k.a. the group that seems to ubiquitously stink up every festival lineup in the universe. I skipped 'em at Sasquatch and I'll skip 'em at Outside Lands, thank you. Let us appreciate, though, some of the amazing smaller bands like Autolux and the Dodos who truly add value to an otherwise stale lineup. And if I do go Friday, I'll have to give a shoutout to that band featuring that dude who used to sell me weed back in high school. Holla! Saturday kinda isn't fair to the other days because, starting at noon, there's a few more slots on the schedule for an expanded lineup. Dave Matthews Band, Black Eyed Peas and Jason Mraz headlining aside, I'll have me a helping of Mars Volta, Deerhunter, TV on the Radio, Os Mutantes, Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band, Bat For Lashes, Mastodon and Street Sweeper Social Club. This day will surely sell out of single-day tickets. Sunday is "the past meets the future" day where you've got the Beastie Boys, Ween, and Modest Mouse as headliners -- all a bit beyond their heydays, but still kicking, and definitely the best batch of headliners of the fest -- mixed in with fresher acts like M.I.A., The Dead Weather and Atmosphere. So will I attend, and if so which days? As it's looking now, I'm going to try to win tickets because I have a few months to get lucky. As the festival gets nearer, I may decide to buy a single-day ticket for Saturday, but only if I can get one for face value and without any goddamn "convenience" fees. My third and final option will be to sneak into the festival -- I've got my fence-climbing shoes ready. But I highly doubt I'll fork over the cash for a three-day pass -- unless a heap of Radiohead, a dose of Mogwai or a touch of Entrance Band are added into the mix.

Picking through the lineup of the Sasquatch Festival

When it comes to attending a music festival with multiple stages and numerous bands playing at the same time, difficult choices must be made. Bon Iver or Yeah Yeah Yeahs? Zach Galifianakis or TV on the Radio? Erykah Badu or Girl Talk, or, a little bit of both? Well at the Sasquatch Festival up in Washington state, I narrowed my three-day weekend down to 32 acts, and out of the following, a few each day particularly stood out.

Saturday, May 23

• Champagne Champagne
• Gaslight Anthem
• Doves
• Maria Bamford: Not only was the Comedy Tent the coolest (read: shadiest) stage on the festival grounds, but for a non-comedy-following person such as myself, I actually witnessed a few comedians who I would seek out as a paying customer, the first being Maria Bamford. Ms. Bamford’s forte is voices, and with these voices, which ranged from her high-pitched, high-strung “normal” voice to the ones she employed impersonating her snarky New York agent or a smooth, black 4-1-1 operator, she slayed. This woman can joke.
• King Khan and the Shrines: These guys were a total spectacle. I don’t think I’d buy this band’s records, though their swinging ‘60s soul and garage rock sound is capable enough, but live, King Khan shouldn’t be missed. King Khan, who I presume is the potbellied frontman dressed like an Indian chief from the head up and a scantily-clad gay glam rocker (bare chest, gold cape, blue lamé booty shorts) from the neck down, leads an engaging brigade of musicians that includes a pom-pom-throwing cheerleader backup dancer. However I could’ve done without the dude onstage who dropped trow and tucked his dick in between his legs during that one song – that was just gross.
• Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band
• Animal Collective
• Mos Def
• Bon Iver
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Kings of Leon: OK. Despite the somewhat annoying K.O.L. fanboys infesting the Sasquatch festival grounds in matching neon green T-shirts and their insistence upon high-fiving every man, woman and child who crossed their paths – and the fact that Kings of Leon’s sound used to be really cool and gritty, especially on their first two albums, until their recent foray into radio-friendly arena rock – I have to say the Kings whipped out an impressive catalog of songs at the Gorge. I don’t know why they opted to slow down their early, more rocking tracks like “Molly’s Chambers,” but overall the Kings brought it and one would be hard-pressed to ignore this band's overall talent.

Sunday, May 24

• Mike Watt & The Missingmen
• Street Sweeper Social Club: It could be easy to dismiss Street Sweeper Social Club as Rage Against The Machine 2.0 since they pretty much resurrect Zach de La Rocha & Co.'s sound exactly, and the fact that Tom Morello is up onstage playing guitar just like Tom Morello. But the bottom line is: These guys rock, and they brought a much-needed dose of loud guitars and riot-, or rather, protest-inciting lyrics to Sasquatch. It also didn’t hurt that they endeared themselves to the audience fairly quickly with a cover of MIA’s “Paper Planes.” I would deem them one of my favorite discoveries of the festival. And thanks to numerous forewarnings throughout their set, I am quite familiar with the precidse date their album comes out.
• The Walkmen
• Calexico
• St. Vincent
• Aziz Ansari
• Zach Galifianakis: Who the hell decides to attend a music festival in a different state because of a comedian? Though Sasquatch’s musical lineup certainly seemed enough, it was the elusive comedic talent of one Zach Galifianakis being present that proved to be the tipping point for me to whip out my credit card and give yet more of my $ to Ticketbastard, Alaska Airlines and Hotwire. I wasn’t even sure he would show up cuz dude is notorious for canceling shows. But he came! And he was hella funny! Zach worked off all the classic bits I know him for, playing a little piano, doing impressions (e.g. the New Yorker obsessed with cargo shorts “Hey, what are those, cahhhgo shorts?”), his whiteboard with slogans at the end, and he even brought special guests onstage including St. Vincent. I like my comedians weird, and with that said, Zach is the king of weirdos.
• TV on the Radio
• Nine Inch Nails: My most anticipated band of the festival not surprisingly put on my favorite performance at Sasquatch. NIN drew from a totally classic setlist of songs that spanned their entire discography. I'm talking "Terrible Lie," "Wish," "March of the Pigs, and even more obscure tracks like “Gave Up” and “Burn.” Trent Reznor and band completed the festival for me, making all the other acts I had yet to see icing on the cake. And damn if that wasn't the best rendition of “Hurt” I've ever heard.
• Jane’s Addiction

Monday, May 25

• Heartless Bastards
• Deerhoof
• Grizzly Bear
• Santigold: Don't believe the hype, Public Enemy told us, but in Santigold's case it may be wise to disregard old rap star truisms. Over the past year or so I have been forcefed by just about every magazine and "in-the-know" radio DJ how amazing the Brooklyn singer Santigold was, only to find out, she is. She's kind of like a cross between MIA and Gwen Stefani, tearing through different genres, from hip hop to ‘80s to punk and reggae. Santigold proved to be one of the most engaging acts of the weekend from the moment she hit the stage, riling up the audience to dance and truly, speaking to the audience, even if some of it was sagely singer advice about forgoing Burger King pre-performance.
• Gogol Bordello
• Fleet Foxes
• The Knux
• Girl Talk
• Erykah Badu: Unfuckitwable. Though I missed much of Erykah Badu's set because of those aforementioned scheduling conflicts, the four songs or so of hers that I did see were enough to make me regret spending so much time at the Wookie stage. Backed by a solid band and sporting a Public Enemy sweatshirt and leather pants, Ms. Badu didn't need dramatic vocal theatrics or choreography to pull of a wicked show. She just had to be herself, bringing her honey voice, anti-bullshit lyrics and general untouchable demeanor. I swear she's gotta be the coolest human being on the planet, and really, the one artist I plan to listen to a whole lot more after the festival.
• Explosions in the Sky: There were high expectations, here, with Explosions in the Sky being the closing band of the festival for all those with taste (sorry Ben Harper). Besides being total rock guitar-shredding badasses, Explosions in the Sky also remind me of film scores in a way. You know how when you're watching a dramatic movie and, though the scene or dialog may be affecting enough, it's when the music kicks in that the tears start welling up and, goddamnit, you're crying. That's what Explosions does for me. They make me want to burst and drip, they're so good.
• Chromeo