Last weekend saw Golden Gate Park transform into another one of those 3-day music mecca happenings. Outside Lands was comparable to Coachella… if a bit colder, less sunny, and attended by a generally tame (re: older) populace. All things considered, for a first time event it went off very well I thought. They made good use of the space (though Beck on a side stage was near disaster), set times came and went with Swiss precision, and who can argue with Radiohead christening the park as the first ever nighttime performance?

We worked the water/gatorade stations again as a means for free entrance, but of the acts I did get to catch, highlights included:

*Radiohead playing through major technical difficulties as only such professionals could.
*Nels Cline’s guitar fireworks with Wilco as they closed the weekend on the Twin Peaks stage.
*The Walkmen and Rogue Wave’s “fully solar powered” sets.
*Toots & the Maytals, M Ward, Broken Social Scene all putting big smiles on the crowd.

But once again, stealing the festival for me was Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings giving the tightest, funnest, most crowd-pleasing set of the entire weekend. The audience participation alone, with Miss Jones bringing up and serenading on stage a few goofy concert goers, is enough to win over even the coldest of hearts. Click below the jump for a couple videos of Sharon & the Kings getting down to business, as well as more pictures.

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“I’m trying to get loose.”

*apologies for the shaky camera
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“Tell me you love me.”

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Toots

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Radiohead = dramaturgy

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/\ /\ /\ /\ invoke anything?

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Primus and the astronauts

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