FYM ON THE LIST: DAY TWO- OUTSIDE LANDS 2011

SPENT TIME IN OUTSIDE LANDS PART TWO: Our second day of press coverage at Outside Lands this year was filled with surprises. On that Saturday afternoon (into the evening) the people around us, as well as the incredible music being performed- easily made this our favorite day of the event. The article below spotlights a few of those memorable moments. Cheers, FYM.

OUTSIDE LANDS 2011 DAY TWO: Last Saturday, still recovering from the massive menu of sonic bliss FYM took in on day one- we made our way past the festival gates, through a noticeably larger early-afternoon crowd en route to the press tent. While in the back, getting our batteries charged for the day, we noticed Co-founder of Apple Computer Company, Steve Wozniak, (pictured above) rolling steady on his tricked out Segway.

Other press access highlights included our brief conversation with OK Go bassist Tim Nordwind! FYM publicist Nick Codling is pictured above hanging with Nordwind after OK Go's impressive main stage performance on Saturday afternoon.

The Arctic Monkeys have become an act that is hard to miss live over the past few years- they ripped through the hits and a nice selection of new tunes that day in front of an extremely passionate/rowdy audience on the Lands End stage. When you have a jam called Fake Tales of San Francisco you immediately become a fan favorite... (Above: Lead singer Alex Turner on the jumbo.)

COSMIC CONNECTION: This Art Director also had the pleasure of reuniting with our nashviLLe singer/songwriter/comrade rayLand Baxter. He came to S.F. fresh off his successful summer tours with The Civil Wars (with sold out shows across the country), followed by dates with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.

rayLand was flown out to San Francisco for the weekend taking advantage of the good energy in the park- there to support his people at Red Light Management. You may remember Baxter stayed at FYM HQ in Seattle earlier this summer for three days while kicking off his tour with The Civil Wars (Click HERE to read about that situation).

The Black Keys were one of the few bands to add props to their stage presence- with a large blow-up Arkon Ohio Good Year tire (dawning their name) looming over the duo.

The Black Keys proved all those years of touring makes for a great live band in any setting (intimate clubs or large festival crowds). Their hard-hitting rocked up version of the blues went over tremendously well with the Golden Gate crowd. The follow-up to their Grammy Award winning Brothers album is expected later this year.

Following The Black Keys set, we made our way over to the opposite side of Outside Lands were FYM caught the magic of The Legendary Roots Crew live on the Twin Peaks stage. Following the success of 2010's How I Got Over, The Roots are planning on releasing a new record later this Fall.

After The Roots closed out their jam session and the sun sank past the horizon- FYM found themselves invited backstage watching Gregg Gillis (Girl Talk) orchestrating a furious boogie-down sonic mashing showcase.

(Click the photo above for greater detail.) Girl Talk knows how to bring the party as we documented from back stage below: 



Since Gillis can't necessarily make money from selling records due to copyright issues of merging so many samples together (even if he is creating something entirely new) so it's no surprise he makes his money on the road throwing these massive parties on stage.

Other highlights of being backstage for Girl Talk was running into Josh Hodges of Starfucker (Portland Electronica). Hodges pictured above with FYM's publicist- was kind enough to give us his Outside Lands meal ticket for the night.

As Day Two came to an end this Art Director parted ways with the FYM crew and met back up with rayLand Baxter. We found ourselves a few baked goods for the road and waited for a bus to take us downtown. Pictured Above: Baxter is always willing to help a lady with her hair..

It seems the case whenever I hang with rayLand, beautiful moments abound. The bus we were riding on was packed with festival goers. Watch below for what organically came out of this:



It was magic- people making an uncomfortable situation beautiful. The entire bus came together for a epic sing along of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. It was an amazing/surreal moment to experience. After a long public transit ride Baxter and I made our way to the 39th floor of the Marriott Hotel. I found myself sipping on Jim Beam and water (rayLand's choice), taking in incredible views of the city at night, and entertaining random conversations with the group of people Baxter had come to see.

As we left the hotel back to where my Nashville friend was crashing, it became evident the cab situation was non-existent at this time of night. And just then a limo pulled up, Baxter said something to the effect of you wanna get a ride from the limo? I'll take care of this... and we did. It was approximately 2:30 in the morning in the heart of San Francisco, feeling well-marinated in the back of a limo (my first ever time riding in one, as seen above) en route to rayLand's friends house, after a long day of music and partying, that it occurred to me- this is what it must feel like to be a rockstar. A special thanks to Outside Lands 2011, the beautfiul people of San Francisco, and rayLand for making Day Two an experience forYoungModerns will never forget.

FYM ON THE LIST: ART • MUSIC • CULTURE -2011 OUTSIDE LANDS, SAN FRANCISCO, USA

SPENT TIME IN OUTSIDE LANDS, 3-PART ARTICLE- Editor's Note: Last Friday FYM's Art Director woke up at 3:50AM (in the name of rock n' roll) to board a 6:15AM plane out of Seattle en-route to San Francisco USA (ultimately meeting up with our publicist) for Outside Lands 2011, held at Golden Gate Park. The following photo/video/thoughts are a few highlights of what made day one so special. Cheers, FYM.  

OUTSIDE LANDS DAY ONE: Pictured Above- North Welles natives (now living in London) The Joy Formidable ripped through an impressive live showing last Friday afternoon. The band won us over with angst-ridden guitar work, passionate emotional connections with their audience, and a grand instrument bashing finale.

The Joy Formidable are now on FYM's must see list the next time they roll through Seattle. The band released a new record in 2011 called The Big Roar which can be heard HERE.

The natural Golden Gate Park setting, paired with the beautiful people of San Francisco (who welcomed FYM with an anything goes friendly mindset), and quality local food vendors- makes Outside Lands a one of a kind sonic/cultural experience for us.

Pictured Above- Over the weekend FYM publicist Nick Codling consistently turned to SF food favorite- Namu Korean Tacos to compliment his free Heinekens from the press tent.

We saw many notable acts on the first day, and have pictures to prove it. We just happened to be at the right stage at the right time- when comedian Dave Chappelle made a rare public appearance! See below for the rundown.. Want more info on each artist below? Just click on their name to check out their website.

Ellie Goulding is an English electro-pop goddess live. Her 2010 breakthrough record Lights is a mega-fav of FYM's fashion correspondent Edwin Ross.

The Loyd Family Players went H.A.M. on San Francisco leading a color-coordinated, funky/joyous romp through Golden Gate Park Friday afternoon.

Chazwick Bundick, best known by his music moniker, Toro Y Moi -buzzed through a hypnotic, digi-soul, chillwave set on the Twin Peaks stage at Outside Lands.

OK Go impressed us with an intimate acoustic performance on day one (before playing day two on the main stage) fielding questions from fans throughout.

MGMT are one of those bands that could have been potentially ruined by the success of their three singles off their 2007 debut record Oracular Spectacular. Fortunately the stoned Outside Lands crowd was into it, singing along to the big tunes, and mumbling the words to the rest of their set.

Phish is just one of those bands we needed to see live, (even if you don't dig their tunes) if anything, just to witness the surreal fanfare that surrounded us. Our publicist was terrified to get closer to all the 'hippies' dancing and living free. But this art director somehow seemed at peace with them. There is no question Phish is a crew of talented musicians, but at what point does their music seem original? For us first time viewers it was very pleasant, with positive energy marinating throughout the air.

Pictured Above: Phish fans embodied the spirit of San Francisco- with genuine, kinetic motions- filling the sky with good vibes.

Phish played two sets on the main stage of Outside Lands this year. While watching their set Nick and I joked about how the crowd looked like that Dave Chappelle and John Mayer skit- Why Do White People Love Electric Guitar (because everyone was dancing so crazy). Eventually FYM's publicist convinced me to venture away from the stoners, zig-zagging through the massive sea of people, over a dusty hill, thinking we were about to see rapper Big Boi.

The crowd was turning away, grumbles could be heard, and people were booing. Over an hour past when his set should have started, Big Boi finally made an appearance on stage. He said their were DJ tech issues, and that he had been back stage for two hours. He next promised to be on in roughly 15 minutes.
 

Time passed and Big Boi was still a no show (he never played that night), in his speech earlier- he told the audience Dave Chappelle was hanging backstage. So since Big Boi was dropping the ball, the crowd started chanting DAVE DAVE DAVE, over and over, until finally the comic recluse came out into daylight! Watch our live video below of the moment at Outside Lands 2011:



Chappelle has been laying low over the past few years, but he seems to be prepping for a comeback of sorts- just like in the Rocky movies, Dave has been going back to the roots of comedy. He's been playing stand-up shows in Oakland (giving short notice announcements/limited tickets) building up some underground buzz/comic-cred- Live, Chappelle mentioned he himself had put over 200 hours of stand-up in various clubs in Oakland over the past year.

So because of all this Big Boi drama, we were like.. what about Badu? Erykah Badu was the whole reason why we waited through all the earlier situation. After a delay, the sugar-free neo-soul vocal temptress took stage with a massive live band.

Badu is a powerful woman to be in the presence of. Live she comes off as a kind living being, always smooth and in control of the situation. Badu closed out our Friday at Outside Lands singing under the San Francisco stars- kicking out classic jams from Baduizm to her latest, allowing us to leave with lifted spirits, feeling more enlightened.