From major publications to newspapers to small blogs and radio stations, we collected a wide range of reviews for Outside Lands 2010. This year, the festival was a day shorter with fewer stages and big name headliners. So how did folks enjoy the weekend? Check out a sampling of reviews below.
via Spinning Platters
Despite my own puzzled expectations about the first day of Outside Lands, it kicked off with a marvelous start and ended with a few spectacular performances. All of the acts that I was able to see put on some of the best performances that I’ve witnessed, and seemed to be almost competing to be the most energetic or passionate band onstage, and their energy became fuel for the thousands of concertgoers that had braved the cold and dreary not-really-summer weather to stamp out a path across Golden Gate Park. [Read the rest of the review…]
via Spin
Saturday night headliners the Strokes proved just what made them great in the first place: awesome hooks, insistent melodies, and Julian Casablancas’ wasted come-on of a voice. The Strokes didn’t just trot out their hits; they fired them from a cannon, detonating them into an adoring crowd. The few new tunes the quintet played came fitted with harder riffs and more complicated rhythms, suggesting that, like Kanye West, the Strokes have been listening to early King Crimson. [Read the rest of the review…]
via KROQ [PHOTOS]
Freelance Whales are one of the most buzzed about bands of 2010. The Queens, NY quintet performed tracks from their debut LP Weathervanes for Outside Lands early birds to kick off the weekend right! [Read the rest of the review…]
via San Francisco Chronicle
Whether it was Gogol Bordello playing a rowdy set of gypsy punk Saturday afternoon at Lands End, or the Rebirth Brass Band offering sweaty New Orleans-style funk at the solar-powered Panhandle stage just a half-hour later, most concertgoers seemed willing to embrace the diversity of the lineup and try something new. [Read the rest of the review…]
via The Oakland Tribune
Everything about the third annual Outside Lands festival seemed smaller. Most notably, it was a two-day production as opposed to the three-day fandangos held in 2008 and ’09. There were also fewer bands and less stages than in the past. And the headliners at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park were definitely smaller — Saturday’s top act was the Grateful Dead spinoff Furthur, while Sunday’s main draw was Kings of Leon. [Read the rest of the review…]