Outside Lands holds a special place in our heart, mainly because it’s in San Francisco. A music festival in Golden Gate Park sounds like an easy win, but it takes a LOT of work to put on a good festival. First, you’re up against nature. August in San Francisco will make non-locals dig at the bottom of their closets for boots, thick sweaters, heavy jackets and scarves. It’s freezing at night and often foggy during the day. The sun occasionally comes out. Second, you need a huge army of workers to combat all the tiny crevices in the park where people can sneak in. Security must be tight. Third, you need a killer lineup to attract music lovers. Outside Lands did a wonderful job checking off all of the above. 
Highlights:
The Heinekan Dome! So much fun and dancing, though on occasion they’d let a few too many people in and it would be too crowded. It was one of the warmest places you could be that weekend.
Muse was fantastic live. It was crazy packed with fans of all ages. The light show was phenomenal. The energy of the crowd surpassed any I had seen that weekend.
waiting for Muse to go on
Muse
Ellie Goulding, one of my favorite singers right now, was awesome at the Sutro Stage. She had an awesome group of fans who spelled out numerous things including G-O-U-L-D-I-N-G-A-T-O-R.
Other awesome acts: Girl Talk, !!!, Macklemore, The Roots, Major Lazer, and Arctic Monkeys.
The Sun Came Out! Saturday was nice and sunny for a few hours but Sunday was gorgeous all day!
The Fashion. There were plenty of furry hats out all weekend, but I must say I saw the most on Sunday.
Lowlights:
Friday night seemed way more crowded than any of the other days. It took forever to get from one end of the festival to the other – more so than usual. It could have been the poor shoe choice on my part or the freezing cold.
Big Boi didn’t even play? What the hell? At least we left before he was even supposed to go on. We had to save our energy for the rest of the weekend. Now I know plenty of people were looking forward to seeing guy perform. I bet they were pissed. Following the tweets after leaving for the night, there were lots of complaints and Viagra jokes about Big Boi. Life goes on.
The big, huge, unfortunate lowlight to have ever happened? We missed Deadmau5! And we’re still kicking ourselves. Our ride picked us up at seven, an hour or so before he even hit the stage. #EpicFAIL on our part.
Regardless of the minor lows, we had a fantastic weekend in the city filled with great music, new friends, and plenty of good food!
Ashley Ditto (guest blogger & Robin Miller)
Can't wait for Outside Lands 2012!
- Robin & Ashley -
