Inside Lands brings festival’s spirit home
Outside Lands’ first virtual event reflects highoctane energy of annual gathering
Inside Lands tried to pull off a pandemic miracle by bringing the largescale outdoor music festival experience into the homes of tens of thousands of people around the world on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 28 and 29.
The live broadcast, produced by Berkeley’s Another Planet Entertainment, effectively captured the disorienting, highenergy feel of the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival typically hosted in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. It offered a mix of new instudio performances, archived sets from the concert’s 12year history, and slick video segues.
The virtual event, which streamed exclusively on Twitch, also managed to reflect the mood of the moment. Several of the artists on the bill referenced the social issues plaguing the country.
“You can’t unsee what you’ve seen lately in America,” said Bay Area rapper Lyrics Born, who served as Inside Land’s genial host. “We’re going to get through this. Music heals. Art heals. It brings us together.”
The abbreviated archived sets served as a reminder of the carefree days before COVID19 put life on hold, with acts such as Elton John from 2015, Haim from 2014 and Leon Bridges from 2019 blissfully performing for tightly packed audiences that had never heard the phrase “social distancing.”
Many of the live sets — from upandcoming artists such as Oakland’s Mxmtoon and Hinds to major indie acts Brittany Howard and Sharon Van Etten — were a little more restrained and very short, though both Los Angeles producer Tokimonsta and dance music duo Sofi Tukker gave each broadcast a boost during the later hours of the festival with banger sets. Tokimonsta even surprised fans by bringing out singer Gavin Turek to help close out Friday night.
Some were broadcast from a popup studio called the Ranger Station, in an undisclosed location (with proper COVID protocols in place, the Another Planet officials confirmed), others from bedrooms and living rooms across America. A few also took place at designer Ken Fulk’s event space the Saint Joseph’s Arts Society in San Francisco’s South of Market area.
But not everything went according to plan.
The chat function on Twitch, which was intended to create a conversational atmosphere, instead descended into an endless stream of emoji, insults and random comments. Some of the performances that were purported to be live clearly were not — unless New York is flush with sunlight at 10 p.m. Friday as it was for Hamilton Leithauser — and LP’s scheduled live set Friday was noticeably missing, replaced by what seemed like a lastminute segment about Outside Lands’ environmentally conscious initiatives.
Saturday’s schedule was also delayed by a few minutes, though many viewers in Twitch chat and social media joked that it added to the festival vibe.
And really, all that didn’t matter. For the most part, the more than 40,000 people who tuned in to watch over the two days were treated to a lovingly produced show, reflecting the sweeping diversity of the festival itself.
The playlist on each day moved effortlessly from high energy to slow grooves to give fans everything from the allstar hiphop and pop spectacle of Gorillaz from 2017 to Beach House’s slowpaced psychedelic rock from 2016, with a stop at Jack White’s shambolic popup set in McLaren Pass in 2012 along the way. Fans also got to a catch a live performance of rising fellow East Bay artist Rexx Life Raj and then later relive East Bay queen Kehlani’s dynamic set from 2016 as well as Cage the Elephant’s 2017 Outside Lands show. It’s hard to imagine the next time people will be pushing up against each other for the opportunity to highfive the latter band’s shirtless singer, Matt Shultz.
In an interview with Lyrics Born on Friday during his “Mobile Homies” segment, “Blindspotting” actor Rafael Casal reflected on the state of the country and art’s ability to effect change.
“What I love about what’s happening now is more art is getting made because of access,” Casal said. “We’re on a digital festival right now. This wasn’t possible.”
Casal’s “Blindspotting” costar, Oakland actor/rapper/filmmaker Daveed Diggs, also dropped in for a quick chat during “Mobile Homies” the next day. He said Lyrics Born has always been an inspiration (Diggs even asked if they could make music together soon!) and revealed he is working on a television show with Casal.
“Making art is about empathy,” Diggs said. “It’s a thing that you do collectively. You make space for everybody’s beliefs.”
Earlier Saturday, there was also an “Ask Me Anything” session with Another Planet festival producers Bryan Duquette and Allen Scott, who discussed how the festival got its name (”The Big One” and “San Francisco Music Festival” didn’t make the cut, fortunately), the scheduling process, and their dream artists to book for future Outside Lands weekends (Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac and Rihanna). They also revealed what happens when things go awry. “We don’t have a plan,” Scott said. In addition to the music, the program highlighted many of the elements that make Outside Lands unlike any other festival — from the gourmet food vendors to activations such as Grass Lands, Cocktail Magic and GastroMagic. There was even a lengthy winetasting segment with Jeffrey Paradise of Poolside and the festival’s official wine curator (yes, that’s a real job), Peter Eastlake, as a nod to the festival’s Wine Lands.
Viewers also got a peek inside the Barbary comedy tent, a rarity given the long lines it typically attracts.
It made for missing out on the real festival feel that much more crushing.
Another Planet canceled Outside Lands 2020 in June because of statewide coronavirus restrictions but later announced that it plans to bring back the festival with headliners the Strokes, Lizzo and Tame Impala in what the promoters hope will be an inperson festival next Aug. 68.
“You what lately can’t you’ve in America. unsee seen We’re going to get through this. Music heals. Art heals. It brings us together.” Lyrics Born, Bay Area rapper