It’s been the weekend of cover song performances. From nostalgic throwbacks to reimagined classics, artists like K.Flay, Grace Jones, and STRFKR brought new life to familiar tunes.
The MVP of Day Two at Outside Lands was the sun, which finally appeared in the early afternoon. You have never seen a crowd instantly energize like when the sun comes out in San Francisco. The shirts came off, the blankets were put away, and the party cranked up to an 11.
But you really gotta hand it to The Postal Service, an OG band that gave us all the feels. From the first notes of their iconic album Give Up, the crowd was swept away by nostalgia and emotion. It wasn’t just a performance; it was a reunion with memories, as Ben Gibbard and company delivered track after track with the kind of precision that only comes from years of playing together.
Here’s my deep dive of the day, by order of appearance:
Amyl and the Sniffers brought the nasty Brit-rock attitude to Twin Peaks on Saturday afternoon, ushering in a swirling crowd of wanna-be punks and sugar-filled teens.
STRFKR
Some of my favorite performances over the years at Outside Lands have been at the Sutro stage. I love the option to sit on the slope or stand with the crowd for a more relaxed performance like STRFKR, a band from my high school years that serves as the perfect soundtrack for a late afternoon smoke or cocktail.
The band dressed as astronauts and happily bounced through their most recognizable tracks. The sun streaking through the cloud of weed smoke made some happy millennials. They performed a cover of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”
Grace Jones
The iconic Grace Jones blessed the crowd at Lands End in the setting sun, but even with that burst of heat, for Miss Jones, it couldn’t be hot enough. “It’s bloody cold, I need you to heat me up,” she said. Grace Jones sauntered through her set, taking the time to get comfortable for each song, addressing the crowd, and sharing stories from her life.
It is incredible to get such a wide range of performers at a festival like this, from old school to new; we all get an expansion on our music education. Her voice, her fashion, her beauty, her Grace.
The Parties — SOMA
Personally, the idea of stepping into a crowded enclosed space at a festival never really appealed to me, so the SOMA tent was not a stop I had made before. But this year, the rave is in the open air, and while this festival-goer can’t compare, I can say that I know which I prefer. Tucked into the trees, the SOMA party still has an intimate and isolated quality to it that is perfect for the techno and house music vibes.
When I arrived at the SOMA space in the misty hours, I caught a set by Dusky, a UK duo who’ve been making the party circuit since 2012. People were relaxed, and despite the small footprint of the area, I didn’t feel crowded or stressed out by the gently tripping people around me.
Dolores
When the sun comes out, the people want to dance — and dance they did at the Dolores party stage. DJ Princess won the sunshine lotto and took advantage of the renewed energy for a two-hour set filled with guest appearances such as Willow Pill.
No matter where you go in the festival, you can’t get away from Chappell Roan, and at the Dolores party, we practiced our moves for “Hot To Go” together.
More shows — Sabrina Carpenter
Headliners are headliners for a reason, and Sabrina Carpenter brought out all the big bam stops for her first time in that coveted main stage slot. Beautiful, manicured, and heavily curated she was meant for the huge crowd that attended her Saturday performance but while most people went for the glitz and glam the polar opposite was happening on the other end of the park at Twin Peaks.
Adds Editor in Chief Saul Sugarman, who watched Carpenter from home:
Honestly I had a lot of mediocre feels watching this. I’m surprised the Disney pop princess still exists, and Carpenter just gives me at best a Hillary Duff sort of vibe. We talked about how The Killers gave us Corny Collins yesterday, and I feel like they’re begging for a collaboration with Carpenter, whose performance felt straight out of Hairspray with 50s dance numbers and a competition. Did I hate it? No — that’s hard to do for something this polished.
But there was also very little to love because it’s so safe. Listen when Britney already paved that way for you, then go all the way. Kacey Musgraves made a special appearance to sing “These Boots Were Made For Walkin’” and they both said something like, “look how pretty we look!” Give me more, please.
The Postal Service
What a strange selection for a festival, a one-album collaboration project from 2003 that reunited last year to tour that singular record with Death Cab For Cutie. Nostalgia has been a keyword of the day but you can’t get a collective deep cut deeper than this.
While The Postal Service drew a smaller, more nostalgic crowd of older Millennials and Gen Xers at the Twin Peaks Stage, their performance was anything but small. They delivered a captivating and emotionally charged rendition of their 2003 album Give Up, a collaboration between Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and musician Jimmy Tamborello. The album was famously pieced together by exchanging CD-Rs through the mail, a process that’s almost quaint in today’s digital age.
Jenny Lewis, who originally lent her vocals to a few tracks, joined the band on stage for this anniversary tour. Together, they delivered an acoustic encore of “Such Great Heights” before closing with a powerful cover of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence.”
The crowd was singing their hearts out and in some cases openly weeping. I would normally never stay to the end of the night but for the Postal Service I had to, as they cycled through the entire record for a loving and dedicated crowd.
T. Von D. is a local museum worker and lesbian.
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More photos of Outside Lands Day 2
Photos by Courtney Muro for The Bold Italic.
