First, you get a pass on the weather. It’s something you can’t plan for, but the fact that Friday and Saturday were cold, damp and gloomy didn’t help with my overall attitude at times and I was a bit drained by day’s end. But people kept reminding me that San Fran is known for its funky weather and more than a few people dropped this quote on me from Mark Twain – “The coldest winter I ever spent, was a summer in San Francisco.”
While I loved all the food options, drinks were all together disappointing. Sure, having a tent dedicated to California’s great wineries made sense, but it was a bit overpriced and really, who wants to be drinking wine all day at a fest? You seemed to neglect that other beverage made from malt and hops that goes hand and hand with drinking outdoors and seeing music: beer. San Francisco is home to a number of great craft breweries that were no where to be found. In fact it seemed like my only choices were from Heineken and Sierra Nevada.
Scheduling at a fest usually is a bit of a problem, but no real complaints on that. Music was going on all day and if you chose to just plop down in the front of the main stage there was a second stage that all you had to do was essentially turn around to. The big problem was really the distance between stages – it made it virtually impossible to catch partial sets from multiple acts. I know that’s a bit nitpick-y, but when it’s a good 15 minute plus walk you really have to start thinking ahead to make it from stage to stage if you didn’t want to miss the bulk of a set.
While we’re on the topic of music it would have been great to see some more officially sanctioned late-night shows, since music at the park had to end by 10 PM on Friday and Saturday night. With a city that probably rivals New York as far as the amount of venues, some more choices would have been welcomed.
Finally, just a thought on transportation getting to and from the park. How about some more hotel shuttles? I think this would have been really helpful for the out-of-towners who didn’t know the public transport system that well or realize how far things were.
Ok, I’ve said enough. Hopefully I’ll be seeing you next year.
Sincerely-
Some Dude
- Previously on HT’s Pullin’ ‘Tubes: Outside Lands Roundup, Goin’ Out West Pt. 1 Pt. 2 Pt. 3 Pt. 4 Pt. 5
3 Responses
Nicely put. I agree on many if not all counts.
The wine tent was great but it was only located in one of three concert “zones” and we only saw 2 sets over there all weekend. It should have been spread out in all three areas. Agree on the beer selection too. The Sierra was a lifesaver, but there should have been some Anchor representation there somewhere, not to mention Lagunitas.
Soju? Come on…get a license and sell the good stuff.
Set times were way too short (6 songs from ALO was almost insulting, to the band as well as the packed lawn), and the distance between stages was way too long. Put those two factors together and it takes away from the amount of music you can see for your money. Also, the scheduling was not very well thought out, Beck/Black Keys and Panic/Wilco were HUGE missteps.
Transpo was a HUGE issue, no cabs and no answer at most if not all cab numbers provided by the fest, no good info for out of towners on which trains or buses to take, basically no coordination between the fest and the city. With that coordination, yes, should come a lot more night shows. Give people more than one chance to see bands, especially if you’re stuck choosing between Beck and Black Keys or Wilco and Widespread.
Hotel coordination needs to come with the transportation. We stayed in a dump near the park as opposed to the nicer hotels further away, and if we hadn’t, it would have made it even more difficult to get around. If you had certain hotels that catered to OL patrons and had shuttles for those hotels, you’d make things a lot easier on people.