The performance schedule might feel too stacked. Showcasing sixty-five artists on only four stages (a lesser number) in two days seemed like a challenge. I didn’t want to simply sample artists, but then again I also wanted to enjoy the other festival offerings like the Chase Freedom Lounge (with its clean bathrooms), the Intel Pulse Lounge (where you could breath different flavored oxygen or drink gummy bear-tasting syrup), the Odwalla Fresh Experience Lounge (where you could listen to an open mic while drinking Odwalla samples), and the always popular Outside Lands Salon (where you could get your hair done while listening to karaoke).

I wasn’t drunk enough to partake in the karaoke, but I did enjoy other people’s performances–many of which were actually quite good.

Even though the festival takes place in the eco-conscious San Francisco, I was still amazed how dirty Golden Gate Park got so quickly. I can’t imagine how the Porto-Potties were. Thank goodness for the Chase Freedom Lounge. Cigarettes should probably be banned, although enforcement would be a problem.

I was most excited to see Cat Power, but I left disappointed by Chan Marshall’s seemingly dull and one-note performance. Aside from the brief time that she came down from the stage and sang near the crowd, Chan’s sort-of raspy voice made most of her songs blend too well together to the point that it felt she sang a single hour-long song (with “Sea Of Love” sprinkled in there).

Gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello had a surprisingly good performance; an experience I can say I didn’t expect even after having listened to the band’s albums and live bootlegs. “Break The Spell” was a highlight.

Other random musings include:

- The voice of Julian Casablancas (The Strokes) cracked while addressing the audience. He followed by asking ‘Will you go to the prom with me?’ in same high-pitched voice to everyone’s amusement.

- Wolfmother was teepeed during the performance. I think was during the cover of The Who’s “Teenage Wasteland.” Toilet paper hung from the top of the stage. A mighty throw.

- The only thing I can say about The Soft Pack is that the band is loud.

- I spun Alice 97.3’s wheel and won a She’s Out Of My League–branded candom.

- I didn’t know the words to The Temper Trap‘s “Sweet Disposition” so I didn’t sing along as requested.

- I missed The Devil Makes Three‘s scheduled performance, but I managed to randomly catch the bluegrass trio performing at Toyota’s Free Yr Radio tent.

I can’t wait for Outside Lands 2011.

[photos via D&L]

Note: Article first published as “Outside Lands Festival 2010: A Recap” on Blogcritics.

Either Stephen really loves Gmail or he’s an idiot for starting his article with the drivel, “While Yahoo! Mail isn’t as wildly popular as, say, Gmail, there are still a lot of people who have Yahoo! Mail accounts.”

Rightfully, commenters noted the huge mistake or, in my opinion, obvious bias. The commenters were tame.

Steven, do some basic research.

According to Hitwise, Yahoo Mail ranked #4 in visits for all websites (3.57%) for the week ending August 14, 2010. Gmail was #11 (0.88%)–roughly 4x–during the same period.

There Steven, I did your research for you. At least you didn’t say that Yahoo News isn’t as popular as Google News. Then you wouldn’t be as wrong. By the way, Yahoo News ranked #15 (0.40%) by Hitwise’s earlier statistics. Google News isn’t in the Top 20.

To me, Lost had always seemed to be the perfect show to watch by the season, with hours spent watching episodes back-to-back until it the sun came up. I had only started watching Lost, and I finally caught up to roughly the 18th episode of the first season before a certain Chuck Barney decided to casually mention a tidbit of the series finale in his annual Emmy Award schpeel without the courtesy warning.

Wasted were years of waiting to watch the six seasons of Lost the way I wanted to. Boy was it hard to not watch Lost all those years. Boy was it even harder to avoid reading or listening to spoilers from seemingly everyone around me who watched the show. But it sure was easy for Mr. Chuck Barney to ruin a crucial moment in Lost with a few mere words.

Yes, it’s been two months since that fateful day when I decided to read Chuck Barney’s “These actors deserve Emmy nominations” article.

Warning: Spoiler Alert.

How hard would that have been, Chuck?

Damn you.

At least, I’m not the only life you ruined. No, I don’t accept your unremorseful apology in your follow-up “Never too late for a spoiler alert” article that was a month too late.

Shame on you for assuming that ANY period of time is long enough to think that a writing a non-spoiler warning television factoid. Shame on me for reading your articles.

Infuriating.

Extremely upset.

Grrrr!!!

These were mild words from your former readers…

I hate you.

Chuck Barney gives FAIL a bad name!

[image via Mercury News]

I found it hard to pick which artists to scope out with so many to choose from. Given that Outside Lands 2010 was truncated to two days from three in previous years, the festival felt bundled with too many artists to see in a very short period of time.

Luckily, I managed to see almost everyone I planned to (sorry Chromeo and Langhorne Slim, maybe next time you guys play in the Bay Area). There were some great performances; there were some okay performances. Thankfully, I missed the poor ones (and from what I heard Slightly Stoopid wasn’t so good). With that, here are my Top 5 Performances of the festival.

Top 5

1. Phoenix

There aren’t many bands that are as hot as the French pop band Phoenix right now, especially after the hit song “1901” (from 2009’s Grammy Award-winning Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix) spent weeks on the Billboard charts.

Phoenix played many of their hit songs, including “Lisztomania,” “Lasso,” and of course “1901.” As always, the band stayed humble, even thanking everyone from the audience to the festival staff for the wonderful festival before lead singer Thomas Mars did some always-appreciated crowd surfing at the end of the performance.

2. Social Distortion

I won’t lie. I was never a big fan of Social Distortion, but I was blown away during the ageless band’s performance. Mike Ness hit all the right notes when it came to gauging both the atmosphere and the crowd. He praised the West Coast fans while mocking those on the East Coast, while ceremoniously hinting that many of us in the audience would probably be too hung-over to go work on Monday. Highlights included “Reach For The Sky,” “Don’t Drag Me Down,” and the performance closing Johnny Cash cover “Ring Of Fire.”

3. Empire Of The Sun

Let me sum up the theatrical intensity of Empire Of The Sun: the band even interviews in costume. Now add Golden Gate Park, dozens of lights, and thousands of festivalgoers, and the result was the collective “what the f*ck” from most of the audience during a particular moment in the band’s Sunday night performance. Nuff said.

4. Wild Beasts

British indie band Wild Beasts wowed me with an incredible sound. The opening riff of “The Fun Power Plot” elicited a huge emotional response from the audience. I hadn’t realized before how similar lead singer Hayden Thorpe’s vocals were to Interpol’s Paul Banks’. Kudos with “The Devil’s Crayon.”

5. Freelance Whales

What I like most about New York indie quintet Freelance Whales was that every band member contributes in some form to the vocal melodies. The result was a richer sound that was incredibly expansive and lively, similar to Death Cab For Cutie and Passion Pit. Highlights included “Hannah” and “Generator 2nd Floor”.

Honorable Mention

1. Little Wings
2. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
3. The Whigs

[photos via D&L]

Note: Article first published as “Outside Lands Festival 2010: Top 5 Performances” on Blogcritics.

From her Alas I Cannot Swim album, “Ghosts” is my favorite Laura Marling song ever. I must admit, I was surprised by the 1,056,096 views on YouTube (as of 11:59 PM on August 8, 2010). Good stuff, and I’m glad people are listening to her.