Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival

In 2008 when Outside Lands was born, Northern California residents could finally be at peace. At long last, the Bay Area had a major music festival to combat Coachella and HARD Music Festival down in Southern California. This festival provides stunning scenic views of Golden Gate Park and the San Francisco Bay Area. The most outstanding thing about Outside Lands, besides the amazing music, is simply the fact that great effort is placed into all the other aspects of the event, namely the food and wine. Because of this diversity, Outside Lands attracts not only music enthusiasts, but also wine enthusiasts and foodies from all over the Bay and beyond! Outside Lands embodies what I love about this city: creative music, a burst of different flavors, and wine fever.

The crowd gathered for Empire of the Sun at SF Outside Lands 2010. Photo by Jeff Kravitz.

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Lollapalooza Day 1

I didn’t know what to expect.

I have only gone to music festivals in California. At these events, I have my core crew of friends that I make these treks with. This time however, it is a smaller pack I am running with, and so it felt a little weird at first.

“They should be here,” or words to that effect had run through my mind the night before the festival actually began. By the time we entered the festival grounds, and the rush of music blaring every which way through Grant Park hit my body, a lot of that weird uneasiness went away. Not all of it, mind you. But a good portion of it at least. Of course, I’m still getting used to the humidity. Oh goodness gracious, the humidity.

Foster the People at Sony Stage. Photo by Joey Pangilinan.

The Bucket List: 5 European Music Festivals

Welcome to the Bucket List, a new feature here on the eventseekr blog, in which one member of the eventseekr team writes a little something that’s out in the world that he/she must absolutely experience before leaving this mortal coil. Conversely, you will likely see some entries that feature stories of bucket list items that our team may already have experienced. First up is a little something about five music festivals throughout Europe that I’ve had my eye on.

As I said in my recap of this year’s edition of Coachella, the festival’s promoters, Goldenvoice and AEG Live, have a sweet tooth for house music and most all electronic dance music (EDM) for that matter as well. It’s something that my friends and I are so very thankful for. Following my first Coachella in 2009, I began to yearn for more festivals, and traveling in general. While I consider Coachella to be  the best music festival in the United States, I’ve ambitions to try as many other domestic festivals as I possibly can. That definitely includes this year’s edition of Lollapalooza and maybe even SF Outside Lands. But, as big as the U.S. is, there is an even bigger world out there. I froth with excitement for just a chance to experience just one music festival abroad. Alas, I’ll be the first to admit that my eyes have almost always been bigger than my stomach, so here are five.

GLASTONBURY

A large mural at Glastonbury 2009. Photo by Alisha Francisco.

Coachella 2011 Recap

Every spring, my best mates and I make our annual pilgrimage to the desert to attend Coachella. In fact, you can even spot some of us here. Coachella’s 2011 edition was my third event in as many years, and like the others I attended in 2009 and 2010, it was quite the epic weekend.

Here are the Top 4 Sets that made my Coachella Weekend:

A-Trak

My most favorite set of the entire weekend. I had been listening to dub-step for the majority of the day, and definitely needed a break from the 140-BPMs, and boy-oh-boy A-Trak, provided all that I was waiting for. Sporting his trademark fedora, A-Trak, a turn-tablist, spun everything from electro to house, disco to hip-hop. The man may as well have thrown a kitchen sink at us. It was a wonderfully varied set, and my heart leapt out of my chest when he threw out Duck Sauce’s “Barbra Streisand”, then later his “Robot Rock” juggling routine and of course, his remix to Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Heads Will Roll.

A-Trak in the Sahara Tent. (Yes, that is Gary Busey's head on a balloon) Photo by Joey Pangilinan.