Saturday 14/08/10 Outside Lands Festival, Day One @ Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Welcome to San Francisco, home to the Victorian Ladies, some of the best sushi you’ll ever eat and, of course, the Outside Lands Festival. For the third year in a row, Outside Lands took over Golden Gate Park, unleashing a mob of hippies and hipsters to dance, sing and smoke weed freely (sorry if we blew your cover San Francisco) while sipping on $8 Heinekens.

The 2010 festival was a little less glitz and glamour than previous years. This time, it was shorter (cut down from 3 to 2 days), had fewer stages and cheaper tickets. The headliners pleased both the cool kids and the flower children alike, with Phil Lesh and Bob Weir strapping on their psychedelic legend hats to perform for the masses on Saturday and Kings of Leon infecting their hipster stadium rock soaked in testosterone and Southern sensibilities on Sunday.

The eclectic line up allowed fans to see everything from soul music legends to punk rock heroes and everything in between on both days. Kicking things off on the first day at around noon were The Whigs and People Under The Stairs on two different stages for a full day of music, booze, hackysacks and basically anything else your festival heart desired.

Gogol Bordello, Freelance Whales, Pretty Lights and Langhorne Slim paved the way throughout the day for what was the so far standout being My Morning Jacket. Jim James and company performed a 90-minute set that set the bar high. The band broke out their seamless mix of indie pop with a little bit of the jam factor thrown in and kicked things off appropriately with ‘Tonight I Want To Celebrate With You’. Moving further into their set, James reflected on a special show the band performed in Japan . “I've always wanted to go back to the field of heaven,” he gushed as the drums began. “This is as close as we've come."

As the evening started to fall upon Golden Gate Park, My Morning Jacket were the ultimate crowd pleaser, playing additional fan favorites such as ‘Highly Suspicious’ and ‘I’m Amazed’, which made for the perfect rock n’ roll sing-along.

Wolfmother then brought it up a notch with their live show as they brought their guitar heavy rock tunes to the Sutro stage. Starting it up with their hit ‘Dimension’, the Australian four piece powered through their own hits as well as two covers, which included The Who’s ‘Baba O’Riley’ and their track ‘White Unicorn’ into The Doors classic ‘Riders On The Storm’. The set was short and sweet but enough to get people amped up for the rest of Saturday’s line up.

As the sun began to set, Memphis-born indie queen Chan Marshall (better known as Cat Power) graced the stage with her sultry voice, breathy sighs, and undeniable beauty that command an audience just about anywhere. Playing a healthy set of covers as well as her own material, Marshall provided the perfect soundtrack to the beginning of the night as she brought her own twist to tracks such as the Rolling Stones classic ‘Satisfaction’ and Billie Holiday’s ‘Don’t Explain’ and well as kicking things off with her own track, ‘Good Woman’. For the girl that used to perform with her back to the crowd, Marshall this time around seemed at one with the audience as she hoped off stage close enough for them to practically feel her breath for several songs.

New York’s finest, The Strokes, hit the Twin Peaks stage to close out the festival with their unmistakable blend of east coast swagger, tight guitar licks and indie rock n’ roll classics kicking things off with ‘New York City Cops”’ Regardless of their 4-year retirement from touring, it felt as though no time had passed. Julian Casablancas, who rivals Lou Reed with his effortlessly cool presence and husky, distinct sing-speak vocals ripped through the set with a selection of tracks spanning from their three official releases. There was little pause between songs and his signature mumbling that found the audience slightly puzzled but they could care less. After stepping offstage, the crowd loudly cheered for one more song. Casablancas slyly whispered, “Be careful what you wish for" and proceeded to play a four-song encore ending with ‘Take It Or Leave It’. We’ll take it.