photo courtesy Darcey Simpson
News Editor
On the weekend of Aug. 4, 40,000 people gathered in foggy San Francisco to enjoy the biggest sold-out festival of summer in the Bay Area. Outside Lands 2016 in Golden Gate park combined food, singers, comedians, and art to make an unforgettable three days. The only worries encountered were deciding who to see and being blocked by people sitting on other’s shoulders.
This year the headlines were jam-packed with hit singers including J.Cole, Chance the Rapper, Major Lazer, Zedd, Radiohead, Lionel Richie, and Lana del Rey. They also included a new cashless ATM where festival-goers could load money onto their high tech wristbands to make purchasing food quicker and shorten lines.
Outside Lands is famous for transforming the park into a wonderland of food islands featuring the Bay Area’s trendiest restaurants. In the very center of the festival, concert-goers could find the majority of the food trucks. Dishes like chicken and waffles, avocado fries, and donut hamburgers were mouth-watering fan favorites. Other food islands like Chocoland, Cheese Land, and Outside Clams were scattered around different corners of park.
Crowds lined up early on Friday to get the first experience of the event. The two main acts were J.Cole and LCD Soundsystem, overlapping at 8 P.M. Festival-goers had to make the tough decision of choosing one to attend. Senior Paige Parentice who chose to watch J.Cole said that “J.Cole put on an amazing performance and pumped the crowd up by playing his top hits. My favorite songs that he rapped were Tale of Two Cities and Wet Dreamz. The whole crowd was unanimously dancing and singing together.”
Highlights from Saturday included E-40, Radiohead, and Zedd. A week before the festival, it was announced that E-40 and Warren G would play one song outside of the Heineken tent. To the fans surprise, they performed seven songs. Meanwhile, at the Twin Peaks stage, Halsey sang her hit “New Americana,” and was followed by Zedd. Radiohead was the finale of the night.
Sunday, the final day of the festival, was greeted with a nice surprise: sun. In the afternoon, crowds gathered to watch Third Eye Blind perform their top hits. Rap fans were ecstatic for Chance the Rapper to come onstage, and he did not disappoint. Chance performed hits from his Acid Rap album, Sunday Candy, and a few songs from his new album, Coloring Book. The end of his performance was followed by cheers for an encore. However, artist Major Lazer quickly took the stage and rallied the crowd with Lean On and Light it Up. He even attempted to make the packed crowd run side to side and jump simultaneously. Lana del Rey and Lionel Richie closed the festival, and crowds left Golden Gate park feeling nostalgic and exhausted from three days of singing and dancing.
(Stanford Daily, Outside Lands, The Mercury News)
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