Outside Lands in San Francisco is one of the best festivals in the U.S., rivaling Lollapalooza and Coachella. Three days in Golden Gate Park with some of the best bands, comedians and food around in the city. It is an epic adventure and we are here to preview it for you. Now being that we’re BestNewBands.com, we’re obviously not going to get into Neil Young, Stevie Wonder, Metallica, Jack White or Beck. While we’re super excited to see them, they’re obviously known commodities. No, what we’re going to do is give you a list of the five bands (in no discernible order) that we can’t wait to see at this weekend.
Electric Guest
Kind of starting out as a lark, this Bay Area band hit a homerun with their Danger Mouse produced debut album Mondo. Bringing their synth heavy sound to Outside Lands is sure to make the hipster girls go wild and dance with glee. Playing 4:25 pm at the Panhandle Stage on Sunday.
Sean Hayes
Sean Hayes has a sound that is very reminiscent of Tom Waits, but with a smoother voice. Hayes, a North Carolina native, has been touring the country in anticipation of his upcoming September 11th release “Before We Turn to Dust”. Considering that he released his first album on cassette this should be an awesome set. 1:15 pm Lindley Meadow on Saturday.
Trampled by Turtles
In the same vein as Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers, Duluth, Minnesota band Trampled by Turtles are an energetic brand of Alt-Country that is taking the Indie community by storm. It’s an album we reviewed and loved. Having the requisite parts: banjo, fiddle, acoustic guitars, jug, moonshine, does not make one a great bluegrass band. Putting them all together like Trampled by Turtles, however, does. 2:25 pm Lindley Meadow on Sunday.
Michael Kiwanuka
Michael Kiwanuka has come on like a bull in a china shop, wrecking any preconceived notions of what acoustic music is supposed to sound like. He is brilliant in his musical recognition as we spoke about in July. This British artist is one to watch. 4:30 pm Panhandle Stage on Saturday
Of Monsters and Men
Of Monsters and Men are the best thing to come out of Iceland since Icelandic Vodka. They wowed us at SXSW and with their album in April and we fully expect them to wow us in August as they light up the San Franciscan dusk with Icelandic rock, the likes of which we haven’t seen since Bjork came to town. 5:25 Lindley Meadow on Friday
