Outside Lands 2012: Three days of music, food, beer and wine, and STUN
My yearly pilgrimage to the Bay started out as well as expected. The City never disappoints, and this year was no different. A little bit of walking, a lot of sunshine, and a dive bar in the Sunset got the long weekend off on the right foot. For me, the music started Thursday night with Of Monsters and Men at the California Academy of Sciences. What was supposed to be an early night was stretched into an even earlier morning and my meeting with the StunMo boys for Friday morning was quite delayed…
Friday came and I ventured to the StunMo HQ to grab some gear and prepare for my first gig as a Stunbassador at Outside Lands. Geared up and ready to roll, it was a short trip back to Golden Gate Park to get the show started. The park was magnificent, the people amazing, and there was a lot of real estate for people to slap StunMo stickers down. The weather wasn’t co-operating as well as it could have been…the park was unseasonably cold and gloomy all weekend. That didn’t stop people from Stunnin’ Hella Hard all weekend. Everyone was there, everyone was pretty, everyone was stunnin’. Ladies in dope frames, guys in fresh pairs…even kids were bringing it all weekend. Now if you forgot yours, or left them on the train, never fear. That’s where I came in. I got you covered. Armed with some wraparounds, stickers, and few other pieces of gear, the crowd was all set. Add in sets from the likes of Mimosa, Skrillex, Foo Fighters, Explosions in the Sky, The Oh Sees, Portugal, The Man, City and Colour, Dispatch, and the indomitable Stevie Wonder, and the weekend itself was an overall success. Three days can take its toll on a crowd. Three days can be a lot for anyone to handle…but we all made it. Three days of porta pottys, beer tents, wine tickets, sick sets, and food from all over the Bay came and went. Before I could blink, everything was handed out. Stickers were stuck on people. I’m sorry, but if you passed out on the ground, you were as good as a billboard. The only bad news was I couldn’t wear my “STUNNIN HELLA HARD” deep v. Temperatures were a bit on the icy side for that.
The music, as always, was the star of the show. We, the people, the StunMo Nation, were a close second. The wind couldn’t keep us down, the fog wouldn’t hold us back, and the cool temperatures only meant we were forced to heat it up ourselves. Mission accomplished. Achievement unlocked: STUNNER
