Outside Lands, Day 3: Best & Worst
Festival
Jack Black
THE BEST:
BEST LIP SYNCH: TENACIOUS D
Almost everything about Sunday night's Tenacious D performance was different than your average festival set. The D -- Jack Black and Kyle Gass on acoustic guitars and vocals, backed by four brilliant, anonymous musicians -- played a two-hour, skit-filled rock opera, breaking up the band and reuniting within the span of two songs ("Dude (I Totally Miss You)" and "Kyle Quit the Band"), serenading a giant robot named "The Metal," battling Satan over the "Pick of Destiny," and later, hilariously breaching rock etiquette by lip-synching the words to their songs.
Though they're basically a part-time gag-band, Tenacious D proved up to the challenge of filling in for late cancellations the Beastie Boys. On "Master Exploder," the "hardest song" in their repertoire, Black made ingenious use of the giant video screens flanking the stage, lip-synching with his impish mug in close-up while Gass shredded on electric guitar.
The most serious thing to come out of Black's mouth all night was when he intoned, "We're sending all of our love to the great Adam Yauch. Get well soon, brother," and then proceeded to sing "Fuck Her Gently." The next most serious thing? Spot-on, set-ending covers of the Who's "Pinball Wizard" and "See Me, Feel Me." However, before leaving the stage, Black returned to yukking form, as he pulled off his shirt and tossed it into the front row…followed by his pants.
BEST PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE REVENGE: M.I.A.
Dressed in a plastic-sleeved, Snow White dress and Wayfarer sunglasses, M.I.A. played the massive Land's End stage just before Tenacious D. That fact was a bit of a bummer for the cosmopolitan hip-hopper, as she spent the week leading up to her set bemoaning the Beastie's absence via her Twitter feed. By way of homage, though, she busted out two massive B-Boy covers, "Intergalactic" and "Sabotage," that had the crowd going bananas.
BEST WHISTLE SOLO: SETH AVETT OF THE AVETT BROTHERS
The Avett Brothers dug deep into their back catalog for "At the Beach," a buoyant fan favorite from their 2004 album Mignonette that opened with younger brother Seth whistling like a schoolboy. Their highly anticipated performance on the Sutro Stage was all giddy, earnest effort -- and, at 40 minutes, way too short. The band played only three songs off their upcoming, Rick Rubin-produced I and Love and You, relying mostly on acoustic-pop gems from 2007's Emotionalism ("Die Die Die," "Shame") and 2008's The Second Gleam ("Murder in the City," "St. Joseph's").
BEST SING-ALONG: "THE FUNERAL" BY BAND OF HORSES
All epic all the time, Band of Horses' widescreen roots rock made for some ecstatic, hands-in-the-air crowd participation. "Funeral" was the climax, as thousands of fans sang along to the South Carolina quartet's most rousing number.
BEST WEATHER REPORT: THE MORNING BENDERS
"It's freezing up here," said Chris Chu, lead singer of the Berkeley, CA, quartet -- who opened the day at the small Panhandle Solar Stage. He then added, "Yesterday it was like 100 degrees. What's up with that?"
"Only in San Francisco," answered guitarist Joe Ferrell. Whether you were hot or cold, hearing the band's nicely languid set was a slow but sure way to ease into Outside Lands' final day.
THE WORST:
WORST NO-SHOW: THE SUN
After two previous days of cloudless, 85-degree weather, the fog made an unwelcomed appearance at Golden Gate Park on Sunday, blowing wet and heavy from the west and putting a literal damper on the festivities. Thankfully, San Franciscans have no qualms about partying in the cold.
WORST INSANE CLOWN POSSE STAND-INS: GOOFERMAN
With a name like Gooferman, this local-SF collective is clearly going for slapstick, but there's no place in the world for dreadlocked, kilted funk-punkers wearing clown makeup. The Juggalos would disapprove.
10 Comments
Click here to comment- Posted By Rev. Moonstar
09.16.09 10:51 PM
Jonathan Zwickel, you just put the D back in Douchebag! I mean, where do you get off comparing the musical genius of Gooferman to the tired, homoerotic pendantic whining of ICP. I mean, where the hell have those Detroit Dickheads even been for the last ten years!?
Not only did Eminem burn their lame asses up one side and down the other, but they reportedly once told Sharon Osborne backstage at Ozzfest to "Shut her Wang-Hole!" Say what you will about Sharon, but I heard she told them they'd never work again. Looks like she was right!
Gooferman is a completely different band anyway. They've won at least 2 Best of the Bay Awards, including "Best Electronica Band, 2005," "Best Band Name, 2006" and "Best Circus Troupe, 2008."
There's always a place in this town for dreadlocked, kilted funk-punkers wearing clown makeup. Have you even been to the DNA Lounge within the last three years? Yeah, maybe you should have listened to the music and thought out your comparisons better, instead of shaming yourself and SPIN Magazine, You Bloody Wanker!
Shut Your Wang-Hole, Zwickle!
- Posted By Rev. Moonstar
09.16.09 10:49 PM
Jonathan Zwickel, you just put the D back in Douchebag! I mean, where do you get off comparing the musical genius of Gooferman to the tired, homoerotic pendantic whining of ICP. I mean, where the hell have those Detroit Dickheads even been for the last ten years!?
Not only did Eminem burn their lame asses up one side and down the other, but they reportedly once told Sharon Osborne backstage at Ozzfest to "Shut her Wang-Hole!" Say what you will about Sharon, but I heard she told them they'd never work again. Looks like she was right!
Gooferman is a completely different band anyway. They've won at least 2 Best of the Bay Awards, including "Best Band Name, 2006" and "Best Circus Troupe, 2008."
There's always a place in this town for dreadlocked, kilted funk-punkers wearing clown makeup. Have you even been to the DNA Lounge within the last three years? Yeah, maybe you should have listened to the music and thought out your comparisons better, instead of shaming yourself and SPIN Magazine, You Bloody Wanker!
Shut Your Wang-Hole, Zwickle!
- Posted By BaBa
09.16.09 10:15 PM
Slapstick? Really?
Dreadlocks....? Where?
Fyi, every musician in the band Gooferman has been playing music for probably around 20 years.
So...Jonathan Zwickel...get your ass to the next Bohemian Carnival and acutually watch / listen to the band on their home turf. It's always an amazing live show...visually stunning...and musically amazing.
How many 'Clown' bands could have a run of 10 plus years and continue to get booked at the biggest events and festivals AND suck as bad as you say? There is never a dull moment with this band.
Do your homework next time.
- Posted By Mezz
09.15.09 4:47 PM
Wow. Thanks for the Captain Obvious report on normal San Francisco weather and the inaccurate comparison of Gooferman to ICP, two bands with a completely different sound and nature. Then again, they both wear clown make-up, so it's all good... for anyone who obviously just walked by and likes judging people at first glance. But if you bothered to actually listen for a minute, you might show some respect for their music and their stage presence, and the ability to hold a crowd at a stage that people would otherwise just pass by on their way to Land's End.
Who the hell are you anyway to say "there's no place in the world" for anything. Sleep tight, and don't let the dreadlocked, kilted, funk-punking clowns scare you.
- Posted By Mike Kirby
09.14.09 2:30 PM
Clearly the writer has never heard Gooferman.
- Posted By Anonymous
09.13.09 11:58 PM
JESUS! Gooferman is a very funky rocking band. their songs are something i would listen to in my car on a drive to the city, their songwriting skills are excellent, hooky catchy tunes. and are a very entertaining batch of chaps,. they reminded me of a janes addiction/redhot chili peppers type flavored band with a dash of ska,and a lot of personality...and thats MY opinion.
- Posted By Chuck U. Farley
09.13.09 8:22 PM
Gooferman is a collection of talented artist who not only entertain the masses with their sense of humour, but also their sense artistic melodies. The measure of a true artist is one who is able to reach deep inside their soul and express the inner music via any intrument.. ANY INSTRUMENT. Show me another artist who can play a melody on a rubber chicken.. SHOW ME. The only rubber chicken that Jack whack Black knows about is the one that he uses for choking purposes only, but no one is writing an article about that, are they??
You are just afraid of clowns, you big sissy.
- Posted By Anonymous
09.13.09 7:57 PM
Commenting on the Worst of Outside Fest:
ICP stand-ins? are you serious...Gooferman blows the ICP away! did you even listen to the music you lame stand-in for a journalist.
Who gives a crap what the Juggalos think! And for that matter what you write. An Oingo Boingo song comes to mind "IMPOSTER". Listen to it. feel the burn.
Gooferman is becoming the hottest thing on the west coast right now. And they don't RAP!
09.21.09 4:05 PM
Hold up wait!...Someone who actually SAW a Gooferman show can ACTUALLY say they were similar to ICP?!?! What gives? I played a gig with them years ago(their first) and let me tell you...while I may not be the biggest clown enthusiast, this "posse" has worked their ever-lovin' ASS off over lo these many years to proudly stand tall as one of SF's best bands. ROCK bands, that is. Frat-rap this ain't. Methinks, you took one look and saw clowns jumping around and just scribbled down "ICP" and BAM...easy worst of. Next time get closer to the magic pal.
DAG!