We've become regulars at the Dell Summer Rocks Dome, frequenting the state-of-the-art shelter during blistering days at both Lollapalooza and Virgin Mobile Festival.

More than a few members may have been absent from the 23-person group (blame solo projects!), but Canadian post-rock collective Broken Social Scene still brought the fury to San Francisco's Outside Lands festival this past weekend -- and proved the popular maxim "strength in numbers" applies even when that number is smaller than usual.

Whether delivering coy political messages on stage or chatting casually backstage, Stars singer Torquil Campbell is always an engaging persona. And at Outside Lands he went a step further, treating SPIN.com to an intimate acoustic performance.

When Jeff Tweedy sang the opening line of "Via Chicago" last night at San Francisco's Outside Lands Festival -- "I dreamt of killing you again last night, and it felt alright to me" -- it seemed vastly appropriate that his band, Wilco, was performing on a stage named "Twin Peaks." But the frontman's demeanor was, for the most part, far sunnier, particularly when faced with a sprawling throng of

When we last caught up with power-blues duo the Black Keys, they were tearing up the racetrack at this year's Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore.

The weather at this weekend's inaugural Outside Lands festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park may have been a tad chilly for a summer rockathon, but it suited the Walkmen's dark-hued balladry and pale skin tones just fine.

It was my first time seeing Bon Iver, and I cleared my schedule to catch their set on Outside Lands' Presidio stage on the strength of one immensely compelling statement from a trusted source about the band's recent two-night stand in New York: "I wept.

On "He Lied About Death," from his band's 2005 opus Set Yourself on Fire, Stars co-frontman Torquil Campbell rants about our current president, calling him "an ape in a cage" and hoping his "drunken daughters are gay." So, on the weekend the Democrats picked their V.P. candidate, it wasn't surprising to hear Campbell chime in on this year's election.

The Sutro Stage at Outside Lands is nestled in a gorgeous little glen, and the only way to get there from the massive polo field, site of the main stage, is to saunter through a grove of immensely fragrant eucalyptus trees. A little aromatherapy, if you will, and for thousands of festivalgoers yesterday, that journey was rewarded with aural therapy from the ever-elegant Regina Spektor.

Outside Lands has proven a unique entry into the festival circuit in many ways, with chilly, misty temperatures not least among them.