Had a great first day at San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music Festival. The weather was absolutely gorgeous providing the perfect background to some great music. I spent my festival time cautiously today. Since it is my first time here, I chose to acquaint myself slowly on day one and hit things with more gusto over the next two days.

We started our day with a set from Los Campesinos! who Madison fans will remember and who provided just the right amount of energy for an early afternoon. We stuck around and caught The Dodos whose new material was a welcomed soundtrack to the afternoon. Speaking of new material, The National continue to roll out new tunes in concert. I think there were a total of three new ones played yesterday if my memory serves me correctly. The set ending “Mr. November” has become a guarantee lately, but that bother me one bit nor did the rest of the packed crowd.

Pearl Jam closed this down the first night in proper fashion. I had a feeling we might get a special guest appearance by Neil Young last night, but that didn’t happen. Instead, the band channeled Shakey via his catalog with covers of “Throw Your Hatred Down” and the night’s final tune “Rockin In The Free World.” Having seen Pearl Jam plenty of times this one ranks up there in terms of favorites. It was the first time I’d heard them play “Crazy Mary” and The Who’s “Real Me” was the ultimate highlight for me.

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