Stevie Wonder at Outside Lands in San Francisco. Photo: David Hall, for the Register. Click the pic for more.
Even if you disagree with my initial assertion that this year’s Outside Lands lineup is the best of any multi-day festival this year (I’m still backing that claim), there was no denying by midday Sunday – the 5th annual event’s final third at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park – that at the very least, this last afternoon was on a path to proliferate some of the most stellar sets of the weekend.
Really, though, who would expect anything less from such an immensely talented slate of players – chiefly Franz Ferdinand, Regina Spektor, Jack White and Stevie Wonder – to close out the main stage?
There were plenty more noteworthy acts to see elsewhere (Big Gigantic, City & Colour, Amadou & Miriam, Santigold and Dispatch all had satellite sets), I was determined not to miss as beat a the massive Lands End stage, planting myself there just in time to hear L.A. group fun. close on a highly energetic cover of the Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”
Following the weekend-spanning trend of indulging some truly special covers, Franz Ferdinand threw in a tremendous rendition of “I Feel Love” by the late great Donna Summer, leading directly into the rallying 2009 single “Can’t Stop Feeling.”
But the Scottish quartet – always spirited but noticeably more sharp than they ever were a decade ago – was just launching into their biggest hit, “Take Me Out,” when a fellow photographer gave me an exciting heads-up. He showed me a text that read something to the effect of: Third Man Rolling Record Store, Choco Lands, Jack White and Tom Morello, 3:30.
The message was clear: White, still to come later Sunday, and Rage Against the Machine’s Morello, who earlier performed material from his Nightwatchman project, were about to play a surprise show plugged into White’s truck-turned-record store, which houses a full PA system for impromptu gigs like this one.
At the risk of missing Spektor’s start, I booked it to a heavily wooded area in the fest’s heart, arriving just as White launched into “Love Interruption” with his all-female, baby-blue-clad backing band the Peacocks. Surrounded by a couple hundred wide-eyed, beaming fans, many sitting down in powwow fashion, he played through three more choice cuts, two by the Raconteurs (“Broken Boy Soldier” and “Top Yourself”) and the singalong-sparking “Hotel Yorba.”
Jack White's impromptu gig outside his Third Man Rolling Record Store. Photo: David Hall, for the Register
That was by far one of the weekend’s coolest moments, especially given its relative secrecy and the inclusion of a couple songs not played in White’s scheduled set a couple hours later. Morello began his equally brief run shortly after White was whisked away in an attending van, but I only dared stick around for a minute to snap a few pics before hightailing it back to Spektor.
Thank goodness I did, too, because her performance was downright magical, beginning to end. Though she kept her setup fairly simple – a keyboard and grand piano for herself alongside a small band that included a drummer and cellist – her work here, bolstered by tens of thousands of singing fans, often verged on powerhouse status. I’ll never tire of the easy quirkiness and unbelievably deft piano parts woven into songs such as “Don’t Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas),” “Ballad of a Politician” and the ever-lovely “Fidelity.”
While those clearly served as ultimate anthems for some (I spotted one girl bawling joyfully as she held high a sign that read “Thank you for saving my dad”), none were so unifying as cuts performed during White’s and Wonders’ respective day-capping sets.
Backed this time by his all-male group the Buzzards, the former ran through plenty of rousing material from his recent solo album, Blunderbuss, before pulling off one the weekend’s most galvanizing turns with a thrilling White Stripes hat-trick to close: “The Same Boy You’ve Always Known” followed by “Catch Hell Blues” (slide-guitar insanity) and “Seven Nation Army.”
The excited roar generated by that last tune rivaled reactions to some Metallica songs the night before. Impressive, yes, yet nearly every track during Wonder’s appearance produced that sort of deafening din, too.
Several times the music legend stopped to advance some worthy ideals (“we need to re-elect Barack Obama,” “end racism everywhere,” “do something to change the world”), most of his time was reserved for the best of his catalog, with “Higher Ground,” “Signed, Sealed Delivered I’m Yours” and “My Cherie Amour” among the grooviest standouts.
Those cuts triggered all-out-dance parties clear across the massive grounds. Yet some of his sweetest jams – on keytar, organ or otherwise – coincided with choice covers: Marvin Gaye’s “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)” to start, a snippet of John Lennon’s “Imagine” tacked onto the end of “Overjoyed,” Jimmy Reed’s blues classic “You Got Me Runnin’,” featuring an incredible harmonica solo by Wonder and splendid guest vocals by his daughter, Aisha Morris.
At that point, the 62-year-old star made a reference to his very recent decision to divorce his second wife, Kai Millard. “I’m blessed in my life to have seven children, and I love them all and their mothers equally,” he said. “Those of you with children … even if you don’t stay together … love them unconditionally.”
Leave it to a Motown mainstay like Wonder to put the spotlight on love, furthering it with an encore of two more pointedly picked covers, the Beatles’ “She Loves You” and the Temptations’ “My Girl.”
It was an appropriate au revoir for a world-class festival that expertly showcased some of contemporary music’s most captivating characters alongside three highly influential figureheads. Outside Lands – a festival fit for musical majesty.
Setlist: Stevie Wonder at Outside Lands, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Aug. 12, 2012
Main set: How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) (Marvin Gaye cover) / Master Blaster (Jammin’) / Higher Ground / The Way You Make Me Feel (Michael Jackson cover) / Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer / Overjoyed (with snippet of John Lennon’s Imagine) / Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing / Sir Duke / I Wish / Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours / My Cherie Amour / Living for the City / I Just Called to Say I Love You / You Got Me Runnin’ (Jimmy Reed cover) / Superstition / Isn’t She Lovely / As / Happy Birthday
Encore: She Loves You (The Beatles cover) / My Girl (The Temptations cover)
Previously:
- Day 1: Metallica, Norah Jones, the Kills, Alabama Shakes, Explosions in the Sky, Tame Impala
- Day 2: Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Foo Fighters, Beck, Fitz and the Tantrums, Sharon Van Etten
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Outside Lands 2012: Stevie Wonder brings unity, good vibes, Jack White thunders and surprises is a post from: Soundcheck