Author Archives: Matt De Mello

In the late days of the 19th and early days of the 20th centuries, vaudeville was the main form of live entertainment. There were theater shows, jugglers, trained animals, feats of strength (much like the Seinfeldian Festivus holiday) and musical acts.

It was the one-stop roadshow that would give people a break from their otherwise mundane lives. People would come from all over their respective states just to see the acts perform and it was where many famous comedy troupes and musical acts got their start.

A few months ago Mumford and Sons decided to undertake a similar offering. They were to take friends of theirs on the road to places where shows don’t typically go and play. The final stop on that voyage was Monterey, California. Mumford and Sons were the headlining act, but I’d be remiss if I said they were the band I most wanted to see.

There have been a lot of words written recently about Grouplove and Haim, two Los Angeles area bands that have taken the Silverlake/Indie music scene to levels not heard of since SilverSun Pickups started their brand of space rock.

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San Francisco is a musical city, not Nashville musical, but musical nonetheless. Owning to that, the annual Outside Lands Festival has become even more and more popular each year and the lineup thusly has improved dramatically since its inception.

Outside Lands 2012 was no different. Showcasing everything from hip-hop to metal to EDM to folk and everything in between, Outside Lands has something for everyone. People came from all over the world to see groups such as: Metallica, Jack White, Neil Young, Stevie Wonder, and Foo Fighters. What they got was interesting array of talent and genres to take home with them.

Day one started off with Fitz & the Tantrums at the main stage Polo Field and what I expected to be an over their head moment, was handled with aplomb as they effortlessly whipped the crowd into a frenzy with songs like their hit “Moneygrabber.” Give a San Francisco crowd a reason to dance and they’ll gladly accept.

After Fitz, it was time for Beck who covered Neil Young and Bob Dylan. It was Beck in rare form and judging from his next album release, a full album of just sheet music, it may be one of the last times you hear his music played by him for a while. Shortly before Beck finished, Of Monsters and Men (above) killed it at the Sutro side stage. Luckily I was up front for their set, because behind me was a sea of people impeded only by trees and fog. Foo Fighters were next up on the main stage and say what you will about the deterioration of the rock star, Dave Grohl is absolutely the epitome of that and ruled on stage.

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