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Inside Out: An Outside Lands Tour Diary

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San Francisco might have had free acid and Dead concerts back in the '60s, but did it have live webcasts, gigantic inflatable spacemen and hip-hop? Check out highlights from the first Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, Aug. 22-24, 2008, minus the raw burgers, wine lines and miles of walking. The hippie haven of Golden Gate Park may have turned into hipster heaven, but the counterculture spirit still floated through the fog. Peace out indeed, Lupe. Skeptics who thought Jack Johnson's nice guy persona was all just an act were put in their place during Sunday night's set, when Captain Banana Pancakes spotted a spider on his microphone, smiled at the little guy, then gently picked him up and escorted him to safety, nearly dropping his guitar in the process. What a nice guy. Les Claypool of Primus set aside the Burning Man jams to prove that if your "name is Mud" and you can slap a bass like no other man on Earth, then you too can prevail over a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man dressed ready for a Moon landing. The Dap-Kings may have moonlighted as Amy Winehouse's backing band, but we'd rather party with Sharon Jones any day. The 4'11'' sparkplug shows this fella the moves, while filling him in on every lady's secret: "If you want a girl to come to you, you've got to leave a little room for guessing. Just be easy, baby." We're guessing the number of fist pumps during the vigorous set of "Politik Kills" singer Manu Chao was directly proportional to the number of Che Guevara shirts sold afterward. Now that's a lot of moola. Wisconsin native Justin Vernon of Bon Iver hasn't let the blog-driven adoration of his 2007 debut go to his (cheese) head. Vernon inspired chills and a sing-along frenzy with the most cathartic of build-ups on "The Wolves," and gave a humbled laugh to a crowd member's enthusiastic yell of: "Yeah!!! F*ck Jack Johnson!" To which he responded, with a gracious smile, "Yeah. Okay." Freaky folky Devendra Banhart seemed far less so in a Lakers jersey admitting he couldn't wait to see Tom Petty. So he may be more Hollywood than hippie these days, but the warbly wah-wahs of "Bad Girl" made up for it (even if our secret hopes of spotting Natalie Portman in a sari went unfulfilled). Black Mountain 's genre of awesomeness is typically classified as "stoner rock," and while vocalist Amber Webber and Cousin Itt's doppelganger, raging guitarist Stephen McBean, may look the part here, their killer breed of prog-opera-rock-metal on songs like "Wucan" was anything but dazed and confused. If anyone was the "Superstar" of this fest, it was Lupe Fiasco , and not just because "the camera's here." Bouncing around the stage with explosive energy and passion, he may have shared Kanye's hometown and charisma, but at least Lupe wasn't afraid of a little photog love . Broken Social Scene 's Kevin Drew stole the whole damn show with his slammin' retro green Adidas wear. He's no dummy. You've got to stand out somehow when your group has 20-plus members in it, even if they all can't make it to the gig to rock out on "Pacific Theme" in the Pacific breeze. We weren't sure if Steel Pulse frontman David Hinds lost his luggage and had to swipe a merch shirt before running on stage, but who cares, it matches those dreads spectacularly. Crazy-awesome hair aside, the "Steppin' Out" reggae revolutionaries brought some island sizzle to the San Francisco chill...even if they are from England. It may not look it by this shot, but Outside Lands was considered an eco-friendly festival. The organizers tried their best with recyclable just-about-everything; too bad even the trees look a little pissed off, though. Don't let that "I just picked up a guitar for the first time" look on Kaki King 's face fool you. She is a fierce pickin' machine and that Ovation got one helluva workout on the beautiful "Yellowcake." Not sure what bargain bin Wilco 's Jeff Tweedy snatched those red tinted shades from, but all fashion faux pas were forgiven when the feisty leader proclaimed, "This is the home of the best music fans in the country," and then made us all feel extra special with the rollicking "California Stars." Wilco may have been sucking up to the San Francisco crowd, but Bay Area natives Rogue Wave still managed to lure some fans away from the alt-twangers set with some shreddin' moves (well, as shreddin' as one can be with indie folksy rock). "Lake Michigan" got the most cheers, probably because it was in that one commercial. Sigh. Peace signs and revolutionary fists to the sky were peppered throughout the weekend, but sometimes it's the simplest words that resonate. With the light shining on him in angelic fashion, Ben Harper busted open his set with shouting lyrics that summed up the fest's ubiquitous neo-hippyism: "Reality is sharp it cuts at me like a knife/ Everyone I know is in the fight of their life/ And I believe there's a better way." Awesome.