Outside Lands hasn’t had a woman headline in its eleven-year existence, until 2018. They must have felt especially bad because two dominated this year. First with Florence on Saturday and last with Janet closing out Sunday. Over the past few years, Sundays seem to be the day. They’ve stacked it well.
For the last two years, I’ve started off Sunday early. I go the whole day. Doing it all three days is probably a challenge not worth taking, but I recommend going all day at least once. It’s a lot warmer, Golden Gate Park is perpetually cold. There’s less dust flying around, because of the best thing yet, no crowds! There’s nothing better at a festival than going up to the main stage and being able to dance with some space to a great soul band. And boy was there one each year!
Last year’s Sunday opened with two soul singers, Lee Fields and then Jacob Banks, who are growing on me more with time and accumulating songs. This year, all it had to be was Durand Jones & The Indications. Durand Jones’ voice was expectedly powerful, but his drummer’s voice was something else.
When I first heard Aaron Frazer that day, I thought it was just a recording. I couldn’t see anyone singing and it was too good to be true live. It wasn’t, Aaron’s voice was there, live, and took me back farther than any other contemporary soul singer. It felt as classic as anyone ever has. In that falsetto kind of way.