As in years past, this past Outside Lands weekend provided some of the most enjoyable and most anxiety provoking moments of my summer. I don’t want to forget anything, so instead of just summarizing my favorite moments from the fest, here are a few of my notes/thoughts from each set I was at.

Friday:

Grateful Shred — This was the exact way I wanted to start off my festival weekend. It warmed my heart to know that there were other Deadheads at Outside Lands despite the festival’s general lack of jambands. Unlike other Dead tributes, Shred featured four guitarists, all of which took on vocal responsibilities at one point of the 40-minute set. For those wondering the setlist was as follows: Bertha -> Viola Lee Blues -> Easy Wind -> Help/Slip/Frank. Easy Wind’s jam was particularly nasty, with bassist Dan Horne (also of Circles around the Sun) pushing the pace. The latter medley was of the first Grateful Dead songs I was exposed to at an early age and has always been one of my favorite, so I was stoked that they jammed on it for half of the set. In my preview article I put the over/under for this set at four songs, and depending on how you view the Help/Slip/Frank medley they played either four or six songs…

Grateful Shred — Twin Peaks Stage

California Honeydrops — Opening with “The Thrill is Gone” the East Bay-based Soul/R&B band had the crowd dancing and singing along from the start. Jams featuring sax, trumpet, clarinet and auxiliary percussion made this set stand out, and are pretty much all I can think about — recounting this set a few days later.

Miya Folick — A strong voice, catchy songs, a serious stage presence and the largest collection of photographers I had seen all festival screamed a future move to a main stage. Miya interrupted my thought of “wow she has so much confidence and is seriously crushing…,” by humbly admitting that she often feels like a fraud prior to jumping into “Thingamajib”, a song about not letting society make us feel this way. Other highlights included catchy new song “Malibu Barbie” and a high-energy “Freak Out” to close the set.

Miya Folick — Panhandle Stage

Aurora — The rising electro-pop/folk star could do no wrong. The two most common takes I heard on her from friends and eavesdropping were “she’s unbelievable” and “Norway.” Maybe I’m too familiar with children’s movies and television, but Aurora, with warpaint below her eyes, seemed like she would be a perfect fit as a charming warrior princess in a live action Frozen or She-Ra film role. She pushed through what seemed to be impending sunburn to deliver an energetic performance that had her dancing across the stage for much of the set. “Runaway”, “Churchyard” and “Running With the Wolves” were some of our favorites.

The Marias — Our most listened to group in the weeks leading up to Outside Lands. So chill while also so groovy. “I Don’t Know You” and “Cariño” were two of the great songs for couples of all stages to dance to during their set. A “…Baby One More Time” cover was also a lot of fun to sing-along to with the rest of the crowd.

The Marias — Panhandle Stage

Jimmy Yang/Dulce Sloan/Nore Davis/Nori Reed — We were primarily at this set to see Dulce Sloan, but all of these comics were great. Dulce’s energy, confidence and delivery make it so nearly everything she talks about is hilarious. As a former New Yorker, her complaints about NYC easily landed. I’m a Silicon Valley fan, but having watched a couple clips of his standup on YouTube, I wasn’t expecting much from Jimmy. That being said, he had me laughing for most of his set — making light of repping the Asian community with his recent success in film and TV.

Counting Crows — I spent the majority of this set at the back of the Twin Peaks hill catching up with a friend I hadn’t seen a little bit. We did snap to attention though to sing along to “Mr. Jones” and “Hanginaround.” I’m not going to pick on lead singer Adam Durtiz’s hair.

Luttrell — Damn this set was awesome. I didn’t get one of the beanies his team was giving out to the crowd at the beginning of his set, but I appreciate the gesture from the SF-based DJ. Probably the most fist-bumping I had done all weekend — the whole set was a banger, with each song building onto the next. The fog against the lights, stage and the trees was one of the cooler sights of the fest.

Luttrell — Panhandle Stage

Saturday:

Haley Heynderickx — Fresh off a five a.m. flight from earlier that morning, Haley and her band brought charm, wit and lovely harmonies to the Sutro Stage. Haley’s awkward, mid-tuning stage banter was endearing — with the tuning time also allowing us to hear more from the rest of her band. I really hope to hear more from backing vocalist and midi-bassist Lily Breshears — she blended perfectly with Haley on harmonies and gives off the energy of warmest person in the room.

Highlights from the set include “The Bug Collector”, “Oom Sha La La” and “No Face.” Shouting along “I want to start a garden!” with Haley and the rest of the crowd was therapeutic.

Haley Heynderickx — Sutro Stage

Altin Gün — A top three must-see for me going into the weekend — my arms were up and snapping in Turkish fashion for this Amsterdam-based, Turkish folk/rock cover band. The entire set was dancy with some psychedelic, folky and disco vibes. A friend I brought to the set fell in love with the bassist, who drove the groove on songs like “Goca Dünya”. My favorite song of theirs was “Leyla” — great vocals by Merve Dasdemir and some of the heavier guitar and keyboard psych riffs of their set.

Altin Gün — Panhandle Stage

Mike Birbiglia/Aparna Nancherla/Rhea Butcher — Tickets for this set went pretty quick and we were lucky to snag a couple. Aparna we had seen once before this and knew that she would slay — to paraphrase her own words out of context. She’s become known for jokes about anxiety and depression, but jokes about “Beast Mode,” originally coined by Marshawn Lynch, and other humorous observations also landed with perfect timing and a gentle, folksy delivery. Mike had been on my list of comics to see for a while, but was typically out of my price range with how big he’s gotten over the past few years. Self-deprecating and willing to string a joke out, Mike had me doubled over laughing on a number of jokes. Taken out of context, some quotes from that set could’ve been real damaging.

Better Oblivion Community Center — I’ve been aware of them for a little bit, but this was the first time I had seen either Phoebe Bridgers or Connor Oberst in any capacity. They played well off of each other and brought a tight backing band. “Dylan Thomas” in particular was fun to sing along to (with the limited vocals I had memorized prior to the set).

Hozier — This one was a lot of fun. Hozier and his band sounded great, and in contrast to the rest of the giant crowd, we had a ton of space to alternate between dancing and lying down on the Sutro Stage hillside. Mavis Staples didn’t guest on “Nina Cried Power” as I had hoped for, but this song was still fantastic live! Singing along to “Take Me to Church” to close out the set was divine — best sing-along of the festival.

Hozier — Sutro Stage

Childish Gambino — We were able to catch about 40 minutes of Gambino’s set, which will likely be his last Bay Area set under the moniker. “3005” and “Sober” were highlights for me from his set. My girlfriend knew most of the words to these songs and I had fun trying to mirror the words back as she sung them to me. We left right before “Redbone” — my favorite Childish Gambino song — to beat the traffic, though we heard most of it as we walked out.

Sunday:

Aparna Nancherla in Conversation w/ Audie Cornish — A more relaxed way to start our festival day than originally planned, but after being tickled by Aparna’s standup the day before we couldn’t miss seeing her interviewed by NPR’s Cornish. Aparna coined the phrase “overhead plane energy” in relation to the loud planes that flew overhead, interrupting the set, and working with some of the louder voices in the entertainment space.

Nahko & Medicine for the People — This was my third time seeing Nahko in a festival setting and this was by far my best experience seeing him. While I’ve appreciated his good vibes, his slower, pop-leaning songs generally weren’t for me. This set, however, had some serious energy. “Aloha Ke Akua” concluded with a horn and guitar-filled, extended jam. New song, “Take Your Power Back”, brought some serious funk, with James Brown’s “Get On Up” covered during the mid-song jam.

Jupiter & Okwess — My most anticipated set of the festival absolutely lived up to the hype. I was jumping and dancing for just about the entire 40 minute set — especially on “Ofakombolo” and “Ekombe.” Their English was limited, but they engaged the audience with on-stage dance moves, clapping and giant smiles. I thoroughly sweated through my jeans on this midday set in the sun, and did so gladly.

Jupiter & Okwess — Panhandle Stage

DJ Koze — One of my favorite DJ’s — Koze knows how to work the nobs. We were too tired to dance after expending all of our energy at Jupiter & Okwess’ set, so we sat and bobbed our bodies from the Sutro hill. The highlight of the set was his extended version of “Pick Up” that he Thumped Up the bass on every two minutes or so to get the crowd JUMPING. Almost missed this waiting for Anderson .Paak’s cooking set to start, but happy I didn’t.

Kacey Musgraves — We technically weren’t at Kacey set — we took a midday siesta in the shady area adjacent to Bacon Lands and just beyond the Polo Field. We were in earshot just in enough to sit up from our nap to sing along to Kacey’s rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.” That was fun.

Leon Bridges — Soulful as expected, but also dancier than I had anticipated based on the songs of his that I knew. Had a good time singing and dancing with my girlfriend to “Smooth Sailing” in particular.

Paul Simon — Maybe my favorite set of the weekend. The crowd was a little sparse, presumably due to a heavy conflict with Anderson .Paak, but that afforded us a closer spot than we may have gone for otherwise. Paul brought energy, positive vibes and a killer band that may have included some 20 members for his two-hour long set. For coming out of pseudo-retirement at 77 for this show, he sounded much better than I expected and was in command as a band leader. I had a ton of fun singing along to hits like “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”, “Me & Julio Down By the Schoolyard” and “You Can Call Me Al.” A bassy version of newer song “Wristband” was catchy and had us giggling. A duet with Bob Weir on “The Boxer” was an unexpected treat. Bobby added in some extra “lie-li-lies” during the chorus as if he were a funny uncle adding in an extra “Dayenu” on the song traditionally sung mid-seder on Passover.