Exterior Lands 2021 continued Saturday with a noticeably thinner quantity of fog, even longer strains for loos, and an general youthful crowd in attendance. And sure: Lizzo’s spectacular headlining efficiency at Lands Finish actually proved that she’s, in reality, 100% that bitch.
Exterior Lands’ second day, traditionally talking, tends to be the pageant’s largest day. (Again in 2019, OSL broke its single-day attendance report with a reported 90,000 concert-goers filling Golden Gate Park.)
For 2021, the identical pattern appears to have performed out with individuals packed tight all through the pageant grounds — particularly on the Panhandle, Twin Peaks, and Lands Finish levels. The SOMA Tent, too, noticed one other day of snake-like queues to get inside, and a wholesome quantity of these populating stated strains appeared… let’s simply say a bit “off.”
Waits for buying meals and drinks from Normal Admission distributors have been additionally for much longer than what was noticed Friday. The day’s quantity of wandering our bodies made for less-than-ideal strolling circumstances, too. The pageant grounds had turn into extremely mushy and comfortable as as soon as agency topsoil churned into slick mud.
These uplit timber Saturday did not evoke the identical haunting eeriness they did the day prior when a thick blanket of fog rolled into the pageant grounds, both.
In one thing that we did not precisely have on our bingo card for 2021, Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes made a shock, low-key look within the press tent to partake in some visitor bartending Saturday. Maybe it was a transfer to advertise his wine seltzer Jetway, which was fortunately consumed by the sleep-deprived journalists contained in the tent. Or perhaps Hammond was there to do some harm management amid his band’s tone-deaf blunders and hole remarks from the night time prior.
Regardless of the purpose, it was a pleasant change of tempo from the pageant’s mid-day droop.
However by means of the lengthy strains and difficult floor circumstances, OSL’s second day displaying managed to outshine Friday’s welcomed return to kind. And far of yesterday’s glow was as a result of the truth that Lizzo did, for positive, maintain tens of hundreds of festival-goers glowing — as a result of when the three-time Grammy winner is shining, “everyone gonna shine.”
Not in contrast to Friday, the newly added SOMA Tent was teeming with heat our bodies on Saturday. Inside, nightclub tropes — deafening music, laser beams refracting off partitions, a crowded dance ground the place shifting an inch too far in anyone path left you crashing into an unsteady biped — remained accounted for. Nancy Whang’s DJ set contained in the tent supplied a post-punk balm to the in any other case fundamental EDM tracks that previous DJs performed contained in the tent. That thought of; Cloone’s set that included his hit “Good To Me” was improbable and gave these contained in the shelter a much-needed second wind of vitality.
The remainder of Saturday night main as much as Lizzo’s 8:25 set time at Lands Ends was brimming with memorable moments.
Hitmaker Kelis — who’s additionally turn into a laudable chef and outstanding determine in farm-to-table delicacies, being now the co-owner of Bounty Farms in Quindio, Colombia — was a visitor DJ at Cocktail Magic, a becoming setting for the girl liable for bringing “Milkshakes” to the plenty. Kelis additionally performed different bangers from her prolonged discography, like “Bossy,” and her latest single “Desserts.”
On the similar time, Kelis was bringing all of the boys (and women and non-binary entities) to the yard (learn: the Cocktail Magic stage), Shiba San was taking part in to a hypnotized crowd at Twin Peaks. San’s illustrious profession, which spans over fifteen years and is outlined by his capacity to mix-match sure house-music types, made for a jaw-dropping efficiency with hits like “OKAY” and “All of the Folks.” The group was so dense with followers — newly transformed and in any other case — that it was just about unattainable to get out to, say, discover the restrooms to deflate one’s bladder.
Proper earlier than the “Juicy” singer was to grace Lands Finish with an unforgettable, twerk-heavy, costume-change-filled set, Vampire Weekend launched some early 2010’s nostalgia to the gathering crowd. Guitarist and lead singer Ezra Koenig performed a litany of staple tracks, together with various from the band’s fan-beloved Contra EP, in addition to new songs from the group’s 2019 album Father of a Bride.
Shortly after Vampire Weekend exited Lands Finish, Lizzomania started with… effectively, an anticipated bang.
In the identical spot she had headlined three years prior — although a lot additional down the invoice, performing round 3 p.m. that point in 2018 — Lizzo began what would turn into a magical, triumphant, emotional 90-minute marathon of songs with “Rumors,” her fourth tune to enter into the highest ten on Billboard’s Sizzling 100.
Not lengthy after into her set, it was clear we weren’t going to get a repeat of her Baby Yoda costume that had gone viral throughout Twitter the day prior. That stated: remnants of that getup have been nonetheless lingering, most notably on her rear-end.
“Y’all see me as Child Yoda final night time?” Lizzo requested the group of round 20,000 individuals. “My ass continues to be inexperienced! And I’m going to point out this ass all night time.”
That she did — by means of an inventory of fan-favorites like “Juicy,” “Cellphone,” and lots of extra. Her vocal prowess was on full show throughout her efficiency of “Cuz I Love You,” proving simply why she’s firmly cemented as certainly one of this era’s greatest reside performers.
Oscillating between tender moments with the current crowd — “Y’all know why I stated to place one finger up within the air? ‘Trigger that finger means lots of issues. Nevertheless it most significantly implies that you’ve got at all times received your self. You will be alright, ‘trigger you bought you, child.” — and twerking sufficient to elevate our spirits for a minimum of a 12 months, it was clear that Lizzo’s headlining efficiency would sit as a well timed reminder about simply why (most) music festivals are so rattling magical.
As her set concluded, Lizzo concluded her act in a plume of pyrotechnics, the smoke of these ignited fireworks glowing purple from the stage lighting. It was a superbly acceptable conclusion to her huge efficiency that did not disappoint — and left everybody feeling “Good As Hell.”
Prime Photograph: Courtesy of Alive Protection by way of Grandstand Media
