Making our ways passed the lines of sunglasses sporting masses, we entered the heavily fortefied and fenced-up Golden Gate Park. Through the labyrinth of green tarped chain links we caught up with Two Gallants, stumbled on Reggie Watts flanked between Sierra Nevada and wine elites and caught Beck kicking out some 90s classics, an Adam Yauch tribute and a nod to the evening's headliner with a cover of “After the Goldrush”.
Dave Grohl injected energy into the afternoon, continuing the 90s banner with Foo Fighters hits from that decade and more from there on. Taking a detour through Choco Lands and over to the Twin Peaks stage, Justice turned the always picnic friendly Speedway Meadows into a D-A-N-C-E party. Special shout outs to the Whac-A-Hipster game for providing an angst outlet for the first day's worth of eye-ball-roll-worthy-pre-packaged fashions. Washed Out brought plenty of peace vibes and warm chill red lights that turned the surrounding low ground clouds into sauna steam vapor.
The surreal point of the night was hearing Neil Young and Crazy Horse sounding reminiscent of Déjà Vu era CSNY echoing throughout the park. And like the chaos of shuffling into the festival, the road out of the park and toward home destinations proved to be a game of out smarting both the out-of-towners and locals alike to find a bus, cab, or the first shifty limo chauffer ready to play 'let's make a deal.'
