Festies

Ep. 28 Festies Recap: Outside Lands 2025

• Sunny Balopole, Vanessa Gutierrez, Clark Lawson • Episode 28

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We start this week’s episode catching up with Vanessa about her trip to Eminence before Sunny and Clark share all the stories from Outside Lands 2025. From the sets that had the crowd going wild to the funny little moments that made the weekend unforgettable, it’s a laid-back recap of San Francisco’s biggest music festival!

Vanessa:

Hey Sunny.

Sunny:

Yeah, vanessa.

Vanessa:

What do you call two best friends that love music festivals?

Sunny:

Hmm, I guess you'd call them

Vanessa:

Festies!

Clark:

music festivals, friendship festies

Clark:

and rolling

Vanessa:

rolling on the river. Oh, speaking of river.

Clark:

Lining it up like that.

Vanessa:

I didn't mean to, but it worked out great,

Sunny:

do we also need to reintroduce Clark?

Sunny:

He hasn't been here in a while.

Vanessa:

Yeah, who are you?

Vanessa:

What are you doing here? What are you doing in my house?

Clark:

I'm back on the mic. I'm not downstairs. I think I was playing Zelda last time y'all were recording.

Vanessa:

Also, it's not my house, Sorry,

Sunny:

welcome back.

Vanessa:

Who is Clark? For those that don't know,

Clark:

I'm the engineer.

Vanessa:

And more importantly,

Clark:

Sunny's love of her life,

Sunny:

sonny's lover,

Vanessa:

Hello lover.

Vanessa:

watched that SNL skit again with Will Ferrell

Clark:

oh

Vanessa:

in the hot tub.

Clark:

Yeah, oh my gosh.

Clark:

That's a wild one yes. I'm back.

Vanessa:

It's been a while.

Clark:

Yes

Vanessa:

it's been a while and it's

Clark:

oh my gosh

Vanessa:

I saw a shirt on some dad on tiktok. That said, I speak fluent

Vanessa:

Movie quotes I was like I have to get that for ed but

Vanessa:

There should also be one that says I speak fluent lyrics, or something like that

Clark:

yeah yeah

Vanessa:

so I was on vacation for like a week on the river in missouri and I got a really nice tan. But let's start from the beginning. We drove our ambulance, which is semi-finished it was finished enough for us to take it to missouri and use it on this trip and we drove it all the way from California to eminence, missouri, non-stop.

Sunny:

You did it,

Vanessa:

yeah,

Sunny:

good job

Vanessa:

we did it,

Clark:

it survived

Vanessa:

it survived, it did great, and then we lived in that thing for a week and then we drove it to Iowa and we left it there.

Sunny:

Oh

Vanessa:

so sad,

Clark:

painful.

Sunny:

Was it hard to leave it?

Vanessa:

I didn't think it was gonna be hard to leave it, but I was like sad. I was like what are we gonna do now? This thing took up like the last year of our lives yeah mostly ed's life, because he did 85 percent of it.

Vanessa:

And so I'm like what are you gonna do now? But, yeah, it was only a bummer because, like now that it's kind of usable. It would be nice to have brought it back and, like be able to explore california in it but there'll be time to do that later on

Sunny:

yeah,

Vanessa:

so it's okay, we had a great week on the river, literally every day.

Vanessa:

Okay, I'm going to do the Lady Gaga Ready, wake up, breakfast, river Dinner, sleep, do it all over again.

Clark:

Nice,

Vanessa:

that was literally our day.

Clark:

The simple life

Vanessa:

For five to six days.

Clark:

That sounds very satisfying.

Vanessa:

It was way too much drinking and I don't want to see alcohol again for like three to six months. So yeah, and then when we went to iowa, we hit up the iowa state fair.

Clark:

Oh yeah, yeah, you were saying that

Vanessa:

and ed was like I have to go.

Vanessa:

He's like I missed it last year. So we went the day we were flying back home for like a couple hours, just to say we went and eat some food and

Sunny:

Nice, how was the food?

Vanessa:

so good. Thankfully we could not find the deep fried butter which I know Ed wanted to try, I don't know if they have it anymore. Oh, they have really good concerts every night Like really big people. You know, that day it was supposed to be Megan Maroney and we had to leave at like 2.

Sunny:

Can't do it all

Vanessa:

His parents, I think saw Hank Williams Jr on Saturday.

Clark:

That's pretty nuts

Vanessa:

We've seen Brooks and Dunn there.

Sunny:

Well, I'm happy for you guys that you got a vacation, because you deserve it. You've been working so hard,

Vanessa:

thank you.

Clark:

So many times we've been like, oh yeah, we're going to record an episode that day, right, and Vanessa's like I had to do some flooring on the ambulance, All right, okay.

Vanessa:

I had to put some insulation.

Clark:

Yeah, yeah,

Vanessa:

yeah. No, ed did all the electrical and I'm just like, I'm just like.

Vanessa:

So, in awe of him,

Clark:

that electrical.

Clark:

That's crazy to see that

Sunny:

it looked like spaghetti

Clark:

yeah, terrifying high voltage spaghetti

Vanessa:

yeah, oh, we did see some music too.

Vanessa:

Every tuesday that week they have a concert, which normally it's like a C-list country artist kind of Maybe B-list. I don't know, so this year it was Casey Donahue, if anybody knows who that is.

Clark:

That name sounds really familiar.

Vanessa:

It was really fun

Clark:

Dope

Sunny:

Wait, so this is like an actual event. I thought it was just Ed's family who, like, decides

Vanessa:

no it's like it's called cross-country trail ride.

Vanessa:

This was the 70th year anniversary. A lot of people will bring their horses. Everyone's camping in horse trailers. Wait, is one of you allergic to horses? Oh, so you're not gonna go

Clark:

the most allergic you can possibly be right?

Vanessa:

oh no,

Clark:

aren't you super

Clark:

allergic to them. I thought that was like.

Sunny:

Well, when I rode them.

Vanessa:

Oh, so you don't need to touch them?

Vanessa:

You don't need to just be around them.

Sunny:

Yeah, being around them is fine.

Vanessa:

Oh, okay,

Sunny:

not that.

Sunny:

I've been around one for an extended amount of time.

Vanessa:

Well, ed's stepdad's allergic to horses too, and he's fine

Sunny:

Okay.

Sunny:

Just take my meds.

Vanessa:

Yeah, so people just ride around the campgrounds with their horses, or you'll see a bunch of groups leaving in the morning to go on trail rides. I did a four-hour trail ride last year. Yeah, so it's like a campground. So there's like hookups and electricity and water. And then there's a dance every night with the band that plays like the same set of songs in the same order every night and

Vanessa:

It's a lot of fun

Clark:

that's 70 years.

Clark:

That's so cool.

Vanessa:

Ed's been going since he was 8

Clark:

WOW

Vanessa:

and they give you buckles for every 5 year increment. So I get my 5 year buckle next year. I'm so excited. He's supposed to be getting his 20 year or something, but

Clark:

Is it like a cool

Vanessa:

I think it's like a huge fucking buckle.

Clark:

That's sick,

Vanessa:

yeah, so I'm excited

Clark:

yeah, you gotta have that steez going on, dude

Vanessa:

never thought I'd make it this far

Clark:

some bootcut jeans wear a big old buckle

Vanessa:

I remember the first year I went he would make jokes to like friends of his that he knew that were like meeting me there. He's like, yeah, we'll see if she makes it to her five-year

Clark:

he was planting the seeds, like.

Clark:

He's like what are you gonna do

Clark:

marry me?

Vanessa:

for that buckle,

Clark:

did it all for the buckle.

Vanessa:

Even though I had a lot of fun there, I was still very sad that I couldn't be at outside lands with the gang

Clark:

yeah

Vanessa:

technically we got home saturday night of outside lands, but

Clark:

that would have been crazy,

Vanessa:

just like last year I could have done it, I know I know, but I'm so tired.

Sunny:

Yeah,

Clark:

people can go back and listen to that episode and hear you say the same thing

Sunny:

I'm so tired from sitting on the river.

Sunny:

I'm just kidding.

Vanessa:

Listen six days of hard drinking really takes a toll on your body and mental health. I was not. We did not get out of bed on Sunday

Clark:

yeah

Clark:

I can imagine Well, yeah, well, we definitely did miss you at this year's.

Clark:

Outside Lands.

Vanessa:

Oh, you don't gotta lie to KK Clark.

Clark:

I mean.

Clark:

I'm not lying.

Clark:

They can't see my face.

Clark:

I think we especially feel it now because one of our former guests from the podcast, Cameron, is one of our Outside Lands crew.

Vanessa:

Yeah, and you guys met him through me.

Clark:

Yeah, exactly the connection to you. You know we feel it more and our good friend Conner, and you were saying that it'd been so long since you've been to one

Vanessa:

I know I can't remember the last time I was at outside with Conner

Clark:

because he was part of the og big crew that we had

Sunny:

if you listen to the last episode that we put out, Conner was the one who went with me to the Lady Gaga dance party.

Vanessa:

Oh yeah,

Clark:

oh yes, yes.

Sunny:

Just to make that little connection, just in case we have listeners that do not know what Outside Lands is. Outside Lands is a music festival in Golden Gate Park, which is in San Francisco. It's my favorite festival. It's always the first weekend of August and this year the headliners were Doja Cat, Tyler the Creator and Hozier, and then other acts were Glass Animals, Doechii, FINNEAS, Marina, Royal Otis, John Summit, Mayer Hawthorne, and Amelia Moore.

Vanessa:

Are those all the people you saw?

Sunny:

among others. Nope,

Vanessa:

oh, does it ever fall on your birthday?

Sunny:

Uh, no, it's usually the weekend after

Vanessa:

Darn.

Sunny:

This year we stayed in San Mateo, at my mom's apartment, shout out Thank you so much for letting us stay there.

Vanessa:

Yay, karen,

Sunny:

yay,

Clark:

definitely

Sunny:

This year Outside Lands introduced a new shuttle.

Clark:

Yes

Sunny:

So they have a park and ride now that leaves from the Cow Palace, which is in Daly City. That's a little south of San Francisco, and then we live farther south than that. So we were just able to drive to the Cow Palace Park, hop on that shuttle and then get to Golden Gate Park.

Vanessa:

Nice, how much was that pass

Sunny:

90

Vanessa:

Well, that's not too bad

Sunny:

We were trying to figure out if it's worth it doing that versus Ubers and stuff, and I think it would probably be the same.

Clark:

Yeah, it was extremely smooth on timing. Maybe the most we had to wait when we were getting on a shuttle to get to Outside Lands was like 10, 15 minutes.

Clark:

Yeah, maybe

Vanessa:

that's good, what about leaving?

Clark:

I think the longest we waited was like maybe 20.

Vanessa:

Okay, that's not bad.

Sunny:

It was very dependable.

Clark:

Yeah, Not bad at all To get rid of the stress of an Uber. altogether The five of us probably getting there because we get there so early wouldn't have been bad, but coming back would be really expensive and just stressful trying to figure it out.

Vanessa:

Yeah.

Clark:

So it was perfect.

Sunny:

Team shuttle all the way yeah.

Vanessa:

Definitely recommend that next year?

Sunny:

yes.

Clark:

Yeah, Outside Lands. If you're listening to this, keep it around next year

Sunny:

Yeah, keep that shuttle.

Vanessa:

Then one of you has to stay sober.

Clark:

I almost always do,

Vanessa:

daddy clark,

Clark:

I'm pretty reliable on that scent.

Clark:

Sorry the one, literally the one downside of the shuttle was that the one coming home the first night right

Sunny:

stinky

Clark:

they're charter buses, so there's a toilet on the bus and it smelled like that was backed up or something which was pretty gross. Definitely stopped all conversations on the bus.

Clark:

It was very quiet.

Vanessa:

It smelled like that when you got on or halfway through or something.

Clark:

No. The whole time.

Sunny:

The second you walked on there, it hit you in the face.

Clark:

But other than that

Vanessa:

Yep All right, moving on

Clark:

no problem,

Sunny:

Yep

Vanessa:

Alright moving on

Clark:

A plus.

Clark:

A minus For that.

Vanessa:

P-U. B-U.

Sunny:

What are we thinking? Do we want to go day by day?

Clark:

Yeah, I think so. And we're just trying not to get too Bogged down. Don't get too crazy

Sunny:

With details.

Sunny:

You know us, we like to get there early, so we caught the first shuttle on Friday at 11. We got there.

Vanessa:

Oh my gosh

Sunny:

I know, I know

Vanessa:

11.

Sunny:

, I know, I know. So we got there. It was foggy, but not freezing, tolerable, But right away I noticed there were a lot more people in there.

Vanessa:

Really?

Sunny:

yeah

Vanessa:

my co worker that went and took my tickets she said her friend and her son got there at like noon and she got there at two.

Vanessa:

I was like good job yeah,

Sunny:

hell yeah, speaking of your friend and their son.

Sunny:

We also noticed a lot of families there

Vanessa:

oh nice

Sunny:

a lot more kids

Clark:

yeah, I was telling sunny, for like the whole weekend this year felt the most similar of the makeup of the crowd as to the first years that I, that we went.

Vanessa:

It was more family friendly back then?

Clark:

well not friendly at least, but just you know that it was cool parents and their kids.

Clark:

You know, at least for me, I always thought that was such a cool part of outside lands

Vanessa:

the kids?

Clark:

like families that whoa, whoa, I just love kids

Vanessa:

I brought extra candy in my backpack

Clark:

I always bring snacks. Okay, um, and I I swear. We saw a lot of over 50s couples around and I was like that's cool too.

Vanessa:

That's awesome Music bringing everyone together.

Sunny:

Yeah,

Vanessa:

I love to see it.

Clark:

I think Cameron and I saw a couple of those older peeps around. Sometimes we're like they got the dates wrong. They were here for the Grateful Dead thing and then they're outside lands.

Clark:

Joking about it.

Vanessa:

Kings of Leon is next weekend. Are they old?

Clark:

Not that old.

Sunny:

Not that old,

Vanessa:

never mind,

Clark:

they're only a little bit older than us.

Clark:

I think,

Vanessa:

oh, really.

Vanessa:

Never mind, take it back

Sunny:

Just to explain that a little bit. This year at Golden Gate Park they decided to use the infrastructure that Outside Lands usually uses for three separate events. So the first event was the Grateful Dead or, I'm sorry, Dead and Company, which was a huge event, and then Outside Lands, and then after that it was Kings of Leon. And

Vanessa:

you can do it,

Sunny:

nope,

Vanessa:

zach Bryan,

Sunny:

damn it.

Clark:

That's so good.

Sunny:

Nope,

Vanessa:

which I did not go to. I was so sad.

Sunny:

Oh sorry, so yeah, that's what they were referring to, I didn't mean to completely interrupt you though

Clark:

no, no, you're good.

Clark:

So for friday, little roundup of who The Two Llips, Los Menorés, Inji, almost monday, Fuji Kaze, Thundercat, Marina Fcukers, Doechii and Beck with Symphony we didn't skimp on any artists all of them

Sunny:

that's a lot.

Sunny:

I opened the day with going to the Duboce Triangle stage

Vanessa:

is that how you say it?

Clark:

debose debosey is the other one I heard

Sunny:

we got debosey, we got debose, we got

Vanessa:

debochey

Sunny:

we got debochey

Clark:

debochay

Vanessa:

is that debochey.

Vanessa:

I like that better debochay,

Clark:

that's kind of fun to say

Sunny:

Yeah, it was like a little hidden pocket in the middle of the festival in McLaren Pass, so all the trees are around it Super shaded cozy.

Sunny:

It had really comfortable seating, like couches, like actual couches to sit in.

Clark:

It had these cool like holographic iridescent bubbles, like these big spheres that were hanging.

Clark:

And then there was like mushroom sculptures and stuff too.

Clark:

It was a cool little like trippy pocket.

Sunny:

I just have to give you props because before we got into this recording session I said that Clark, you have to describe the stage, because I'm just going to say it was balls hanging from the air. What did you say?

Vanessa:

Iridescent holographic

Clark:

yeah you're welcome

Vanessa:

spherical

Sunny:

yeah, balloons hanging from the air, that's what I would have said.

Clark:

these big

Vanessa:

balloon things,

Clark:

balls

Sunny:

yeah it was a lot of dj sets. It was really intimate. Uh, every morning started with a open mic.

Vanessa:

That's where the open mic was.

Sunny:

Yeah, so there were local artists performing there. It was hosted by Rainbow Girls. They do an open mic in San Francisco. I think they're gonna have it again. It was really successful.

Vanessa:

That's really cool that they do an open mic for artists and then they could say I played in an outside lands.

Sunny:

Yeah, exactly.

Clark:

Speaking of someone talked to Sunny.

Sunny:

Yeah. So while we were sitting there, Zara Irshad came up to us from the San Francisco Chronicle and asked if she could interview us, and that weekend she was covering the new stage. So she basically just asked why we are at Outside Lands, what we think about the new stage, how we feel about local musicians getting to perform at Outside Lands, and so, yeah, I just told her that I thought that that was an amazing idea, because outside lands they're giving people the opportunity to perform at, you know, a major music festival. So while I was thinking about that today, I was like, oh, shoot the article. So I looked it up and

Vanessa:

she quoted you?

Sunny:

she quoted me.

Vanessa:

What did she say?

Sunny:

What I said

Clark:

Festies be, published.

Sunny:

She said uh let's see.

Vanessa:

Does it say Sunny Balopole from Festies Podcast?

Vanessa:

shut the fuck up

Sunny:

Sunny Balopole, a host of the Festies Podcast, which delves into the details and unique experiences that music festivals offer

Vanessa:

you weren't gonna tell me this?!

Sunny:

I'm telling you now

Clark:

she's keeping it for the genuine reaction.

Vanessa:

Oh my god

Sunny:

Said she came up from San Mateo on a mission To check out Outside Lands newest attractions For it's 17th edition On Friday afternoon. Quote people come to festivals and I think they dream About being able to perform at one, said the 32 year old.

Sunny:

This opportunity.

Vanessa:

Why'd she do you like that?

Sunny:

This opportunity Is a way to get a taste of that.

Vanessa:

Oh my God, that's so cool.

Sunny:

I found that out a couple hours ago, so I had to keep that from you for a whole three hours

Vanessa:

oh good job and you did. I'm proud of you,

Clark:

isn't

Clark:

that dope though

Vanessa:

that is so sick, right, we're in the paper. Wait, what is this San Francisco Chronicle?

Sunny:

Yeah,

Vanessa:

sick.

Sunny:

After she was finished talking to me, I was like wait, can you take our business card and sticker,

Clark:

Nice

Sunny:

So yeah, Thank you so much for coming up and asking us for an interview. That was very exciting.

Vanessa:

That's so cool.

Clark:

The rest of the day was just like moving so fast that when Sunny told me that I think we were figuring out where we're going to meet up after the first couple artists, and she called me and I was like oh yeah, like how was the You know the new stage and then we talked for a second. And she's like, oh yeah, the SF Chronicle interviewed me. I'm like what, that's dope, that's so awesome. I was like why, like what why Wasn't that the first thing you said on the phone right it's like that's awesome,

Vanessa:

No, that's so awesome.

Clark:

Yeah, super exciting.

Sunny:

So fun way to start the weekend.

Sunny:

I guess our highlight for the day was Doechii

Clark:

yeah, for sure

Vanessa:

oh my gosh.

Vanessa:

Okay, no, tell me about Doechii. I want to hear all about Doechii.

Clark:

The level of her artistry and detail for the choreography and the aesthetic. It was this whole classroom vibe.

Clark:

They had desks that are chair desks and all the choreo was all around

Vanessa:

ryoura back on.

Clark:

Yeah, straight up.

Clark:

And used the whole stage. She had a big, giant boom box that her DJ was inside of this boom box and stuff. And then she had a spiral slide on the side of it.

Clark:

Sorry, it was dope.

Sunny:

I feel like I don't want to tell you all this because we're going to see her at Austin City Limits.

Vanessa:

Oh, you think it'll be the same?

Clark:

I won't go any too far.

Clark:

I mean.

Clark:

I'm assuming it'll probably be similar.

Vanessa:

I don't give a fuck,

Clark:

but she was incredible.

Clark:

What I really loved was the visuals that they did when they have the lyrics going on the screens. They were using the live feed of her packed crowd and her lyrics going on top of that and I was like that's like a flex, that's a sick flex.

Vanessa:

I love that, so that everyone can rap along.

Sunny:

Yeah, it was so baller.

Vanessa:

I can't wait to see her.

Sunny:

Because we knew we were going to see her at Austin City Limits, we used the opportunity to go to the bathroom and eat. Guess where we went to do that.

Vanessa:

You ran errands?

Sunny:

Yeah, we ran errands.

Clark:

Yes, as they say,

Sunny:

we did our side quests.

Vanessa:

As we say.

Sunny:

We went into Grass Lands Woo, which you don't get to name my firstborn,

Vanessa:

damn it.

Sunny:

So as we left Doechii, we were walking and I was like wait, is there a bathroom in Grass Lands? So we went to go check no line, and there's also food stands no lines.

Vanessa:

There was bathrooms?

Clark:

Yeah,

Vanessa:

oh sick

Clark:

and there were a couple couple food vendors inside of Grasslands too, so it was like the most mellow it could be right then,

Vanessa:

was it cannabis food?

Clark:

No,

Sunny:

I got a weed tomato soup.

Clark:

Literally a grilled cheese and mac and cheese place and they have tomato soup that you could get with your grilled cheese and stuff. I'm like that's some pretty good munchy food to have you know, just like warm you up comfort kind of stuff you know,

Sunny:

the tomato soup revived me.

Clark:

Yeah, it was

Sunny:

so good

Clark:

it was just campbell's with like black pepper whatever it doesn't matter,

Clark:

it was still good, it was delicious,

Sunny:

yeah I could have been cup of soup and I would have been just as happy

Vanessa:

I have heartburn just thinking about that

Clark:

so we still saw probably three quarters of Doechii's performance

Vanessa:

did she bring out anybody?

Clark:

I don't believe, so no,

Vanessa:

okay who'd you guys close the night out with on friday?

Sunny:

Beck

Clark:

Back with symphony, he was playing some of his tracks from his grammy award winning album

Sunny:

and movies

Clark:

and yeah, and movie scores that he's done. And then at the end he still had the symphony. So he did two turntables and a microphone but with the symphony behind it, like giving this like huge gravitas to the performance. And then he like kind of kicks the symphony off stage and him and the drummer and guitar player and piano player that he still has stay on and he does loser and that just like

Sunny:

I'm a loser baby

Clark:

yeah, goes so hard

Sunny:

which was in my head the whole weekend

Clark:

yeah, straight up

Sunny:

at the beginning I was like all the rest of our group would see this as boring because it was really slow.

Vanessa:

Yeah,

Sunny:

but,

Clark:

much more mellow

Vanessa:

you liked it better the first time you saw him there?

Sunny:

I don't want to say better, but like it was more fun.

Vanessa:

Yeah,

Sunny:

but this is the first time I've ever seen an orchestra at Outside Lands.

Clark:

Yeah, yeah, so yeah. That was pretty incredible,

Sunny:

oh, but low for the day there was so much sound bleed from Doja Cat. It was gnarly.

Vanessa:

Oh cause it was at Sutro? Why did I think Twin Peaks?

Clark:

In our minds it was just the perfect kind of encapsulation of why we like outside lands so much, because within this one day, in between Sunny and I, we saw a Venezuelan boy band, a dreamy pop duo, a Turkish dance music singer-songwriter, a Japanese piano player vocalist, an R&B jazz bass virtuoso, an East Coast dance music new artist, a British pop vocal queen, a next-gen rap game-changer, Doechii, and an indie pop master. So all within the same day, we saw all of those things.

Vanessa:

Oh my gosh. Yeah, that sounds like a whole weekend in itself.

Clark:

And that's it One day of a festival.

Vanessa:

Now you see how we fit so much in our one day at.

Vanessa:

Bonnaroo.

Sunny:

Yeah,

Vanessa:

without knowing it was going to be our one day.

Clark:

Straight up, straight up.

Vanessa:

Okay, so Saturday.

Clark:

Sorry, I had to read that verbatim. I'm like I wrote all the things.

Vanessa:

I was having a stroke when you were reading all those.

Sunny:

It was a lot.

Sunny:

I don't know if you remember, Vanessa, but when we read the lineup we noticed that Vampire Weekend was on there twice.

Vanessa:

Oh yeah, what did that mean?

Sunny:

So, Vampire Weekend They opened up the Twin Peaks stage, they were the first band to play, and then they were also the last band to play, and it was two completely different sets.

Vanessa:

Really

Sunny:

yeah.

Vanessa:

Why, how?

Sunny:

I don't know how or why, but it was really

Clark:

Awesome

Vanessa:

Like different sets how they just had no song played.

Vanessa:

Ok

Clark:

when they started playing.

Clark:

They're like no repeats. We're going to play a set right now. We're going to play a set at the end of the day. No repeats.

Vanessa:

Wait that same day?

Clark:

Yeah.

Vanessa:

So I was, so we were right in the morning and the evening.

Sunny:

Yeah, yeah.

Clark:

True, true.

Sunny:

I think It's pretty genius because it got a lot of people in there early. Twin Peaks was full. It looked like it was six o'clock.

Vanessa:

What time did they play their first set?

Sunny:

Twelve,

Vanessa:

oh my gosh

Sunny:

Yeah.

Vanessa:

Kevin this was not the best year for you to miss outside lands.

Clark:

is he all about Vampire Weekend?

Vanessa:

our friend.

Vanessa:

Kevin, who's been to outside lands with us so that's his favorite band.

Clark:

Oh yeah, he interacted with the story when we were posting it, for sure, yeah,

Sunny:

oh, that's right.

Sunny:

Vampire Weekend played Outside Lands a few years ago and their genre of music just isn't up my alley usually. But this time I was really excited because they played more like they were jammy. They were funky, they were like totally different band. I have no idea what they played later.

Sunny:

I'm sure they probably played a lot of their hits later in the evening

Vanessa:

they were pretty up there for Ed to see at Bonnaroo.

Vanessa:

He wanted to see them.

Sunny:

They're a big band.

Clark:

Their drummer was wearing a shirt. Actually, this shirt is sick. I'm not a big Grateful Dead fan, but it was a sick shirt. It was an Oakland Raiders shirt and the Raider, like the face that's normally there, was Jerry Garcia from Grateful Dead.

Sunny:

Yeah, that was pretty cool

Clark:

and that was pretty sick. I'm like that's a pretty dope shirt man. But yeah, multiple of the band had Grateful Dead stuff on, which goes right hand in hand with how jammy they were and what happened the previous weekend at the polo field.

Sunny:

So because Vampire Weekend drew in a huge crowd early, it felt like Saturday was so busy. It was the busiest I've seen it in a long time. I was dodging people. It felt like a classic Outside Lands.

Vanessa:

It was on the schedule?

Sunny:

Yeah.

Vanessa:

Okay, so you guys went early to see them.

Sunny:

Yeah,

Vanessa:

okay, cool.

Clark:

It seemed like that was a great thing for all the other early acts, because there were just more people already in the festival.

Vanessa:

Needing something to do

Clark:

Exactly so like you know, maybe you wouldn't have got this huge crowd, but hey, you're playing. Sutro and Vampire Weekend brought all these people in early.

Vanessa:

Vampire Weekend is opening for you.

Clark:

Yeah, that's awesome. You know that's sick.

Sunny:

So let's see. Between the two of us, we Amelia Moore, Vampire W eekend, Paco Versailles, La Russell, Flip Turn, Girl Math, Dombreski, Ludacris, DJ Peewee, Tyler the Creator and Gesaffelstein.

Vanessa:

Oh

Sunny:

sorry, vanessa,

Vanessa:

I was watching, I did,

Vanessa:

I was watching that vlog that you made of Outside Lands.

Vanessa:

The moment I heard your clip of Gesaffelstein, I felt something in my soul.

Sunny:

Yeah, I mean I wanted to go, but I was telling everybody I was like I have to go Because Vanessa is unable to go and Gesaffelstein is her favorite.

Vanessa:

Oh, thank you. Yeah, those videos you sent me were sick. Thank you,

Sunny:

it was very fun.

Vanessa:

It's been a long time since I've seen him, but did he have a huge crowd? Where did he play first of all, sutro? Oh, that's too small.

Sunny:

I mean it's too small, it was filled. Yeah, saturday we just had a blast. It was so fun.

Vanessa:

I'm getting FOMO.

Sunny:

I'm sorry.

Sunny:

It sucked.

Sunny:

It was boring.

Vanessa:

I really didn't have FOMO while you guys were there, and now I'm getting FOMO.

Sunny:

Yeah, it was so fun, and I think what started off being super fun was Ludacris. Yeah, because that's all of our childhood.

Vanessa:

Yeah.

Sunny:

Early 2000s hip hop.

Clark:

Kind of the same energy as when we saw Nelly.

Vanessa:

That's what I. I kept comparing those two.

Clark:

First of all, I forget that he has all of his really fast rapping stuff, because he also has kind of like silly hooks sometimes that feel a little bit like one fish, two fish you know, like they're, just like they're really but you remember them they're like earworms, but also His first hit, though, is I wanna lick you from your head to your toe when I want to go from the bed down to the foot he like pops off with that you know, it was like whoa.

Vanessa:

That would have been so fun it would have been, so I saw him at Two Step Inn which is a country music festival.

Clark:

Oh yeah,

Vanessa:

but it would have been so dope to see him with all our friends big ass group dancing together.

Clark:

It was super fun and his DJ was hilarious.

Sunny:

I loved when he had us going if you ain't got no money, take your broke ass home.

Clark:

Yeah, definitely a big highlight.

Sunny:

Our friend Aaron went for one day

Clark:

yeah.

Clark:

It was dope because our schedules lined up and actually part of our main group, justin's sister, leslie, was all excited to see this band Flip Turn.

Vanessa:

Oh, I would have loved to see that with her.

Clark:

Aaron was also like I've listened to flip turn. It's really sick. So him and I went. It was great like really beautiful vocals from the lead singer

Vanessa:

okay, so

Clark:

kind of reminds me of young the giant almost

Vanessa:

the first

Clark:

performance incredible.

Vanessa:

The first few months that I was listening to flip turn, I thought it was a girl's voice

Clark:

yeah, he does. He does have like a pretty high

Vanessa:

yeah but then I watched a music video actually recently because they were going to be at Bonnaroo and I was like, oh, that's a guy but yeah, I love them,

Clark:

they were awesome

Sunny:

I'm sad it

Sunny:

It seemed like everybody really loved that set.

Clark:

Yeah,

Sunny:

but I decided to dedicate Saturday. I kept saying Saturday is my beep boop music day.

Vanessa:

Beep boop,

Sunny:

yeah, beep boop DJs all the way. It was so fun. I saw Girl Math and then I saw Dombreski, dj Pee Wee and then end of the day with Gesaffelstein.

Vanessa:

Did you like Domb reski?

Sunny:

Yeah,

Vanessa:

I feel like I would really like him.

Sunny:

t's like disco edm. So yeah, that was my kind of takeaway from saturday just being happy enjoying the day-long dance party.

Clark:

Yeah, it worked out nice for you too, because before Gesaffelstein we all landed together for DJ Peewee.

Sunny:

Yes.

Clark:

Which is awesome, with, of course, Anderson .Paak, who brought out multiple peeps while he was DJing, brought out Cordae, who he has a song with, and he also brought out Ca7riel y Paco Amoroso during his set and played one of their songs.

Vanessa:

Oh, my gosh,

Clark:

and they came out in these long blonde wigs

Vanessa:

oh, that was them?

Clark:

Yeah,

Vanessa:

I saw your videos.

Clark:

Yeah,

Vanessa:

I was like

Clark:

that was Ca7riel y Paco Amoroso

Clark:

. Yeah,

Vanessa:

I didn't realize that was dj peewee.

Clark:

They just popped out and we're like yo and they sang their song, you know over the track. Yeah, but that is Saturday.

Sunny:

Should we move on to Sunday?

Clark:

Go on.

Vanessa:

Please.

Sunny:

Please.

Clark:

I'm burning up.

Vanessa:

It is hot in here.

Sunny:

Sunday, between the two of us, we saw Big Frieda and the San Francisco Gay Men's Choir, Midnight Generation, Mayer Hawthorne, Levity Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso. Mayer Hawthorne, but a DJ set, Glass Animals, Bleachers, Jorja Smith, Neal Francis and Anderson .Paak and the Free Nationals. You saw Bleachers?

Clark:

I saw a chunk of Bleachers because I was getting to a spot for Glass Animals.

Sunny:

Oh, I didn't know that

Vanessa:

Also. I just want to say

Clark:

Not into them.

Clark:

Put on an amazing show

Vanessa:

Really. I think I saw Bleachers

Clark:

Yeah, amazing show.

Vanessa:

but I just want to give Sunny props for how she said

Clark:

Yeah, she did a good job.

Vanessa:

You didn't even stutter

Clark:

Nah.

Vanessa:

I just said, and too so.

Sunny:

Thanks,

Clark:

yeah, killed it

Sunny:

Another aspect of Sunday is my mom and my Aunt Debbie and my Uncle Andy went

Vanessa:

Woohoo

Sunny:

yeah, which is really exciting because obviously I've been talking about outside lands for years.

Vanessa:

Was this your mom's first one?

Sunny:

Yeah,

Vanessa:

oh, wow. For some reason I thought she'd gone another year.

Sunny:

Nope.

Clark:

You're thinking of Bottle Rock?

Vanessa:

I know.

Vanessa:

I know we went to Bottle Rock,

Clark:

just kidding, sorry.

Sunny:

Nope, well, my dad went one year.

Vanessa:

Oh yeah, maybe that's what I'm thinking, yeah.

Sunny:

So that was really exciting, just to be able to show them around. It was a little stressful because they were there for one day, but there's only so much you can see in one day.

Vanessa:

Yeah,

Clark:

true,

Sunny:

I think they had a good time.

Clark:

Yeah.

Sunny:

It was rough getting around and it was cold.

Clark:

No

Sunny:

they had a lot of uh as we say like suck to embrace,

Clark:

yes,

Sunny:

but they saw a lot of amazing music that day

Vanessa:

so who was your favorite from sunday?

Clark:

Besides Mayer Hawthorne

Sunny:

I guess Anderson . Paak

Clark:

yeah

Sunny:

had an incredible

Clark:

yeah,

Sunny:

but um

Sunny:

beside the obvious. I really enjoyed seeing Big Freedia and the SF Gay Men's Choir because they took us to church

Vanessa:

Really?

Sunny:

Yeah. And Conner, who grew up in choir the look on his face he was just so into it. And same with my mom and Andy and Debbie. They all did choir. And same with my mom and Andy and Debbie. They all did choir, so it was really fun seeing them have such an intense reaction to the music

Vanessa:

yeah.

Sunny:

I don't know what I was expecting, but it was also a lot of hip hop in there too.

Clark:

I was on, like the other side of the festival at Panhandle with Cameron and Martijn seeing Midnight Generation. Yeah, who's this? Mexican funk band

Vanessa:

yeah, I think cameron told us about that group when he was here.

Clark:

Yes, yes, he did, he did and that was my struggle.

Clark:

When sunny and I met back up later, I was like I'm not gonna tell you how much y'all would have enjoyed what I just saw too, you know like yeah, sunny's mom, especially karen, loves. They had a percussionist who that's all he was doing was playing congas and like a go-go with like the two-tone cowbell and shaker and tambourine and he was just cutting a rug like he was killing it all five of these guys had shaved and mustaches and like he's just like close-cut hair and like in their matching jumpsuits doing their funk music.

Clark:

It was pretty dope.

Sunny:

That's fun.

Clark:

But I know how great experience y'all had at Big Freedia too.

Sunny:

We'll have another opportunity to see Midnight Generation.

Sunny:

Did you have a highlight of the day?

Clark:

Um, I mean, it's been a while since I've felt that way about a headlining set like for Anderson Paak and the Free Nationals.

Sunny:

How did you feel?

Clark:

It was so incredible because that's like the best I've known a headliner in a long time. There was only one song that Anderson played that I didn't know and the level of musicianship it almost reminded me of when we saw D'Angelo. How they honed the set that they played was just next level, and I was surprised at how much Anderson Paak was on the kit. He was on the drum kit like almost half of the set. And that's a lot of playing for like an hour and a half set.

Sunny:

Yeah, and so he's singing, dancing, rapping, playing the drums

Clark:

His outfit was also dope.

Clark:

He had like an Adidas brand plaid jacket, matching skirt with like these sick big boots.

Sunny:

I said that and Clark was like no

Clark:

Skirt

Sunny:

not a kilt, it was not a kilt.

Sunny:

I offended him.

Clark:

I will die on that hill.

Clark:

It was not a kilt.

Clark:

Not enough. Pleats in the back Different.

Vanessa:

Oh my God

Clark:

I say as a Scotsman, but it was sick. He just destroyed that set.

Clark:

It was so good,

Sunny:

very energetic, and I know I keep saying this word, but we were just having so much fun.

Vanessa:

It was like so fun

Sunny:

it's so fun, it's like really good. I remember thinking to myself

Vanessa:

I wish Vanessa was here.

Sunny:

Well that, when he brought out E-40, which was just like mind-blowing Not that we're like huge E-40 fans, but you know, being in the Bay Area, it was like a big deal.

Vanessa:

That's our grandpa, that's our dad. Sorry, e-40. I'm so sorry you are not that old. That's our dad.

Clark:

I can just picture all of our friend group's faces when he brought E-40 on

Vanessa:

yeah

Clark:

Everyone's like oh, just losing it.

Clark:

What

Vanessa:

I would have lost? My fucking shit yeah.

Sunny:

I felt like we didn't have the capability to express how hard we wanted to go to the music.

Clark:

Yeah, keep an eye out for the vlog, yeah, yeah, to see how hard we were going.

Sunny:

I'm sad because it was just such an argument in my brain in the moment between recording it and enjoying it.

Vanessa:

Yeah,

Sunny:

you know

Clark:

yes.

Sunny:

And so, of course now I wish I would have recorded it more, because when the video stops I'm just like, oh no, yeah, an amazing way to end the weekend.

Vanessa:

That's how you close it out.

Sunny:

Yeah, and I was like that was the best way to end the weekend in a while

Vanessa:

I probably would have cried

Sunny:

and also. Sunday went by so fast.

Vanessa:

I feel like it always does.

Vanessa:

You don't want it to end,

Sunny:

yeah at the end of every day I'm like it went by so fast, but this time Friday didn't feel fast, saturday didn't feel fast, but Sunday just like whizzed by.

Vanessa:

Should be four days, just saying.

Vanessa:

Just kidding.

Sunny:

Add another day.

Clark:

Come on, you cowards, make it four days.

Vanessa:

Was there any set that you regret missing?

Sunny:

Kind of so, Paco Versailles.

Clark:

Yeah.

Sunny:

He was on our list and we decided to get food before going over there and like missed a chunk of the set.

Clark:

Yeah.

Sunny:

I really regret that

Clark:

yeah,

Vanessa:

but you didn't miss him. You still saw,

Sunny:

we still saw it yeah.

Clark:

They're like a duo, where one of them plays like flamenco guitar and the other one's a singer. And they have like a dance music band backing them and it was really dope

Clark:

We got over there and we're like oh, I was just like

Vanessa:

is that the same for you?

Clark:

either that, or just maybe not a set, but I never made it over to soma

Sunny:

oh, really,

Vanessa:

oh, I don't think I've ever been over there either

Clark:

because the couple times that I was going to meet up with sunny or was trying to go over there to see something, the line was just crazy. And sunny reminded me after was like, even if the line's crazy, there's just as big amount of people leaving

Vanessa:

right

Clark:

it's very rare that it's fully just packed and closed up.

Vanessa:

yeah,

Clark:

so I would say mine's like generally that that I just didn't get over there and it was a slightly different setup than it was last year, so that would be my regret.

Vanessa:

Are we done with the music?

Sunny:

Yeah, I think so.

Clark:

Yeah yeah.

Vanessa:

What was your guys' favorite food that you ate?

Sunny:

I pulled a Vanessa and didn't eat a lot. I don't know.

Clark:

Lamb shawarma quesabirria

Vanessa:

Shut the fuck up.

Clark:

Yeah, it was so good

Vanessa:

I had a quesabirria

Vanessa:

I had a Quesabirria at the Mexican restaurant in Eminence too, and it was not bad. I did not have any high hopes for it, but it was pretty good.

Clark:

Shout out to Aaron's sister, Megan, because she recommended it, and then, when we were hanging out with Aaron, aaron's like I'm going to go get that today. So we went and got that

Vanessa:

that sounds so good.

Sunny:

Oh, can I deviate just for a second? You reminded me because of Megan.

Clark:

Go on.

Sunny:

The way she recommended it to all of us was through our WhatsApp group.

Clark:

Oh yeah.

Sunny:

Last minute I decided to create a WhatsApp outside lands community and it had different topics when are we at Food and drink intel, things like that. So I was really trying to get it going to have Festies, give each other like advice and stuff, and I can see the potential. I think I knew this year because it was so new and like there were maybe like 15 people in there. But when people were using it I was like, yeah, this could definitely be

Vanessa:

it was people, not just in our group of friends,

Sunny:

yeah yeah, there were some other people too that I got in there.

Clark:

It extended out one more layer. I would say

Vanessa:

oh nice.

Clark:

Yeah, and people were definitely utilizing it. So something to look more into and see if we can flush it out, I think in some ways.

Sunny:

Yeah, sorry, I just wanted to put that out there.

Clark:

No for sure

Sunny:

what else did you eat, clark?

Clark:

Because their food truck's always there. Mozzeria, this pizzeria that's run by all deaf staff.

Vanessa:

Oh yeah, you talked about this last time.

Clark:

The pizza's incredible and they're always in the same place, which is perfect for me because it's right by Cocktail Magic.

Clark:

So I get myself a cocktail and then I go get pizza.

Sunny:

How was Cocktail Magic?

Clark:

Amazing, as it was last year, I think my favorite one was this, one called the Miami Nice, this tiki cocktail with rum and coconut and green chartreuse, which is like this, really herbaceous liqueur. But the only downside was it was like too easy to drink because it was so good. So, delicious that it was like slow down drinking this,

Sunny:

chug it,

Clark:

yeah. Again, highly recommend really high-level craft cocktails for about as much as you'd pay in the city and it doesn't feel like you're paying $30 for a domestic beer.

Vanessa:

God yeah, okay, let's see. Did you guys meet any fun people or have any random encounters?

Sunny:

I did.

Sunny:

Actually, right when I got there on Saturday, I saw a girl looking at the map and she looked like she was confused, like she looked a little stressed. So I kind of just like went up to her and I was like, what are you looking for? She's like I'm looking for Twin Peaks and I was like, oh, that's this way, I'm walking that way. So then we walked together and she was there alone for the day. I got her in the whatsapp group but yeah, we were just chit-chatting. She said that because outside lands had a lot of indie groups on it this year that brought her to outside lands and she's just there by herself.

Vanessa:

that's so cool,

Sunny:

yeah, yeah

Vanessa:

I've been to concerts by myself. I don't know that I would go to a festival by oh. I have been to a festival by myself, never mind

Sunny:

which one.

Vanessa:

I think it was called big country is at the same place where hinterland

Sunny:

oh

Vanessa:

is or yeah is in saint charles iowa.

Clark:

Yeah, I didn't have any encounters like

Sunny:

encounters

Vanessa:

um, let's see how was the crowd.

Vanessa:

Was the crowd following our crowd? Etiquette rules.

Sunny:

I never had a negative experience with the crowd.

Vanessa:

Good

Sunny:

moving through the crowd was easy

Clark:

I had no problems in the crowds ever. Only time I think I struggled a little bit with crowd was going in between stages and stuff

Vanessa:

yeah, that's always the worst, I think, for me there

Clark:

there

Clark:

was a moment where aaron and I were coming back to the main stage and we walked where the windmill is. It felt like every 15 to 19 year old in outside lands went hey, meet me at the windmill yeah, like that's what it felt like I was like guys, you got to use other something other things.

Clark:

It can't just be the windmill.

Vanessa:

That was so 2015.

Clark:

It was literally just that

Vanessa:

when there were two,

Clark:

yeah, I was like, yeah, I know we were that age one time too, but like we didn't all wear the same clothes, did we? Because literally all these kids are all wearing the same exact outfit. I'm losing my mind.

Clark:

I must be so old

Sunny:

Clark was like and we never like linked arm and like walked straight and I was like, yeah, we did, I was like on our way to Kendrick. We all linked arms and we were in a straight line, walking, rapping Kendrick lyrics.

Vanessa:

We definitely did that.

Clark:

I was like. I don't remember being that in the way.

Vanessa:

We were just as annoying.

Clark:

Yeah, I'm sure.

Clark:

Y'all right, y'all right.

Sunny:

I felt like Outside Lands really leveled up this year. They're really investing in making things feel new and making the walkways more obvious and just the decor is more modern.

Clark:

Yeah, I'd agree with that.

Sunny:

It felt upgraded all around.

Vanessa:

Cool

Vanessa:

I'm so jealous. It sounds like you guys had so much fun without me.

Vanessa:

Just kidding.

Vanessa:

No, I'm glad you guys had fun. I'm so sad that we missed it.

Sunny:

Yeah, 2027.

Vanessa:

I know I'm going to try to go next year, but no promises. 2027, 100 percent. You will see me there in 2027, unless I'm popping out a baby at that time. If I'm pregnant, I'll be there, but if I have a baby or I'm in labor, I won't

Sunny:

just have a babysitter pick up the baby,

Vanessa:

If we're done with Outside Lands.

Vanessa:

I just wanted to give us a big pat on the back, because this month Festies turned one,

Sunny:

oh yeah

Vanessa:

One year old.

Clark:

Happy birthday to us.

Vanessa:

Happy birthday to us guys. I can't believe we've been doing this for a year. It really doesn't feel like a year, but also does at the same time

Sunny:

we're doing good guys

Clark:

Well, thank you listeners.

Vanessa:

Yeah, yeah, if you're out there. Is there anyone alive out there? Send us a DM, let us know we're not just talking to our friends and family.

Sunny:

Yeah, and if anyone else had any cool experiences at Outside Lands, we'd love to hear about them.

Clark:

Oh yeah, share them.

Sunny:

Is that a wrap on Outside Lands?

Vanessa:

That's a wrap.

Clark:

That's a.

Sunny:

We missed you, Clark.

Clark:

You can't wait to edit me out of all this.

Vanessa:

Only slightly

Sunny:

, oh boy.

Vanessa:

Okay, Festies. Thank you so much for sticking with us for a full year. Follow us on instagram, tiktok and youtube at festies podcast. We do have an outside lands vlog coming out soon, so be on the lookout for that on our youtube. We'll post it on instagram and leave us a rating and review wherever you listen to us. And also, don't forget, you can always get your own pair of Eargasm earplugs and get 10 percent off with our discount code festies10, and protect your ears yeah we'll catch you on the next one bye,

Sunny:

bye,

Clark:

Bye.