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Lots of people, including us, think that this past year's Outside Lands Music Festival was the best one yet. But how does the four-year-old event in S.F.'s Golden Gate Park compare to the world's biggest music festivals?

Hint: We have much better wine, and we care about Foursquare a lot more than most.

That's at least the perspective given by this fascinating infographic from the folks over at Sonos. There's a crop above; check out the whole thing after the jump.

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Christopher Victorio

Butler: Apparently not moving to S.F. anytime soon.

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About halfway through Arcade Fire's set at Outside Lands on Sunday, frontman Win Butler paused to regard the evening: The massive crowd, the rising moon, the immaculate weather (although it had turned a bit crisp by then), and the generally good vibes of the festival. Butler said he'd been out wandering around the grounds all day, and had loved it. (He'd also been on stage covering "The Weight" with Mavis Staples, but you heard about that.)

We almost thought the city had seduced Butler, who was raised outside of Houston and now lives in Montreal -- at least until he made a quip about the cost of living in S.F. Apparently having your album debut at No. 1 on the Billboard chart, and winning the Grammy for Album of the Year doesn't make this city seem any cheaper.

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No show for Sir Lucious Left Foot

​ It didn't seem to bode well for Big Boi's scheduled Outside Lands performance that the Atlanta rapper (and OutKast member) was arrested only days before on drug charges in Miami. In the end, Big Boi didn't end up playing in S.F. on Friday as scheduled -- but the arrest had nothing to do with it.

Instead, a DJ's computer malfunction apparently forced the rapper to cancel his set, causing much grumbling among festivalgoers.

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Christopher Victorio

​So maybe you missed Outside Lands, or maybe you were there but don't remember any of it. It happens.

Those of us who were there (and mostly conscious) know that it was an overwhelming spectacle of sounds, tastes, and, of course, crazy only-in-San-Francisco outfits.

If you missed the year's best people-watching festival, don't worry -- we have you covered. Check out our slideshow of the beautiful Outside Lands crowd. We don't even remember whether there was music.

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Follow us on Twitter @SFAllShookDown, follow Dean Schaffer @deans55, and like us at Facebook.com/SFAllShookDown.

Mavis Staples and Win Butler playing "The Weight," one of the most memorable moments of Outside Lands' last day. Photos by Christopher Victorio.

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Outside Lands Day 3
August 14, 2011
Golden Gate Park

Better than: Just another big concert.

There's something almost magical about an unambiguously sunny summer day in the western reaches of Golden Gate Park, and on Sunday, for the final day of Outside Lands 2011, an unhindered shining orb lent the proceedings a merry surreality.

The beautiful weather seduced Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler, whose easygoing charm made for two memorable moments on the main stage. Early in the afternoon, Butler sang with soul legend Mavis Staples on a thrilling cover of the Band standard "The Weight." Later, when his own group took over for the finale, Butler gushed over how he'd spent his day. "This is one of those times where we have to actually pinch ourselves," he mused after the band opened with a rousing "Ready to Start." He later quipped that, "I got to sing with Mavis Staples earlier, so I can die a happy man." Those who witnessed the song -- which made the crowd go, well, apeshit -- might've felt the same way.

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Christopher Victorio

Muse at Outside Lands Day 2

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Outside Lands 2011 Day 2
August 13, 2011
Golden Gate Park

Better than: Getting sodden and soggy at Lollapalooza. Too soon?

It was about 6 p.m. on Saturday, and the expansive crowd that had gathered at the Land's End stage was bathed in golden evening light. S.F. Mayor Ed Lee was buoyantly declaring today to be "Outside Lands Day!" to a semi-roar from the crowd. The sun had come out, after all, and the Arctic Monkeys had just finished a fast-paced set of solid Brit rock. Things were, undoubtedly, looking good.

It's one of those bucolic scenes that I associate with music festivals -- the golden light, the sea of bodies, the hands raised in unison to point affirmatively at the band in front of them. And this combination of factors made it feel like it sometimes but not always does in August in San Francisco: summertime.

The day had started out with slightly less promise. Grey skies and vast expanses of empty fields made the festival grounds appear almost ghost-town like; the biggest crowd of people I spotted around 1 p.m. was gathered close to the same Land's End stage, waving their arms for Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. They even managed to respond with some enthusiasm to breathy statements like, "Outside Lands, are you ready to dance?!"

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Christopher Victorio

Phish at Outside Lands

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Outside Lands Friday: Phish
Lotus, Foster the People, MGMT
August 12, 2011
@ Golden Gate Park

Better than: Any other foggy San Francisco afternoon.

In some way that must ring true for thousands of fans, Phish proves the existence of a cosmic justice in the music universe -- most great bands and guitar players carry an aura about them of celebrity, of differentness, of something almost unreachable.

Phish, on the other hand, manages to shred up a storm yet still remain as uniconic and unromantic as possible -- Trey Anastasio (guitar, lead vocals), Mike Gordon (bass, vocals), Jon Fishman (drums), and Page McConnell (keyboards) look like, in another life, they would work at an accounting firm with your brother-in-law. There's something comforting about knowing that the universe has bestowed its most impressive talents on guys who could easily be your neighbors, and would probably be much less cool than you if they weren't jaw-droppingly good musicians.

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tUnE-yArDs at the Rickshaw Stop Friday night.

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Vetiver
Tune-Yards
Extra Classic
DJ Britt Govea of ((folk yeah))
August 12, 2011
Rickshaw Stop / Outside Lands night show

Better than: Freezing your ass off while listening to Phish for three hours in the Outer Sunset. No, seriously.

"This square is, like, a homeless camp," declared the lithe gentleman in white bell-bottom jeans. His statement, made while standing in line to gain entry to the Rickshaw Stop, was not inaccurate, but seemed beside the point. Perhaps he was just informing friends who were less familiar with the Civic Center area?

Homeless presence aside, the triple bill of Extra Classic, tUnE-yArDs, and Vetiver did the Rickshaw proud. In between the swaying reggae beat of the opener and the rocking slow build of the sold-out show's close, Friday night gave fans a chance to do what S.F.'s last call time rarely allows: stay out past 2 a.m.

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Listen to this while high: Fire on the Bayou, by the Original Meters.

Behind the buzz: Buried w-a-a-ay deep on the bill at this weekend's Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival are The Original Meters, the slickest karass of funketeers ever to lurch out of New Orleans. Groomed for superstardom, they broke up late in the decade, but their superb back catalog went on to conquer the funky world anyway. In their day, these masters of regional funk opened two tours for The Rolling Stones, recorded with Paul McCartney, and appeared twice on Saturday Night Live back when that wheezefest counted for something. A major cult inevitably fastened onto their albums and won champions like LL Cool J, Queen Latifa, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Widespread Panic, and the Grateful Dead. 1975's Fire on the Bayou, a broad-gauged concept album about their home state, is likely the pick of a stellar discography. This lineup includes four of the five original members and plays to a sold-out crowd at the Independent tonight before their festival appearance tomorrow.

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Today's dope: A surpassingly brutal strain called Purple Dragon.

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Relax, Merrill, the secret's out!

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So yeah, the hackers fucked with Muse's Facebook page, duped us, and disappointed you. But look at the bright side: The special guest for Friday's Outside Lands night show at the Rickshaw Stop is no longer a secret -- and it's awesome! Cue the ukuleles, drum loops, and throaty chanting!

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