Woods

Certain bands simply don't work in the harsh light of day. Other bands -- bands like Woods -- seem to exist for expressly such circumstances. Although they used to lean a lot closer to the hallucinatory side of psych, indie-rock's preeminent Dead disciples spin out easygoing folk-rock jams that make an ideal soundtrack for early afternoon on a festival's final day, those hours when everybody just wants to chill out and recharge for one more day of revelry. That's not to say Woods are incapable of rocking out because believe me, when their penultimate song kicked into overdrive everyone in the vicinity stopped in their tracks and took notice, members of Lucius included. But those climactic moments were so striking in part because most of the performance was so idyllic, so very much like you'd hope and expect from a sunny afternoon in a San Francisco meadow. -Chris

Kacey Musgraves

Musgraves, the former teenage Nashville Star contestant turned Leader Of Country's New School, eased through the first half of her set pleasantly enough. Backed by men wearing blue nudie suits garnished with Christmas lights instead of rhinestones, she smiled demurely from under her floral crown and kicked her white cowboy boots into songs she wrote for her own great Same Trailer, Different Park and for fellow forward-thinking sassy lass Miranda Lambert ("Mama's Broken Heart"). Things really got cooking, though, for the last four songs. Musgraves and the boys burned through a cover of "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'," followed by a run through hit "Merry Go Round" with Musgraves on banjo that had the entire audience singing along. It seems that chronicle of small-town stasis is even more dearly beloved by Musgraves fans than her signature song, the clever do-it-your-way manifesto "Follow Your Arrow," which followed in quick succession. Then they all put down their instruments and gathered at the front of the stage for a short, sweet a cappella finale. This time the crowd fell silent, letting Musgraves and company transform the Golden Gate Park hillside into someplace much smaller and cozier. -Chris

Improvised Shakespeare

Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to tell people I saw Sir Patrick Stewart, Professor X, Captain Jean Luc “Make It (Fucking) So" Picard perform Shakespeare at Outside Lands. My brain is still having trouble processing that it happened. Did somebody slip something in my drink? Did I fall asleep in one of the long food lines and dream it? No, ’twas real and the photo above proves it. Improvised Shakespeare was one of the most intriguing events at the fest’s comedy tent the Barbary and proved to be a major highlight. The Company asks for a name of an imaginary Shakespeare play and proceeds to perform it in the Bard’s style and language for a full 50 minutes or so. Since most of what they’re doing is in meter, you’re essentially seeing someone trying to be funny, keeping the plot moving, doing it in Shakespearean language, all while free-styling so it rhymes. It’s a remarkable thing, made even more so by the guest addition of Stewart who fit it in so well he could have passed for a regular. -Miles

Lucius

The members of Lucius understand how music works, which should be enough, but you know and I know that great bands disappear into the recesses of infinite music queues every hour of every day. Fortunately for Lucius -- and for those of us who witnessed their Sunday afternoon set -- they also understand how entertainment works. From a pure compositional perspective, the songs of this Brooklyn quintet were astounding. They play pristine pop tunes that exist within some unprecedented hybrid of sighing Americana, soaring Motown, and shellacking post-Arcade Fire percussive fury. Every element was carefully planned, but executed without a care in the world. It's genius stuff, the kind of music where you think the wild vocal harmonies are the highlight until you think the sly, punchy guitar parts are stealing the show until it hits you that, oh yeah, that five person drum solo was a winner, too. As good as Lucius the band is, though, I don't know if they would have ever risen above the deafening clatter of infinite bands on the rise (some ancient civilizations used to call it "buzz") if not for Lucius the gimmick. They have a striking look -- two female lead singers who dress identically all the way down to their bobbed haircuts, backed by three males in matching suits and suave hairdos of their own -- and the costumes lend Lucius an air of fantasy that they never would have managed in street clothes. -Chris

Haim

At this point, Haim should not have a set like this in them anymore. Sure, they could probably play it in their sleep, having trotted out these exact songs at festivals and concert halls worldwide for well over a year. But when you've been running through the same setlist for so long, how can it possibly be overflowing with this much life? Everything from the ragtag Shania-fied ballad "Honey & I" to the post-Sleigh Bells booty-dropper "My Song 5" still crushes, and when they burn through that same old Fleetwood Mac cover they've been doing for months (you'd think they'd choose a different cover at least), it still accelerates the melting of the polar ice caps. If the sophomore LP they're recording this fall is in the same ballpark, these ladies will be headlining fests this size soon. -Chris

Duck Sauce

All DJ sets are not created equal. Some of them are as stupid as Tom Petty thinks they are, the tackiest bacchanals known to humankind, a genuine counterargument against whatever case you want to make about the progression of our species. Then there's A-Trak and Armand Van Helden in matching gold varsity jackets dropping the sickest records and emerging from behind the decks wielding Super Soakers, all in front of a giant inflatable waterfowl: a reminder that the dance party is a noble pursuit for fun-loving sentient beings. It was a rare convergence of killer showmanship and good taste. About those sick records, by the way: They saved their own worthy smash "Barbara Streisand" for the end of the set, but everything leading up to it seamlessly blended hip-hop, house, and disco (and Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Heads Will Roll") into the most refreshing playlist I've encountered in recent memory. What's more, the pair of superstar DJ/producers really seemed to be having a blast up there. -Chris

Disclosure

Disclosure’s was an incredible, confident performance I experienced as a drop in the ocean of people that filled the main concourse. While the group has certainly become a massive pop act, the Lawrence brothers still plan their set as if they were DJing a club. Songs move into trance-like moments, rewarding patience, only to gradually rise to their lush grand set-piece peaks. I couldn’t help but laugh at the drunk couple in front of me when the girl, after spending the entire set blocking my view cheering and dancing on her boyfriend’s shoulders, came down after top 10 single "Latch" ended and said, "What song is that?!" He responded, as knowingly as a scholar, with an answer that completely wrong. Not any group can catalyze such a moment. -Miles

Tom Petty

Four songs from Hypnotic Eye would probably be four too many on most occasions, but considering Petty's latest is our country's reigning #1 album, somebody out there must have been eagerly awaiting the Heartbreakers' spin through "American Dream Plan B." Fortunately, Petty didn't skimp on the hits either. For every unnecessary Mojo blues dirge, there were two of three FM essentials so obviously perfect that they retroactively rendered at least half the bands at this festival laughingstocks. Although 19 songs isn't nearly enough for the ideal Heartbreakers setlist -- and after two Petty festival sets in two years, I'm at least a little salty about the omission of "You Don't Know How It Feels" -- the ones he did opt to grace us with were more than enough. "Free Fallin'," "Mary Jane's Last Dance," "Refugee," "Learning To Fly," "American Girl" -- these are perfect songs. And unlike Petty's pal Bob Dylan, his crotchety old-man croon is only sounding sweeter with age. -Chris

Cut Copy

Cut Copy's current blend of psych-rock and dance music has been compared to the Madchester scene of the early ‘90s, and that only felt stronger in their new live performance. So even if Primal Scream were telling us to "Slip Inside This House," don't accuse these guys of simply following the same steps with their invitation to "Meet Me In A House of Love." The spirit is the same, but the "house" has gone through quite a lot of renovations over the years and Cut Copy revamp that novel sound for the kind of music fans that were throbbing to Disclosure a few nights earlier. The new material works better in front of a dancing festival crowd than it ever did on their new album while In Ghost Colours-classics such as "Hearts On Fire," "Lights And Music," and "So Haunted" bring back that jagged angularity from which they’ve mostly moved on. Taken all together it makes for a textured set by a band that's never felt more at home at a festival in their career. -Miles

Run The Jewels

Before they ever donned the mantle of Run The Jewels, El-P and Killer Mike were performing together like a well-oiled machine. But Friday on the main stage they moved with the horsepower of a Bugatti and the handling of a Skyline, blowing through song after song with crushing ferocity while still joking and messing around the entire time. It only got better once they shifted into a middle section featuring solo material from Cancer 4 Cure and R.A.P. Music, made even better by having support onstage. On this tour El's live band is gone, and songs that had guest verses are cut down to the essential core; all we ever needed were these two best friends and a beat. It’s a setup that's almost spartan, but then again who needs hypemen or a backing band or anything else when together these guys can outperform anybody in rap? -Miles

Jenny Lewis

Nobody at Outside Lands owned their stage quite like Jenny Lewis. While blasting through the most of her new solo album The Voyager she handles the stage with a seasoned, laid back ease. There wasn't a second you wanted to take your eyes off her as she strutted back and forth, cracking jokes, sipping from her mug, and just occasionally pulling her glasses down to shoot the audience a look. In addition to the moments in which she revisited Rilo Kiley material, one of the best songs in the hour came with a friend-filled singalong rendition of "Acid Tongue." The confidence with which she’s moved back into performing after a bit of a musical absence shows she can work in comeback mode like an old pro. -Miles

Kanye West

MILES: I figure the best way to start is to open with a sort of base line of how we felt. So I haven't seen Kanye since the infamous Bonnaroo '08 performance, but I was absolutely blown away by what he brought to Lands End on Friday night. From the second that glowing pillar rose on the stage and "Black Skinhead" started I was sold. He had me along even through the most indulgent parts, and there were some absurdly indulgent things here.

CHRIS: Compared to the Yeezus Tour performance I saw last fall, this was tame. It's Kanye West performing Kanye West music, so tame probably isn't the right word for it -- nor small, nor half-assed, nor uneventful. But in the context of Kanye, that's how this set felt to me. There was no mountain, no creepy sex druids, and no White Jesus. He didn't even properly rant! (Asking the crowd to form a circle pit is not a rant, and neither is the AutoTuned self-empowerment scatting that comprised the bulk of "Runaway.") It was minor Kanye -- which, again, is still Kanye. This was one of the greatest musicians of my lifetime performing some of his finest songs. I'm just spoiled, having witnessed some of his most fantastic spectacles of the past half-decade. I think I'm just ready for the next iteration of Yeezy -- not just the new album that's allegedly coming in a few months, but a whole new production design, new videos, the whole ordeal that accompanies everything Kanye has ever put his heart into. This set felt like a placeholder, like I was flipping through re-runs of last season. That said, re-runs are as good as new if you didn't catch them the first time around. What about the show captivated you, Miles?

MILES: I was really hoping to see the big stuff I'd heard about from the Yeezus Tour. The crazy "Holy Mountain," White Jesus, all those things that make it sound less like a rap show and more like some kind of insane Wagnerian production. Of course none of that materialized, but I thought what happened here ended up being so great for exactly that reason. The performance was so minimalistic that it fit right in with the music from Yeezus. The lighting was the definition of sparse, the side screens were completely blank for long stretches, and while I'm used to a rapper holding the mic out to the crowd, he stood in silence as the entire audience did the first few lines of "New Slaves." He didn't give a gesture, and you couldn't see his face behind that diamond studded mask, but he still felt in control of the audience the whole time. I guess what it came down to for me was Kanye as a performer, because he stripped everything else away really.

CHRIS: He says his next record will be poppy, so I can't imagine he'll be putting on such a dark, delirious show next time around. I see these summer festival sets as a clearing of the slate. It's almost like he's tearing his aesthetic down so he can build it back up in the image of what's next. What remains for the meantime is his impressive discography, which, yeah, amounted to an awesome show. How astounding that the guy who made "All Falls Down" and "Touch The Sky" is the same one who made "Mercy" and "Blood On The Leaves"? There is almost no through-line in that music except the remarkable ego and imagination of one visionary dude. As anxious as I am for the next thing, he was right to make us marvel at where he's been before getting where he's going.

Christopher Owens

Some people mocked Christopher Owens' new album cover when it was revealed. But why was that? It's an assortment of people of different genders, races, and ages standing and smiling. It's a cover with the same earnestness and sincerity that Owens was once praised for in his first band Girls. Those people in the A New Testament artwork are the very crew who crafted the new album, and many of them helped on the music that made Father, Son, Holy Ghost our favorite album of 2011. On the Sutro stage Saturday afternoon, we heard "My Ma," a volcanic rendition of "Forgiveness," and a full band "Jamie Marie" that began with Owens alone on stage. When he finished playing "Stephen" the deeply moving eulogy to his brother, Owens wiped a few tears from his eyes and thanked the audience for being there. He's still one of the greatest songwriters of this generation, and if it feels like he went away, don't worry, because he's come back with a whole new band that reminds us he never left. -Miles

Spoon

Whether Spoon ever lost their swagger is debatable. No swagger shortage Sunday, though! Just five guys playing indie-rock's equivalent of burgers and fries, and you better believe that's a compliment. Is there a more pleasing platonic ideal for American rock 'n' roll than Britt Daniel and the boys rollicking through a decade and change of unassailably approachable yet fearlessly experimental pop-rock nuggets? (OK, a full two decades' worth would be nice; here's hoping some A Series Of Sneaks and Girls Can Tell tracks work their way back into the mix someday.) Spoon ruled Outside Lands, plain and simple. Fuck an album title: They've got soul to spare, and shit yeah we wanted it. -Chris