Outside Lands 2017 - Sunday
photo by Moses Namkung

Outside Lands 2017 Sunday pics (The Who, Solange, Lorde, more)

Outside Lands wrapped up its 2017 edition in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on Sunday (8/13) with a headlining set from The Who. USA Today says:

Pete Townshend, the band’s lead guitarist, songwriter and master showman, has never shied from strutting and proselytizing onstage. At a spry 72, he’s entered an interesting stage in his love-hate relationship with touring: He now openly embraces the rigors of the road, offering history lessons introducing songs and then delivering blistering performances of them.

Townshend singularly owned the night, weaving in stories about the Summer of Love in 1967 and his mid-life crisis in the early 1980s with top-shelf renderings of I Can’t Explain, The Seeker, Behind Blue Eyes, Bargain and The Rock.

Still, lead singer Roger Daltrey, who sacrificed his voice during the group’s 53-year history to emotionally project the anguish and exhilaration of Townshend’s deeply personal lyrics, hit the high note of the night, as he has on The Who’s latest tour. His spine-chilling delivery of Quadrophenia’s Love Reign o’er Me is one of those moments during a show that demands the attention of the most jaded characters. The song, about teenage alienation and redemption, may have resonated with some in the youthful gathering.

The band has integrated younger musicians to fill the yawning chasm left by the deaths of bassist John Entwistle and, decades ago, of drummer Keith Moon. The Who is a different band, to be sure, but one with a richer, more-fluid sound than the blitzkrieg of sound and fury during its salad days in the 1960s and ’70s.

A mini-suite from Tommy illustrated that moment last night brilliantly. The medley of Amazing Journey-Pinball Wizard-See Me, Feel Me nicely stitched the skills of Townshend’s flamenco-style playing and fills; the always professional Daltrey’s knack for turning a song into an emotive anthem; and the frenetic, propulsive playing of Zak Starkey (Ringo Starr’s son), who has come as close to Moon as any of the band’s myriad drummers.

Baba O’Riley and Won’t Get Fooled Again brought Outside Lands to the rousing conclusion of its 10th year. The Who, like its musical peers (Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Elton John), before them, had successfully weathered a vintage foggy, soggy night at the festival to deliver a bravura performance.

A few hours earlier on Sunday, Lorde‘s set included the live debut of Melodrama track “Hard Feelings.” She also invited Jack Antonoff of Bleachers (who also played earlier in the day) onstage to cover Paul Simon‘s “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard.” Watch video of that below.

The third day of Outside Lands also had sets from Solange, Action Bronson, Swet Shop Boys, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Lee Fields and the Expressions, Kamaiyah, Khruangbin, James Vincent McMorrow, and more. Check out pictures of the whole day in the gallery above.

Catch up on all of our Outside Lands coverage: pictures from Friday HERE, Gorillaz’s headlining set HERE, Saturday HERE, and Metallica’s headlining set HERE.

photos by Moses Namkung and Samantha Saturday