Outside Lands 2010: The Temper Trap makes a splash, Al Green brings sunshine on a cloudy day, and Empire of the Sun pulls out all the stops just for the thrill of it

Day 2, August 15, in San Francisco

By Katherine Hoffert
Published: August 18th, 2010 | 12:30pm

Artists from the land down under highlighted the second day of Outside Lands, with the Temper Trap dazzling the Land’s End stage in the early afternoon and Empire of the Sun blowing up the Twin Peaks stage later that night. Returning to the Bay Area after a June performance at Live 105’s BFD festival, the Temper Trap has built a huge local fan base—and for good reason. They’re amazing. Playing hits like “Down River” and “Sweet Disposition” off their debut album, Conditions (Glassnote), the band members completely lost themselves in their music. Jonathon Aherne was the most zealous bassist to take the main stage (sorry, Gogol Bordello), and frontman Dougy Mandagi’s impossible, soaring vocals filled up the whole Polo Field. His drumming skills weren’t too shabby either. Taking over on the floor tom and cymbal during an extended “Science of Fear,” he poured water on the drumhead and splashed the hell out of himself and those around him.

Janelle Monáe was running a full 20 minutes late at the Sutro stage, apparently due to a delayed flight. The crowd waited patiently and was whisked along a 30-minute whirlwind shuffle through the latest adventures of Cindi Mayweather, Monáe’s android alter ego, while covering Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile.” In her high-waisted black slacks, puffy white shirt, and 1950s saddle shoes, Monáe kicked out some powerhouse vocals and futuristic soul hits alongside her cloaked/gloved/beaked dancers. Yet, her performance felt a bit too stylized and rehearsed, right down to the drummer’s systematic twirl of his sticks during the explosive “Cold War.” So it was great to see Monáe spontaneously ruffle up her perfectly coiffed hair and just rock out during “Tightrope.”

Back over at the Land’s End stage, the sun came out for Al Green’s bar-raising set. Dressed in his Sunday best, the 64-year-old reverend took the stage with a handful of red roses and proceeded to shower the crowd with love, petals, and a trip down memory lane. He couldn’t stop smiling or telling the audience he loved them, keeping a roll call of all the different Bay Area cities: “Oakland. Berkeley. San Jose. Sacramento. Modesto. San Francisco!” (Of course some of those were a stretch). With his daughters onstage backing him up, Green launched into a medley/history lesson of soul’s golden years, including Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman,” the Four Tops’ “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),” the Temptations’ “My Girl,” Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home To Me," and Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay." He frequently would sprinkle in comments like “See, we were raised up on that kind of good stuff.” He also played some Al Green classics that the audience was raised up on, like “Love and Happiness,” “Let’s Stay Together,” and “Here I Am.” During “Tired of Being Alone,” he stopped and said, “I can’t even get it out, I’m so excited.” But Green hit his high note in the end.

French alt-pop phenomenon Phoenix followed, and played a bass-and-hit-heavy set beginning with “Lisztomania” and ending with “1901.” Though Al Green earlier kept threatening to go out into the crowd, frontman Thomas Mars couldn’t stop himself during his set and jumped down in the photo pit on multiple occasions before crawling up a speaker stack for a bird’s eye view, and eventually surfing way out into the crowd for the band’s extended finale. Announcing that this would be their last show in the area for a while because they were going home to make a new record, Phoenix definitely left the audience with something to remember them by.

Competing against Kings of Leon, Empire of the Sun took the stage for the final performance of the night and knocked it out of the park. This was the Australian electro group’s first show in the Bay Area—its eighth on U.S. soil—and it was epic (think Daft Punk meets Bowie meets Cirque du Soleil). Though ringmaster Luke Steele could shred on guitar, the dancers were the most entertaining part of the performance. Their elaborate costumes, which ranged from swordfish (“Swordfish Hotkiss Night”) to golden blockheads (“Standing On the Shore”) and included giant pink boxy guitars with white lights for strings (“We Are the People”), changed for each song, which complemented the music and the vivid video projections behind them. It wasn’t long before the glow sticks and the light sabers came out. While the wheelchair scene was rather weird and the epic battle between Steele and the dancers during the finale, “Walking On a Dream,” was a little overdramatic, this was a rare spectacle to behold in Golden Gate Park and a thrilling end to this year’s festival.

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Read up on Outside Lands Day 1 coverage here