I traveled with several of my co-workers to San Francisco for the 5th annual Outside Lands music festival in the city’s Golden Gate Park. At Aloompa, we’ve been providing the Outside Lands app for several years now, and this was my first opportunity to attend the festival.

Of the many festivals I’ve been to, this experience at Ouside Lands definitely ranks among my favorites. One feature that sets Outside Lands apart from other festivals is their excellent taste for graphics. Each year, Outside Lands creates an impressive new look for the festival, and it’s fun to watch the graphic design come alive as we produce the app.

Outside Lands was the first festival app in which Aloompa introduced event reviews. After a long day at the festival, reading reviews for the past shows was interesting and hilarious. Sometimes people would have negative things to say about performers, but still would give them four stars. The UI seems very clear, so perhaps they just care more about having their voice heard. Overall there have been a great numbers of reviews and they keep piling in. Here are some reviews from the app that I found amusing:

(Phoenix) Eek everything sounds like the recorded version

Since when is that a bad thing?

(Paul McCartney) Wish I had health insurance

I feel like that one needs an explanation, especially since they gave it 4/4 stars.

(Red Hot Chili Peppers) They played what I wanted but they spent so long just playing around and jamming then ended early! No fire, explosions, or nudity?? What the heck guys!

This person definitely had some high expectations.

As for my review, out of all the performers I saw over the weekend, I found Zedd’s performance the most exciting. His energetic approach to electronic house music reminded me a little of seeing Tiesto at Electric Zoo last year. My favorite part of the show was a remix of Empire of the Sun’s recent single “Alive”. If you want a little taste of the show, there is a excellent mix on SoundCloud you should check out. Second favorite show of the weekend was Chromatics. I’ve been a huge fan of their music, but was thrilled at how well their sound transferred live.