SAN FRANCISCO — There was only one point in her show at Outside Lands on Saturday in which Lizzo was wrong.

“I’m the worst headliner,” Lizzo said while coordinating a TikTok video with the audience. “Sorry, festival.”

That could not be farther from the truth. Lizzo was absolutely born to be a festival headliner. Her hits are universally known and universally loved, and the deeper cuts are still catchy enough to keep a general audience hooked. Lizzo has the stage presence and charisma to keep any crowd wrapped around her finger for as long as she’d like. Most of all, she puts on a heck of a show. And we’ll get back to that TikTok later.

After kicking off the set with “Rumors,” her new single with Cardi B (though Cardi B was only present as a recording), she set the tone for the evening.

“Bitch,” she said before pausing. “That’s my first bitch. Can we have a bitch counter in the back for how many times I say “bitch” tonight? That’s how many shots we gotta do.” She also riffed on photos of her dressed as Baby Yoda from “The Mandalorian” the night before, telling the audience a secret: Her behind is still green.

The next surprise was when she hit a high note near the end of her next song, “Good As Hell,” and pyrotechnics shot up from the stage. The gasps and cheers gave the impression that nobody was expecting that. She may have let slip the secret about the remaining green paint, and later another about where her thong had ended up, but at least she successfully hid one thing from us.

But that high note had nothing on the extended rendition of her hit “Cuz I Love You.” She hit so many high notes, and repeated the line so many times, that she had to sit down. Yes, odds are it was pageantry for the show of it, but considering there aren’t many people on Earth who could hit the note on the song’s climactic line even once, we can’t rule out the possibility that there was an element of truth.

A couple songs later, “Boys” had an incredible guitar solo, which brings up another point: In addition to her touring DJ Sophia Eris, a talented musician in her own right, Lizzo had a full live band comprised of women, and they were incredible. It’s difficult to stand out when Lizzo is also on stage, but on quite a few occasions they managed.

That brings us to the TikTok challenge. At one point, Lizzo demanded her phone and explained that she wanted to make a TikTok; she had seen one she wanted to recreate with the crowd, so she explained it and showed everyone the dance. To make sure we knew, she pulled the original up on her phone, held her mic to the speaker, and showed the screen to the camera. Then she had everyone practice. It took quite a long time and got funnier and funnier as it went on. As of press time, she hadn’t actually posted it yet, unfortunately.

And that was only the second-least expected event of the show. Between songs, the band and dancers came out in “Squid Game” costumes and began performing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” before Lizzo herself emerged in costume to do the famous “Thriller” dance. Even if it wasn’t the day before Halloween, it would have been more than welcome.

Lizzo finished up with her smash hit “Truth Hurts,” including a flute solo, and for an encore performed “Juice” with another flute solo. The show concluded with a several-minutes-long fireworks show over the stage, capping off the hour and a half of fireworks on stage.

Lord Huron

While Lizzo and ZHU closed out the night on Outside Lands’ biggest stages, folk rock band Lord Huron served up the counter programming with perhaps the best rock and roll performance at the festival through the second day. Part of the feat was that it was one of the only rock and roll bands on the lineup, but it was nice to experience this on a bill heavy in hip-hop and electronic dance music.

Lord Huron, which focused the first half of its set on up-tempo rockers, largely established hits rather than a bunch of tunes off fantastic new album Long Lost. The band also didn’t skimp on the stage production, performing in the midst of the a desert-like landscape with lit up cacti and crazy hills that formed a multilevel stage for the septet.

The new album has only one true rocker, “Not Dead Yet,” and Lord Huron kicked off with that—with vocalist Ben Schneider wearing a spooky skull mask that wrapped around his head and deadened his eyes. Schneider went all out physically, doing some Motown-esque shuffle kicks across the stage. “Fool for Love,” off 2015’s Strange Tales, kept the pace hot and rolling. As did “Secret of Life,” from 2018’s hit album Vide Noir, which featured some crunchy guitar leads and an uptempo Bo Diddly beat.

On and on Lord Huron went, with rockers like “Hurricane (Johnnie’s Theme),” “The World Ender” (punctuated by a harmonica riff) and finally another new tune in “Mine Forever,” a moody cut. Following “Ancient Names, Pt. I,” another older rock tune, the band finally slowed it down with “Wait by the River.” We didn’t catch the second half of the set, but hopefully Lord Huron highlighted more of their fantastic new songs.

Vampire Weekend

It seems Vampire Weekend is a jam band now.

That’s not new, and it’s not entirely unknown. Even the New York Times noticed and wrote a story about it in March 2020. But for those who remember Vampire Weekend as a mainstay of mid-’00s indie rock, their transition to full-blown hippie jam band may be a bit jarring. Even if the keyboardist’s Halloween costume, a Domino’s pizza uniform, does suit their adopted genre.

Of course nobody cares all that much if they turned into a good jam band, and that’s definitely the case. After taking the stage to the iconic “stomp-stomp-clap” of “We Will Rock You,” the band broke into “Bambina,” “Unbelievers” and “Holiday,” setting the tone for the set.

“What’s up San Francisco,” frontman Ezra Koenig said. “We’re Vampire Weekend. This is our first show in 18 months.”

You’d never know they’d been off the road for so long from the polish of their performance, even if it wasn’t exactly what some expected. Older material, like 2008’s “A-Punk,” got the crowd chanting along. There was even an appreciation for their newer material; the first few notes of “This Life,” from 2019 album Father of the Bride, got cheers. Though then again, the mention of San Francisco in “Step” also got cheers, even though the line is “L.A. slash San Francisco,” which Bay Area locals could take personally.

“So not only is this our first show in 18 months,” Koenig clarified later on in the set. “This is our only show of 2021.” If this is what they’re capable of after a long layover, they should probably do more.

24kGoldn

On a lineup full of rappers, perhaps the most unique was Bay Area native 24kGoldn. The 20-year-old, who also acts and sings, refuses to fit into any genre-specific box. While he got his start on social media (and is hugely popular on TikTok thanks to mega-smash “Mood”) he’s no mumble rapper. Nor does he do hyphy, despite his roots. Many of his songs are just as much rock or pop, and 24kGoldn reinforced that concept by bringing a live band—perhaps the only rapper through two days of the fest to do that.

Spotlights mounted to four palm trees on stage, as a reference to his debut album, El Dorado, served more as mood lighting as he took the stage and kicked right into his first-ever hit, “Valentino.”

This wasn’t a hip-hop song set to a rock beat, it was both a rock and hip-hop song. The next tune, “3,2, 1,” was also guitar-riff-centric. “Coco,” another viral hit, came next, followed by “Love Or Lust,” which began with 24kGoldn crooning (well) before transitioning to rapping. But it remained a pop song more than a hip-hop song.

“I think this is literally the most people I’ve ever played in front of! … And this is my hometown!” he said at one point, overcome by the magnitude of the moment… for a bit. “But enough of that sentimental shit.”

He rattled off a few more impressive performances on the contemplative “Empty,” “Prada” and “The Top.” He then gave Outside Lands attendees the down-low about sneaking into the festival with a story about how he accomplished that feat while he was still in school.  He missed out on tickets while all his friends were able to buy them, before they sold out. So, he dug into his parents’ closet and found a reflective vested construction helmet, which allowed him to waltz right in undetected.

“Don’t do what I did. That’s bad,” he said, smirking.

Goldn brought up two guest performers: Bay Area rapper Paypa Boy, whom he said was instrumental to his life, for “24k’Ed Out,” and Stunnaman02 for “Big Steppin.”

Other highlights included 2019 single “City of Angels,” “Butterflies” and of course, “Mood.”

Aminé

Rico Nasty

Rico Nasty performed her set in costume, specifically a take on Harley Quinn complete with oversized mallet. It wasn’t too far off from her usual concert attire, though, so to really drive home the point that it was a Halloween weekend show, she had two dancers in inflatable costumes of Gizmo from “Gremlins” on stage for most of the set. And to really drive the point home, she asked, “Y’all like the fit? If so, this is your song,” before launching into “Check Me Out.”

The new-school hip-hop act had the huge-for-the-time-slot crowd going crazy from the first note. There was even a mosh pit that started with the slightest bit of urging by her DJ; they didn’t need much of an excuse.
She played songs from throughout her catalog, from “Cold” to “Sandy” to “iPhone,” though for the most part the audience didn’t care. Anything she rapped, anything she played, fans were there and ready to go crazy.

Though they did get especially excited near the end of the set. “Hey Rico, I think we forgot something,” the DJ said, with one of her biggest hits still unplayed. “I think we forgot to smack a bitch.” The crowd roared in approval as the track began.

Melanie Martinez

New York singer-songwriter Melanie Martinez, who has written dozens of hits for other artists, took her set to focus on her own songs at Outside Lands, and was ready for Halloween with a creepy doll theme—which, coincidentally, also fits many of her existing releases. She performed songs from throughout her catalog but focused on 2019 album K-12 and her numerous EPs.

The stage was decorated with large cakes (including the drum platform), while she wore a frilly outfit with soft pink spikes coming out of each shoulder (they turned out to be detachable sleeves and came off as soon as she got hot on stage). Her dancers, too, wore blue and pink doll-like outfits. But there was an obvious edge to the costumes. These weren’t kid-friendly dolls. They were more like sleazy LOL Dolls.

Her set consisted of self-explanatory songs like “Test Me” (which ended with a dancer pretending to break a glass over Martinez’ head), “Dollhouse,” “Nurse’s Office” and “High School Sweethearts.” All were dramatic candy pop, but the candy had shards of glass embedded in it.

Each song seemed to bepaired with a specific message. For “High School Sweethearts,” for example, Martinez said that people had to break free from toxic relationships. Each song was also paired with simulation-room-quality background images.

There were props, too. The dancers let out a stream of bubbles from soap bubble guns during “Soap.” Fans were pelted with fresh strawberries during “Strawberry Shortcake,” leaving them to either try to make a catch and squish the large berries in the process, or to let them hit the sandy ground.

She concluded with more themed songs like “Pity Party,” with snippets of “It’s My Party,” “The Bakery” and “Play Date Tik Tok.”

Dijon

R&B crooner Dijon and his band brought some mellow vibes to the Twin Peaks stage with a mix of old and new songs, some of which had never even been heard before.

Opening with “Big Mike’s,” Dijon had the crowd swaying and dancing, a respite from the cacophony of most festival acts. He kept them going through “Many Times” and right through his closing song, “Violence,” showing why many think he could be the next big thing.

Hinds

The Madrid quartet played an energetic early set at the main stage, high on squelchy garage rock and a few twists, such as a Spanish cover of a tune by The Clash. Hinds released The Prettiest Curse in 2020, and this was one of their first chances to play some of those new songs in the U.S. As singer-guitarist Carlotta Cosials pointed out, the band was nearly unable to enter the country to perform. “We won!” she added.

Hinds opened with “Riding Solo” and “Just Like Kids (Miau),” a particularly fun number, before transitioning to mid-tempo numbers like “New For You,” the screechy “Waiting For You” and the poppy “Garden.” The band members were hoping there was a woman or girl in the audience who could play that last one with them, but none volunteered.

The foursome smiled broadly throughout the performance, including songs like the uptempo “Bamboo” and “Burn.” “Come Back And Love Me <3” featured some Spanish guitar tinges, while the keyboard-led (courtesy of Ana García Perrote) “Good Bad Times” provided some sweet emotive variety.

Rexx Life Raj

A couple songs into his set, after “Moonwalk,” East Bay native Rexx Life Raj said the obvious: “I should be performing at like 7 o’clock, but they don’t believe.”

He was not wrong. Performing with a full band for the first time, and one would assume performing in an inflatable costume making it look like he was riding a dinosaur for the first time, Raj had his sizable audience of fans jumping and singing along for the whole show. From “Level Up” to “Burgundy Regal” to “Kimbo Slice,” those up front seemed to know every word.

And Raj wasn’t the only one in costume. In addition to calling out some traffic cones and a fellow dinosaur (but blue, to his dinosaur’s red), he spotted one oddly specific and oddly appropriate one: A Boise State number 75 jersey, his number from when he played offensive line for the school. With fans that dedicated, 7 p.m. may be a little early.

Follow editor Daniel J. Willis at Twitter.com/BayAreaData. Follow editor Roman Gokhman at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter. Follow photographer Adam Pardee at Instagram.com/adampardeephoto and adampardee.com.