Outside Lands: Sabrina Carpenter plays silver screen star in a ‘forest fairyland’
SAN FRANCISCO — Thrown in as a surprise headliner at Outside Lands Music Festival just a couple months before the festival was set to begin its 16th annual run, emerging pop star Sabrina Carpenter delivered its biggest highlight through two days with a dazzling performance, with production to match.
The well-orchestrated program was meant to be exactly that, mimicking a ’50s-set TV program or even a Broadway show that included the bellowing voice of the performance’s announcer—”Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls… Sabrina Carpenter!”— and an entrance that recalled “La La Land” with a a choreographed dance number starring several performers in formal wear who eventually revealed the star at the back of the stage.
Carpenter appeared in a skintight, sparkling black dress with fringe along the hem, paired with thigh-high tights and black platform shoes. Her blonde hair was styled in her signature voluminous blowout with curtain bangs. Her band, also in formal wear and featuring a stand-up bassist who looked the part, was situated a few steps higher on a discreet white riser at the back of the stage, flanked by two round platforms for her guitarist and bassist, and later her and others.
She launched with “Fast Times,” during which she crawled around on her knees at times. Next, the lights shifted to a red gradient. Carpenter turned her back to the audience and peeked over her shoulder, playfully saying, “Oh hey, didn’t see you there,” before diving into the lounge-y Brill Building pop of “Read your Mind,” licking her lips at the end. The song’s vibe matched the performance’s theme perfectly.
“Outside Lands, will you scream for me?” she asked before diving into guitar-led slow-burner “Vicious.”
Throughout the performance, Carpenter engaged with the clearly adoring audience as if she was at a bar, flirting with 50,000 people at once.
“Hey guys. My name’s Sabrina, what’s your name? Mark screamed the loudest. Hi Mark!” she said. “I’m a Carpenter. I built this stage…”
She then quipped about the absence of Tyler. The Creator, who she replaced at the festival, before asking whether it was “too soon” to joke about him dropping out, and continuing on with the show.
“There’s a lot of you, and I feel very small,” the diminutive diva said.
Sabrina Carpenter introduced “Already Over,” which she said she wrote when she was in a situationship. Before she and her band launched into the more modern-sounding pop song, she suggested to those in one right now to not “be so hard on yourself.”
She also reflected on how slowing down and being present in the moment while her career is taking off is difficult for her. Against a sky-blue backdrop, she strapped on a cream-colored Fender Jaguar guitar and recounted a story about one day getting a severe weather alert on her phone while trying to play at a neighborhood park—she was on a seesaw, of all things.
“I took that as a sign,” she said and then launched into “Tornado Warnings,” on which she occasionally strummed along with her band.
“Opposite” split the difference between R&B and pop and took a dreamy turn as the lights dimmed and sparkled like twinkling stars. While the actual stars were hardly visible at Land’s End, a crescent moon and gleaming lights from a few drones overhead added to the effect. Two dancers, one dressed in white, another in black, performed dramatic moves on either side of Carpenter. She lied down on her side, then on her back, kicking her legs up.
Following “bet u wanna” and “Paris,” the latter of which featured Sabrina Carpenter whisper-singing and wriggling on the stage sensually, she performed “Feather” karaoke-style, with the lyrics plastered on the screen behind her. “I’m so sorry for your loss,” she said coyly while gently stroking her hair. The song included a fun snippet of the Cardigans’ “Love Fool,” as well as the return of the TV host voice, now hosting a couples dance contest.
The dancers took turns showing off difference styles, with the judging performed by crowd screams. That was followed by some “commercial hold music” as Carpenter left the stage.
She reemerged in a sparkling teal dress with matching boots. She first chit-chatted about what she should call the crowd, referring to San Francisco, or the Bay Area as a whole, as “forest fairyland people.” Then she got down to business.
“All right, Bay Area. I have a surprise for you. Do you want it?” she announced before introduced guest Kacey Musgraves, who was clad in a lilac minidress, and the two had the cutest exchange possible.
Carpenter: “Hi, doll!”
Musgraves: “You little minx! Look at us: hot, hot!”
They led the band in a cover of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” a Musgraves concert staple, with the country and pop star singing the first verse, and then the two switching off.
Unlike Carpenter, this wasn’t Musgraves’ first time performing at Outside Lands. She last played Outside Lands in 2019. Half a decade before that, she performed a set of Janis Joplin covers at the festival’s Panhandle stage.
“That was like a dream,” Carpenter said after the duet.
“I’m not leaving!” Musgraves yelled as she ran offstage.
Next came crowd favorite (and hit single) “Please Please Please,” from her forthcoming new album, Short n’ Sweet. She asked the crowd to sing along, and thousands of voices obliged, singing the spicy-but-sweet refrain. Afterward, she accepted, from fans in the front, and modeled homemade friendship bracelets and a sash that read, “I’m headlining, bitch.”
Carpenter also introduced a new song, “Slim Pickins,” a country-tinged tune led by acoustic guitar and a bouncy bass line.
“Because i liked a boy” and “Nonsense” preceded the video screen feed cutting to Carpenter drinking something that, based on her expression, was bitter, from a small white cup on stage. That let to “Espresso,” of course. She closed the night with her biggest hit.
“I love you Outside Lands! I’m gonna go to bed!” she yelled.
Follow photographer Mariana García at instagram.com/marianagphoto.