PHOTO CREDIT: Photo By Rachel Bleckman

By Paul Freeman

Flower power may have long since wilted, but the tradition of rock concerts in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park continues stronger than ever.

The spectacular and eclectic 2012 lineup for Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival, August 10-12, includes Metallica, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Foo Fighters, Jack White, Beck, Skrillex, Sigur Ros, Norah Jones, Regina Spektor, Andrew Bird, Grandaddy, Franz Ferdinand, Dr. Dog, Trampled By Turtles, Sean Hayes, Tom Morello, Birdy and many, many more. [See www.sfoutsidelands.com for the full list].

Metallica’s Lars Ulrich says, “As a Bay area resident and as a music fan, going to see the Outside Land’s Festival every year is a huge thing for, for not only me, but for my family. So, getting a chance to play it and to sort of, you know, headline it or whatever, is obviously a huge thing for us.

“If I’m not going to play, I’m going to go, so either way I’m going to involved in it somehow and I’m going to take my kids and it probably will be the concert highlight of their year. I have four kids, but, particularly a 14-year-old and an 11-year-old who are very excited about going to these festivals, so it works on all fronts.

“And obviously, I think that being back in San Francisco and celebrating our 30th anniversary, which we did with the full week of shows at the Fillmore in December, in some way, it feels kind of like, almost like the encore of that, you know, getting a chance to play Outside Lands six months later, is a huge way to just sort of continue our long-standing love affair with all things San Francisco. And Golden Gate Park is an awesome, awesome setting. Finding inspiration to play home town shows is never difficult and we’re always fired up.”

This will mark Metallica’s first Golden Gate Park show. “It’s awesome that you can continue to conjure up different experiences,” Ulrich says. “So obviously, we’ve played AT&T, the site where the Giants play. We’ve obviously played Oakland.

“We’ve played every indoor building and every club and theatre and so on. So, obviously, any chance of playing in Golden Gate Park, which has been the site of many legendary gigs over the decades, it’s obviously, a super cool thing. It’s a privilege. We rearranged the whole summer schedule just for this.”

The drummer will be there as a fan, as well as a performer. “I’m 48 going on 16, but when I’m around Jack White or Dave Grohl or Neil Young or whatever, I’m like a f-cking kid in the candy store myself.”

In addition to rocking out, attendees will also laugh themselves silly, thanks to the hysterical roster performing at the comedy/variety tent dubbed The Barbary. Among the funny folks will be David Cross, Neil Patrick Harris, Chris Hardwick, Reggie Watts, Todd Barry and Jon Glaser.

Asked how he fits into the festival, Cross says, “I’m definitely funnier than Norah Jones but I’m not quite as funny as Skrillex. So I’m somewhere in between the two. I’m looking forward to it. Even if it sucks it’s still a story, you know.

“As I understand it, this is a kind of more of an intimate setting, as much as you can have at one of these big, huge massive outdoor festivals. I’m glad that it’s 450 seats. I think that’s better for everybody, as opposed to being, I remember when I did Bonnaroo, it was a huge tent and like people in the back were far away. That’s okay if you’re listening to music, but when there’s a performance with gesticulation and all that’s involved and you’re trying to entertain the people in the front as well as the back, it’s just not quite the same. So I’m happy with what it sounds like it’s going to be, as far as the setup.”

Hardwick, podcast superstar and king of the Nerdists, says, “I’ve done Bumbershoot a bunch of times and Coachella one year. Comedy works well at these kinds of festivals, with this kind of vibe and these kinds of artists.

“Typically, comedy is not a great thing to do during the day, but it works with these festivals because, people can sort of come in and the show is very dynamic, because you’ll see five comics in an hour, hour -and-half. So there’s enough turnover that it just keeps everything constantly fresh. It just keeps kind of stirring the entertainment pot. There's just something about the festival vibe that puts people in the right frame of mind.”

Outside Lands seems poised to give the crowds a vibe so cool it will stay in their minds for the rest of their expanded existences. Flower power lives!