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Tens of thousands of fans stretched out in front of Childish Gambino, filling the Polo Grounds at Golden Gate Park in a fashion that was breathtaking to behold.
It was definitely bigger than what headliners Twenty One Pilots performed in front of during Day One (Aug. 9) of the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in San Francisco. Indeed, it has hard to remember a larger gathering in the event’s 12-year history.
And that’s because what we were witnessing on Day Two (Aug. 10) was “the biggest crowd that Outside Lands has ever had,” Childish Gambino — aka Donald Glover — told the audience.
Although the Day Two attendance totals were not officially released, organizers did say that 210,000 fans were expected to show up during the course of the three-day event, which continues through Sunday, Aug. 11.
Yet, the second day of Outside Lands definitely felt more crowded than Day One. And it wasn’t just one stage that was attracting the huge numbers. Instead, multiple stages were drawing thousands upon thousands of listeners — often at the very same time.
Flume, RL Grime, Alina Baraz, Big Wild and Ella Mai all drew impressive crowds to see them perform. Yet, clearly, the evening’s headliner — Childish Gambino — was the main attraction.
And this may well have been one of the very last opportunities to witness Gambino.
“This is the second to last show that we’ll be doing,” said Glover, the multitalented artist — and creator/star of the acclaimed TV series “Atlanta” — who says he’s retiring his Gambino stage persona after this tour.
The artist — who, for simplicity sake, we’ll just refer to as Gambino for the rest of the article — has had a busy festival season. Besides headlining Outside Lands, he’s topped the bill at such other major musical gatherings as Lollapalooza, Coachella and Bonnaroo. He’s also performed several solo dates on his This Is America Tour, including stops at both the SAP Center in San Jose and Oracle Arena in Oakland back in December.
The crowd was grooving from the get go, bouncing along with gusto to Gambino’s mix of R&B, soul, rock and hip-hop.
“This is the part of the show where we rate the crowd,” said Gambino, explaining that the rating system went from 1-10. “I’m going to rate you guys a 14.”
He also did a good job connecting with the crowd, as he chatted about his experiences with the Bay Area and gave pep talks to his fans.
“I like doing these shows because I get to see the future in front of me,” he said. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you aren’t the (expletive). You all are something special.”
He even gave a shout out to Ryan Coogler, saying that the Oakland-born director of “Black Panther” was the first person to contact him after his dad died.
Fans also found out that Gambino’s onstage wardrobe apparently doesn’t change with the weather. Despite the cold, foggy and typically San Francisco conditions, he still performed shirtless as he ran through the headlining set.
REVIEW: @Lauren_Daigle delivers stellar set at @sfoutsidelands – with photos https://t.co/1c3VV3A4t8
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) August 10, 2019
#OutsideLands: Marijuana steals the show at 12th annual festival in San Francisco, featuring Lil Wayne, Lauren Daigle, Counting Crows, Twenty One Pilots and so much more. https://t.co/fG44iaMKnt
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) August 10, 2019
