Treasure Island Music Festival: A Pearl in the Festival World

As the festival season typically comes to an end during the close of summer, San Francisco takes a unique route every October with its annual Treasure Island Music Festival. Held on the peaceful landmark of Treasure Island with ocean panoramic views of San Francisco’s skyscrapers and Golden Gate Bridge, there is no question as to why this event is referred to as the “the festival in the bay.” The festival comprised of acts from indie-rock, electronica, and hip-hop backgrounds is now in its eighth year. With a record number selling out to over 35,000 music lovers in attendance, it marked its best selling festival to date.

Held on an elite Indian summer weekend, the two-day festival was filled with an eclectic line-up of more than 25 acts including Janelle Monae, Zedd, BANKS, Ryan Hemsworth, TV On The Radio, Outkast, and Massive Attack.  One of the awesome benefits of this festival is the artist production across two stages, the Bridge Stage and the Tunnel Stage. Each act is coordinated with their own time slot with a non-overlapping set, making it easier for attendees to watch each performance.

 

Right when you first walk in to the festival, there are so many different features that grab your attention. Not only are patrons trying to figure which food trucks are worth waiting in line for, or which clothing vendor is selling the best San Francisco Giants gear, the event is equipped with family-friendly activities. Whether it’s teenagers emulating the 40-feet tall lady statue of Bliss Dance, couples riding the ferris wheel that overlooks a sunset across the Pacific Ocean, the Camp DIY station allowing artistic individuals to create customized clothing, or the silent disco where every patron is wearing headphones to dance to their own beat. The festival presents a relaxed ambiance for a fun-filled weekend.

Kicking off the festival was San Francisco-bred band Painted Palms on the Bridge Stage before electronic artist Tobacco soothed the audience with his DJ skills and vocals on the Tunnel Stage. The rapping trio from New York known as Ratking took over the main stage followed by XXYYXX spinning more electro-R&B records. MØ owned the Bridge Stage like a pop diva despite her wardrobe including an eye patch. She mentioned to the crowd she was wearing the patch due to an eye problem. However, the crowd could’ve easily assumed she wanted to look like a pirate to match the festival’s theme and they still would have loved her performance either way. Another artist who caught my attention was Ana Tijoux. She brought a festive experience to the crowd with her Latin hip-hop grooves.

One of my favorite artists on the line-up was psychedelic R&B songstress Janelle Monae. Fans became a bit antsy when her microphone didn’t work during her opening song. However, the audio team corrected the sounds for the Electric Lady to continue with her set; filled with her moon-walking moves, go-go dancing background singers and her cover to James Brown’s hit, “I Feel Good.”

DJ and music producer Zedd took over the main stage later spinning the most popular electronic dance songs of the summer including Calvin Harris’ hit, “Summer” and David Guetta’s smash, “Titanium.” Between his atmospheric lightshow and fire pyromania, he brought the ambiance of an outdoor Vegas club to the Bay Area.

Headlining on Saturday night was the legendary hip-hop duo Outkast, the main act why I chose to attend this year’s festival. Their 20^th anniversary reunion tour has been taken by storm by performing at more than 40 festivals worldwide. Since it’s still a bit unclear whether the two MCs will release another joint album in the future, this reunion tour was a great gift for the fans that have supported them for the past two decades. They opened up with their Stankonia hit, “Bombs Over Baghdad” before going through their extensive catalog including “Rosa Parks” and having the entire crowd throw their hands in the air on “ATliens.” The two broke off into their individual sets with Big Boi performing “Kryptonite (I’m On It)” and Andre 3000 bringing a few lucky fans on stage to dance to “Hey Ya.” The duo surprised the audience when they brought out soulful singer Sleepy Brown as they performed their hits “The Way You Move” and “So Fresh, So Clean.” Outkast has always been a group I’ve wanted to see perform live and this festival allowed fans to be a part of this historical moment as one of the last stops on their reunion tour. They concluded their set with their 2004 hit, “The Whole World.”

On Sunday, the line-up featured more underground, alternative, and indie artists, with some hailing from California. Although the temperatures were cooler on the island, that didn’t stop fans from coming to rock out on a Sunday fun day. Serving the crowd with punk-pop sound was LA-based band Bleached. The sister duo showed they can rock out just as good as the boy bands. Another act that caught my attention was pop-rock band White Denim taking over the main stage. Their eclectic sound between punk rock, blues, and country could tailor towards anyone in the audience. Some of their songs resonate a soulful rock vibe, similar to a John Mayer style that brings musical bliss to my ears.

Electro-R&B singer BANKS also brought her sultry essence to the stage. Her dark and mysterious look along with her edgy and unplugged sound captivated the audience into her world. Since releasing her debut album Goddess back in September and wrapping up her worldwide promotional tour, she told the crowd this was the “perfect ending” to conclude her tour. Other acts included rock band The New Pornographers, electronica musician Chet Faker, and veteran rockers TV On The Radio. To wrap up the festival was the new-age alternative group Massive Attack. This band has been in the music industry for over twenty-five years and marked this festival as the last stop of their 2014 summer tour.

So what’s the melody behind the 2014 Treasure Island Music Festival? Not only is it a festival with one of the best scenic views, but it brings artists together from all different genres and houses some of the biggest names in music history.