This past weekend's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, the free music festival in Golden Gate Park drew many thousands of music lovers of many stripes seeking a calm and escapist good time. The week was an awful one on multiple fronts, following the unfathomable and still unexplainable mass shooting in Las Vegas, ongoing tensions with North Korea with potentially nuclear implications, and the continued recovery from natural disasters in Puerto Rico and southern states, which also were hit with a smaller hurricane on Saturday. Hardly Strictly coincided as it does not always with Fleet Week and the Blue Angels' airshow, meaning that the roar of war jets interrupted various moments throughout performers sets Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and that only contributed to the various ways in which the world outside San Francisco's usually less warlike bubble seeped into the performances by some 100 different performers.
As the Chronicle notes, these included a mellow set by the super-group Lampedusa on Sunday, which includes Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Lucinda Williams, Buddy Miller, and Steve Earle (who are touring along with multiple other artists to raise awareness and money for the cause of refugees); and a set by legendary songwriter Randy Newman, whose new album Dark Matter includes a song about "one of the most powerful people in the United States," he said from the stage: Vladimir Putin. "Putin puttin' his pants on one leg at a time," the song goes, "You mean he's just like a regular fella, huh? He ain't nothing like a regular fella."
British singer Billy Bragg also spoke out about refugees, and derided Americans who voted for Trump, as the Chronicle reports.
And organizers introducing performers repeatedly reminded the audience to "look out for each other," and keep the peace by staying vigilant.
Lucinda Williams was one of the final acts to go on on Sunday, and poignantly, she covered Neil Young's "Keep on Rockin in the Free World," and sang her own song, "Protection," which includes the lyrics, "Livin’ in a world full of endless troubles / Livin’ in a world where darkness doubles / But my burden is lifted when I stand up, / And use the gift I was given for not givin’ up."
Among other highlights were Conor Oberst, Brandi Carlisle, and First Aid Kit on Friday; Robert Earle Keen, Gillian Welch, and Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach on Saturday; and Big Freedia, Cheap Trick, Courtney Barnett, Kurt Vile, and Emmylou Harris on Sunday.
Below, some Instagram snaps and vids.
