Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival is back at Golden Gate Park this weekend, bringing three days of live shows, activities and entertainment to San Francisco. The lineup is vast, so we’ve put together our picks from the schedule to make your life at the grounds easier. Follow along and we guarantee you will have a great time.
Friday, Aug. 11
Start the weekend with local jams by checking out up-and-coming Bay Area musicians on Friday afternoon. Oakland-bred multi-genre talent King Isis kicks off the festival at the Panhandle Stage (noon-12:40 p.m.). Their songwriting reflects struggles they faced growing up in the Bay while fusing rock, R&B, jazz and more. On the Lands End Stage, San Francisco reggaeton artist La Doña (12:10-12:55 p.m.) performs her signature “femmeton,” a term she coined to describe her auto-referential songs about love, sex, gentrification and the radical joys of being a queer brown woman in the Bay Area.
Performances at Dolores’, described as a “brand new open-air dance club” celebrating queer and trans communities in the Polo Field, will be curated by local nightlife icons FAKE and GAY on Friday, OASIS on Saturday and Hard French on Sunday. San Francisco-based DJ and producer sadgayboi (12:45-2 p.m.) starts the party on Friday, followed by others including Bay Area talents nonsuit (2-3 p.m.), Ah-Mer-Ah-Su (3-4 p.m.), La Favi (5-5:30 p.m.), Discnogirl (6-7 p.m.) and Saturn Risin9 (7-7:30 p.m.). For nonstop entertainment, Dolores’ will be your best bet, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
Bay Area house music artist, producer and vocalist MISS DRE (SOMA Tent, 12:35-2:05 p.m.) can get you moving and grooving in the early afternoon before you head over to catch rising alternative music star Ethel Cain (Sutro Stage, 2:30-3:20 p.m.) work her magic. The singer’s debut album “Preacher’s Daughter” and single “American Teenager” both garnered major critical acclaim last year. Psychedelic rock band Crumb (Sutro Stage, 3:50-4:40 p.m.) follows Cain. Basketball superstar Shaquille O’Neal will DJ an electronic dance music set under his stage moniker Diesel (5:20-6:10 p.m.) at the Twin Peaks Stage—we’re curious enough to wander over there.
Janelle Monáe (Lands End Stage, 6:55-7:55 p.m.), who released her fourth studio album “The Age of Pleasure” earlier this summer, will take the stage at the same time as the sensational Korean girl group aespa (Twin Peaks Stage, 6:55-7:45 p.m.). If that was not a difficult enough decision, actor Will Smith’s daughter WILLOW (Sutro Stage, 6:30-7:20 p.m.) brings her moody alternative music to the park around the same time. The choice is yours. We’re going to go with Pulitzer Prize-winning headliner Kendrick Lamar (Lands End Stage, 8:40-9:55 p.m.) to close the night. His fifth studio album “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers” was met with universal acclaim and earned him a historic fourth Album of the Year nomination at the Grammy Awards this year. Outside Lands is the perfect opportunity to catch Lamar if you missed his two sold-out shows at the Oakland Arena last summer.
Saturday, Aug. 12
You can begin your second day in the park again with Bay Area performers. San Francisco indie-pop band No Vacation (Lands End Stage) will take the stage at noon. Oasis nightclub resident DJ Ion The Prize kicks off festivities at Dolores’ at noon for a day of queer fun, including performances by RuPaul’s Drag Race star Adore Delano (6:15-7:45 p.m.) and Oasis’ all-Black drag show “Reparations” (3:30-5 p.m.) hosted by Bay Area drag icon Nicki Jizz.
Bay Area-based indie trio Sour Widows (Panhandle Stage, 1:40-2:20 p.m.) serve up harmonies, guitars and introspection, and Atlanta-raised comedian, writer, actor and rapper Zack Fox (Sutro Stage, 2:50-3:40 p.m.) is a must-see. You might recognize him as the hilariously clueless Tariq in the hit sitcom “Abbott Elementary.” Stick around to see R&B starlet Mariah the Scientist (4:10-5 p.m.), another Atlanta musician, on the same stage or head over to catch Canadian indie pop band Alvvays (Lands End Stage, 3:40-4:30 p.m.), whose latest record “Blue Rev” received critical praise last fall. Indonesian singer-songwriter NIKI (Twin Peaks Stage, 5:25-6:15 p.m.) will surely wow the crowd with songs from her synthy debut album “MOONCHILD” and eponymous sophomore album “Nicole,” which came out last summer.
The evening is full of performances you won’t want to miss. Alas, decisions have to be made. Singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers (Lands End Stage, 6:30-7:30 p.m.), who was discovered by Pharrell Williams when he visited her class at New York University, is a safe bet to enjoy the golden hour. RuPaul’s Drag Race winner and “We’re Here” host Bob the Drag Queen (7:50-8:35 p.m.), who will be supporting the Queen of Pop Madonna on The Celebration Tour this fall, performs at the Panhandle Stage next. You can catch headliners Foo Fighters (Lands End Stage, 8-9:55 p.m.) or vibe out to Lana Del Rey (Twin Peaks Stage, 8:40-9:55 p.m.) to cap the night.
Sunday, Aug. 13
An exciting lineup will wrap up the festival on a high. Singer-songwriter UPSAHL (Lands End Stage, noon-12:40 p.m.), who has written songs for Dua Lipa, GAYLE, Little Mix and Madison Beer, opens the main stage. Oakland band Fake Fruit’s art rock (Twin Peaks Stage, 12:35-1:15 p.m.) showcases funny yet biting lyrics, blistering guitars and a powerhouse beat. Follow that with indie pop up-and-comers Venus & the Flytraps (1:15-1:50 p.m.) at the Panhandle Stage before heading back to Twin Peaks for English singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone (1:55-2:40 p.m.), who was named the BRITs Rising Star by the BRIT Awards in 2022. Her acclaimed debut EP “Falling Asleep at the Wheel” has amassed over 200 million streams.
Head over to Dolores’ next for a performance hosted by Histronixx (3-4 p.m.), a transgender focused series, featuring electronic artists WeLiveInParadise and Banned Practice. Curated by San Francisco nightlife institution Hard French, Sunday’s lineup at Dolores’ continues to celebrate gender and sexual diversity with sets from DJ Nico (1-2 p.m.), Nascent Attraction (2-3 p.m.), ALOK (6:05-6:20 p.m.) and more.
Singer-songwriters Grace Ives (Panhandle Stage, 4:10-4:50 p.m.), Clinton Kane (Sutro Stage, 4:25-5:15 p.m.) and beabadoobee (Twin Peaks Stage, 4:55-5:45 p.m.) will help you mellow out in the afternoon.
For our final night, we wouldn’t miss Megan Thee Stallion (Lands End Stage, 6:20-7:20 p.m.) for the world. The “hot girl coach” will pull from her catalog full of hits and her most recent album, “Traumazine,” a word she coined and defines as a fictional chemical compound that the brain releases in response to painful emotions caused by traumatic events and experiences. Then you can catch another Houston hip hop artist, Tobe Nwigwe (Sutro Stage, 7:05-7:55 p.m.) or rocker Soccer Mommy (Panhandle Stage, 7:30-8:15 p.m.) before heading to your choice of a festival closer. Headliner ODESZA’s set (Lands End Stage, 8:05-9:35 p.m.) will be a high-energy celebration of the duo’s eclectic music. Controversial English pop rock band The 1975 (Twin Peaks Stage, 8:20-9:35 p.m.) and rising singer-songwriter Noah Kahan (Sutro Stage, 8:25-9:25 p.m.) will be tamer alternatives that are sure to entertain as well.
Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival runs from noon-9:55 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon -9:35 p.m. Sunday in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. The main entrance is at 30th Avenue and John F. Kennedy Drive. General admission tickets are sold out; exclusive Golden Gate Club tickets from $2,314 per day available. For the schedule, map and more details, visit https://www.sfoutsidelands.com/ or download the Outside Lands app.