The Outside Lands Festival: All Access

Some of our favorite moments from San Francisco’s gigantic, foggy party.


Every August, 60,000 spectators gather in Golden Gate Park for three days of music, comedy, food, and revelry under San Francisco’s famous marine layer. This year, headliners included Paul McCartney and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, though Outside Lands is as much about showcasing up-and-coming bands—and their colorful fans, of course—as it is about the stars.

From the early afternoon mosh pit during Wavves’s set to the impromptu dance parties that sprung up between acts, here’s a look at some of our favorite festival moments from Outside Lands.

Outside Lands love

If you’re going to San Francisco… Maggie Caldwell
 

Gabe Simon, Kopecky Family Band Maggie Severns
 

Outside Lands stilts

Joy on stilts. Maggie Caldwell
 

Fans await the Head and the Heart. Maggie Caldwell
 

Ruth Radelet, Chromatics Maggie Severns
 

Jonathan Russell of the Head and the Heart at the Sutro Stage. Maggie Caldwell
 

Comedian Maria Bamford on the Barbary Stage. Maggie Caldwell
 

Foals Maggie Severns
 

Magician

A performer practices David Bowie’s Labyrinth moves. Maggie Caldwell
 

Excuse me for partying. Maggie Caldwell
 

Willie Nelson Maggie Severns
 

San Francisco dancers

Just dance! Maggie Caldwell
 

In the festival kitchens. Maggie Caldwell
 
Hungry

Spicy Pie hits the spot. Maggie Caldwell
 
Outside Lands

Walking and chowing by the windmills. Maggie Caldwell
 

Cat-napping near the Panhandle Stage. Maggie Caldwell
 

Nathan Williams, Wavves Maggie Severns
 

Big Wavves surfing. Maggie Caldwell
 

Thao Nguyen of Thao And The Get Down Stay Down. Maggie Caldwell
 

On the prowl… Maggie Caldwell
 

Karen Oh of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Maggie Caldwell

Sadly, photographs don’t do dance moves justice. Here are a couple concertgoers in motion:

 

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