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.
If you’re going to San Francisco… Maggie Caldwell
Gabe Simon, Kopecky Family Band Maggie Severns
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
A performer practices David Bowie’s Labyrinth moves. Maggie Caldwell
Excuse me for partying. Maggie Caldwell
Willie Nelson Maggie Severns
Just dance! Maggie Caldwell
In the festival kitchens. Maggie Caldwell
Spicy Pie hits the spot. Maggie Caldwell
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:
