Chappell Roan / Post Malone / Grace Jones (photos by Amy Harris)
Outside Lands returned this past weekend for its “Sweet 16,” and even as the surrounding city of San Francisco changes every year, Golden Gate Park remains a safe haven for some incredible music.
Looking around at the park’s breathtaking surroundings and otherworldly beauty, it’s hard not to feel like you’ve entered a different universe when arriving at Outside Lands — after all, the park has its own climate compared to the city at large (this was my sixth Outside Lands and I still have no fucking idea how to dress for it). The surreal atmosphere pairs perfectly each year with the music, and 2024 was no different.
This year’s edition featured headlining shows from The Killers, Sabrina Carpenter (who filled in for Tyler, the Creator after the rapper backed out of the fest in June), and Sturgill Simpson, plus a special Sunday night country set from Post Malone. It was, of course, Chappell Roan who really headlined this festival, as many attendees and Amazon livestream viewers can attest — but more on that later.
As with any festival, each year has a slightly different feel. The draw of the headliners and marquee acts is reflected in the festival’s crowds and overall density; last year felt on average more crowded each day, whereas this year, Sunday (Chappell’s day) was one of the most highly-attended festival days I’ve ever seen, period. There were some new features and experiences and some slight changes to the formula, but for the most part, Outside Lands is a festival that just keeps on delivering. Here’s what we saw at Golden Gate Park last weekend.
Trading the Rave for the Rodeo
Even with the arrival of Goldenvoice’s new electronic-centric Portola festival to the Bay Area, Outside Lands has spent the last several editions embracing electronic music as a core tenet of their identity. ODESZA headlined last year to an enormous crowd, Illenium performed a major sub-headlining set the year prior, and a brand new SOMA stage was introduced to offer an all-electronic destination.
For 2024, they could have cashed in once again on San Francisco’s dedicated electronic audience and provided another headlining turn from a DJ — Skrillex just curated an entire stage at Lollapalooza, and Fred again.. just headlined the fellow Superfly-produced fest Bonnaroo. But this year, electronic music felt more in the periphery as a new genre became an unavoidable focal point: country music.
It wasn’t like electronic music was frozen out, or that the usual legion of raving fans skipped this year — the Soma stage had a consistent line all three days, and Confidence Man, JUNGLE, and Romy played standout sets. But you could not escape the presence of cowboy hats, warm, folky harmonies, and heartland rock throughout the weekend, especially on Sunday.
Sturgill Simpson could have kicked off his tour anywhere, but Outside Lands were smart to stake their claim on him and his terrific new album as Johnny Blue Skies, Passage du Desir . The rarity of the booking (Simpson’s first high profile show in over three years, plus his first headlining slot at a major North American festival) is one thing, but seeing Simpson’s expansive, ambitious approach to an actively transforming country movement is another.
It wasn’t just the big names, too. Outside Lands featured an extremely packed show from Shaboozey on Friday, who has a prime candidate for the Song of the Summer topping the charts right now with “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” There were more offerings for the country crowd from the likes of Charley Crockett and Paul Cauthen, but one of the most stirring performances of the weekend came from Ryan Beatty — the singer and songwriter provided an arresting sampler of his country-influenced, pedal steel-heavy Calico , and it was a spellbinding display.
Meanwhile, Post Malone celebrated the imminent release of his upcoming country pivot F-1 Trillion with a performance devoted to honky tonk-style covers of heartland hits. Beer and cigarette in hand, Post’s grit-laced voice and (to quote Taylor Swift) “tattooed golden retriever” attitude suit the style well, to no one’s surprise.
But the set just made me wish festivals had more special bookings like this. I want to see Lady Gaga doing a cabaret-style performance with jazz standards and her Tony Bennett songs. I want Kelly Clarkson to play Coachella with just “Kelly-oke” songs. I want Foo Fighters to stop flirting with the idea and actually do that Van Halen cover show. Like Post’s billing, they don’t even have to be headliners! Lineups are getting more homogenous and the headliner pool is dwindling . My ask is unrealistic, sure — but the booking felt different than 2024’s general festival fare, and it helped make an event like Outside Lands all the more special.
Post Malone, photo by Amy Harris
Some Obligatory Gushing About Chappell Roan
Look, it’s unavoidable right now: It’s Chappell Roan’s world and we are living in it. I have been to many, many festivals and seen my share of cultural christenings, but never have I ever witnessed such fervor for a non-headlining artist before. Her 4pm set on the main stage had one of the largest crowds I’ve ever seen at Outside Lands, which should hardly be a surprise given how big her Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo crowds were.
But what’s so profound about seeing Chappell Roan in 2024 is how she’s transformed from a beloved secret in the Los Angeles queer community to a cultural event in and of itself. She cannot and will not be gatekept — her infectious catalogue has already converted thousands, and it’s no longer about whether you “get it” or not. Even the Gen X Silicon Valley dudes in VIP were enjoying it — though their wives were the ones who knew all the words, and as Chappell pointed out, some thought they were a little too cool.
The whole show felt like a greatest hits concert, and she has one album out . Not only that, the songs from The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess came out over a three-year span (the album had a whopping nine singles, released from 2020 to late 2023). Some of these great tracks, like “My Kink Is Karma” and “Femininomenon” have been out for so long that newer cuts “Good Luck, Babe!” and the unreleased “The Subway” almost sound like they’re by a completely different artist.
It’s exciting to think of what’s to come from Chappell Roan, who is probably exhausted by this summer and ready to take three months off to live on an island. Watching her perform “The Subway” is an electrifying hint at her range as an artist, how she is capable of not just the joyous, horny bops but also the transcendent, shimmering ballads. If none of the prior Chappell Roan tracks did it for you, then I’m sure she’s got plenty more tricks up her sleeve — it’s simply in her nature.
Legends, Legends
Outside Lands tends to throw a bone or two for the older crowd (like I said, Silicon Valley’s elite need something to throw a couple thousand dollars at). This year, they nabbed two undeniable legends from two distinct eras: Grace Jones and Slowdive.
Grace Jones took the stage the only way she knew how — by making an awe-striking show of it. When the black curtain finally fell down and revealed Jones and her band, she was situated on a raised platform that must have been 30 feet in the air, wearing an enormous black and white-patterned dress that billowed out like a parachute beneath her. Stunning is an understatement.
She doubled down throughout the show, changing outfits for nearly every number and recalling the many looks and aesthetics that have gone hand-in-hand with her music. Jones, now 76, looks incredible — but even more entrancing is her powerful alto, slightly huskier with age but nonetheless piercing, beckoning like the voice of a deity . As she hula-hooped for the entire duration of “Slave to the Rhythm” — an incredible physicalization of the song’s core themes and energy — it was clear that the audience was both transfixed and enamored with an icon.
Grace Jones, photo by Amy Harris
Meanwhile, any Outside Lands expert can understand that a band like Slowdive closing out the Sutro stage is a match made in heaven. The stage is situated in a densely forested grove, and when the night arrives, it takes on a somewhat mystical air. Wisp, one of our 2023 CoSigns , a Bay Area native, and a newly-minted force in the shoegaze revival , christened the Sutro for Slowdive earlier in the day with a crushingly loud, beautiful performance.
Indeed, in 2024, shoegaze is bigger than ever, and Slowdive are better than ever. Their loaded, hot-blooded dream pop has the capacity to heal; songs from both Slowdive eras took on a more full-bodied presentation live, and they rang out through the misty forest like sirens in a myth. It’s hard not to be hyperbolic about this music because the size of it is so immense, the emotions so visceral. I smiled and cried, more than once, and I hope I was not the only one.
Living in the Moment
The festival was particularly zeitgeist-y this year. As mentioned, there was Chappell Roan, the It Girl of the moment. We had a celebration of country music’s current dominance, cemented by the presence of Shaboozey, Post Malone, and Sturgill Simpson. But it was Sabrina Carpenter’s headlining turn that felt the most 2024.
While it was great to see an artist with so much momentum behind them (also, the Kacey Musgraves appearance was fun), the show was mainly a quick victory lap for Carpenter to celebrate her two seismic hits, “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” before she releases her new album, Short ’N Sweet . She played a headline-caliber set, with all the bells and whistles, backup dancers, and fun video segues — but the crowd size was generally pretty thin compared to several Outside Lands headlining shows in recent years. The vast majority of us just wanted to see those two songs, and hey, what could be more “Summer 2024” than that?
Speaking of, she didn’t play this festival, but the presence of Charli XCX’s Brat was looming throughout the crowd. It played during transitions between sets, and I saw dozens of folks wearing Brat -themed outfits — and hell, maybe Brat was responsible for a little added hedonism I witnessed this weekend.
It’s Just Some Grass, Guys
Returning for the fourth year now, Outside Lands offered an onsite hub for buying and consuming cannabis with their Grasslands area. Embarc, a cannabis company that’s rapidly expanding their footprint at events in California and beyond, took the lead on several booths, which all offered a myriad of ways to get high from local growers. With the aforementioned shoegaze bookings, some infectious indie grooves from the likes of Roosevelt and Men I Trust, and this year’s country-fried air, weed was a popular party starter and vibe shifter at Outside Lands.
Grasslands, photo by Amy Price
JUNGLE Have Hit a New Level
The British electronic/soul/pop group JUNGLE are currently celebrating their 10th anniversary, and they’re doing so with a huge hit under their belt: “Back on 74.” JUNGLE have always boasted a great live experience, but the addition of Lydia Kitto to the lineup (and a larger creative capacity) has completed elevated their show.
Their earlier songs are hard not to love, but you can tell that principal songwriters and vocalists J and T hit a wall sometime around 2021’s Loving in Stereo . Now, with Kitto taking a larger lead on vocals and samples playing an even bigger role on their last album Volcano , they’ve imbued new life into an already bustling formula. Along with Chappell Roan, Slowdive, and Grace Jones, JUNGLE had one of the best performances of the weekend.
What’s with the Bees?
There were so many bees this year. I can’t remember if there were this many last year, but it felt like every stage had a light swarm of bright yellow bees flying around throughout the daytime, landing on people’s faces and hands and drinks. It’s a stretch to say they were causing a terror — most people looked unbothered.
Still, it’s a bit of a jarring experience when you’re having a great time dancing to music and you take your sunglasses off to clean them and then you see a pesky yellow jacket crawling up your arm, so you stand perfectly still and try to swipe the bee off your arm with your sunglasses like you’re teeing off a golf ball and then you look a little ridiculous to everyone else in the crowd. That definitely happened to you, too, right?
Look Around and Look Alive
Outside Lands is undoubtedly one of the country’s most unique and curated festival experiences, meaning there’s a bit of sensory overload each day. I found myself missing the long-forgotten Barbary tent, which featured live comedy back in the day — imagine putting standup comedy in Grasslands, where everyone is smoking weed and having a good time!
Still, the festival aims to give you a crash course into the cultural history of the region, from the drag queen-featuring Dolores tent honoring the Bay’s LGBTQ importance to a literal taste of San Francisco (I had some particularly great Indonesian stir-fried noodles and chicken satay this weekend, plus some hot chocolate that I genuinely couldn’t shut up about).
Everyone’s individual experience at an event like Outside Lands varies, but from what I saw on the grounds, there were hardly any bad vibes to be found. From festival staff and security, from access, organization, and layout, from the electrifying music we heard all weekend, everything appeared to go down without a hitch.
The future of festivals may be in flux, but it takes rewarding events like Outside Lands to see that in the right hands, the glory days of big multi-genre festivals are far from over. You may have to fork over a little more money though, and the conversation about who a festival prioritizes from a financial perspective is one that’s only getting more knotty. But if you get too bogged down by the uncertainty of the future, all it takes is one look around at Outside Lands to feel like things are probably going to be alright.
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