Decade of Awesome: Outside Lands Music and Art Festival

PHOTO: The Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival (Photo via Flickr.com/jareed)

In a summer full of overhyped music festivals, San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music and Art Festival is not to be missed.

Set in the City by the Bay’s iconic Golden Gate Park, this fest is celebrating its 10th anniversary with an even more diverse, multi-faceted blowout than ever before.

Sure, ticket prices are on the steeper side—three-day general admission passes are $375, single-day $149.50—but hey, what other festival brings together not only an epic lineup but also one-of-a-kind programming that fuses comedy, art, food and cocktails?

Outside Lands will feature over 70 artists—both wildly famous and up-and-coming. With 78 restaurants, over 40 wineries, 28 breweries and five cocktail bars, get ready for three solid days of indulgence on the best food and drink California has to offer: A Taste of the Bay Area, Wine Lands, Beer Lands, Cheese Lands, Outside Clams, Choco Lands, Cocktail Magic and GastroMagic.

Music

Outside Lands will be headlined by none other than Metallica, The Who, and Gorillaz, along with performances by major artists such as Lorde, Solange, Queens of The Stone Age, Empire of The Sun, Tove Lo, Fleet Foxes, A Tribe Called Quest and dozens more. The extensive range of artists truly caters to all musical preferences whether you’re into hard core metal, pop, rap or something in between.

Food

San Francisco restaurateur Anna Weinberg is this year’s curator of A Taste of the Bay Area.

“It’s crazy to be able to dance with Metallica and Lorde while eating porcini doughnuts from Rich Table, but that’s exactly what we’ll be doing at Outside Lands,” she said in a recent press release.

Even the staunchest of spoiled foodies will be impressed with the selection of incredible restaurants making an appearance at the fest. Newcomers include the award-winning restaurant Marlowe—known for its signature Marlowe Burger—along with Tartine Manufactory, local favorite Filipino restaurant FOB Kitchen, the ever-popular Smitten Ice Cream, Little Star Pizza and more.

In addition, cotton candy bouquets, ramenburgers, pastrami cheese fries and pork belly baos are just several items that will be available at the event.

Beer

In charge of the Beer Lands lineup, Dave McLean is founder and brewmaster of San Francisco’s Magnolia Brewing Company and Alembic Bar. 28 Northern California breweries will be providing hoppy refreshments, including Black Sands Brewery, 21st Amendment and Ace Cider.

Returning favorites Heineken, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and Strongbow will be easily found throughout the festival as well. 

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Wine

Curator Peter Eastlake will be sourcing from California’s top wineries for this year’s Wine Lands roster. Expect newcomers such as Ravenswood, SLO Down’s cult hit “Sexual Chocolate” Red Blend, and Japanese sake served on tap. Returning favorites include Banshee, Wind Gap-Pax and Scharffenberger’s Anderson Valley bubbles.

Attendees of the fest can also look forward to getting their competitive juices flowing at The Back Wine—a sip and putt mini golf area in the Wine Lands section.

Next to Wine Lands will be Outside Clams, where Woodhouse Fish Co.’s will be whipping up a seafood-filled selection that includes Dungeness crab rolls, raw and BBQ oysters, lobster rolls and clam chowder bread bowls.

Cheese 

Artisans will be serving up all forms of gooey-goodness such as Swiss Raclette ‘Nachos’ at the one and only Cheese Lands. Curator Thalassa Skinner of Culture—America’s magazine for cheese lovers—is partnering up with Napa Valley’s Long Meadow Ranch to make every cheese lover dream come true.

Chocolate

The section I’m most excited about? Choco Lands!

The famed Guittard Chocolate Company will be bringing guests into the world of chocolate making with its luscious liquid chocolate bars. Dessert superstars Kara’s Cupcakes, Sharona’s Chocolate Shop, Candybar Dessert Lounge and Epic Cookies will also be serving sweet treats to the masses.

Cocktails

Those in need of craft cocktails will be able to get their fix at the phenomenally designed Cocktail Magic—created in collaboration with David Korins Design, set designers for Broadway’s Hamilton. The twelve cocktails featured will represent either a new or iconic bar in the city.

Also present will be magic. (Yes, live magic shows.)

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GastroMagic

Combining elements of dance, comedy, food, drink, and music are on-stage collaborations between big time chefs and musicians at GastroMagic, back for its fourth year.

Be sure to swing by the stage for Bouncin’ For Beignets with Big Freedia & Brenda’s Soul Food—a popular show that’s been a part of the GastroMagic line-up since the very beginning. Think: Big Freedia, aka the “Queen of bounce” plus Brenda’s Soul Food plus twerkers shaking it for rich beignets.

Other star-powered combos to look out for? K. Flay and Tacolicious, Belcampo and Beatz n’ Pieces, plus Roy Choi and surprise guest.

Comedy

Headlining the fest’s Barbary Coast comedy tent lineup is “The League” and “Kroll Show” star Nick Kroll. Also in the lineup is actor Jeff Goldblum and comedians Nick Thune, Nikki Glaser, Roy Wood Jr. and more.

Everything you need to know about the 10th Anniversary of Outside Lands Music and Art Festival can be found here.