Outside Lands Music Festival brought its vibrant atmosphere and eclectic lineup once again to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park the weekend of August 7th through 9th, 2026 — marking its eighteenth year! As one of the most anticipated music festivals of the summer season, its blend of diverse talent (spanning all genres, from indie rock and hip hop to electronic and pop) created a magical experience.
More than 140 artists performed across seven stages, with headlining performances by Charli XCX on Friday, The Strokes’ return to the Bay Area on Saturday, and RÜFÜS DU SOL’s euphoric festival-closing set on the main Lands End Stage Sunday! Lest we forget the incredible direct support of Griztronics, Modest Mouse, The XX, Pink Pantheress, Baby Keem, and Death Cab for Cutie, who closed out the other two larger stages, Sutro and Twin Peaks.
With more well-known acts — like Turnstile, DJO, Labrinth, Empire of the Sun, Dijon, Glorilla, Geese, Ethel Cain, Lucy Dacus, Disco Lines, and Mariah the Scientist — at the top of the bill, as well as an incredible undercard filled with rising artists, Outside Lands 2026 was set for success.
It was very walkable between stages, with Golden Gate Park’s lush trees surrounding attendees at every turn.
Interactive art installations, along with food and beverage trucks, lined the spaces between various stages, making sure attendees were constantly exposed to Bay Area art and culture. Music played as early as 12pm each day and continued on to 10pm with Friday offering up-and-coming artists like Faouzia, Nezza, Bad Nerve, Grace Ives, Alleycvt, and Die Spitz across the three main stages.
The festival grounds started filling out towards the early afternoon, around the time indie rock band Wet Leg tore up the Lands End Stage, rising country artist Sierra Ferrell brought her vocals and vibrant costumes to the Sutro Stage, and R&B princess Tinashe serenaded all at the Twin Peaks Stage.
The SOMA Stage also returned this year, with its triangular stage design and wide range of electronic, house, and techno artists. Vertigo, Luke Alessi, Tobiahs, MPH, KI/KI, Yosuke Yukimatsu, and Hyperbeam all went back-to-back-to-back-to-back all day long. Glorilla upped the energy even higher at Lands End later in the day, with her bad behavior anthems providing the ultimate lead into the dramatics of Labrinth’s set.
Sutro was then set up back-to-back with Geese and Turnstile — both of which had quite the breakout year.
Before long, Day One hit its peak. After her iconic “brat” era, Charli XCX debuted a multistory set design and pyrotechnics with songs from her latest album, Music, Fashion, Film. But of course, it wouldn’t be a Charli XCX performance without the club classics off brat — “360”, “Von Dutch”, “Guess”, and “Sympathy is a Knife”.
The music continued on Saturday, with Argentinian indie pop band Bandalos Chinos, country rock singer Red Leather, and global funk duo Rio Kosta kicking off the day. San Francisco’s infamous “Karl the Fog” was hanging around Golden Gate Park all afternoon although the overcast skies provided the perfect backdrop for the emotionally haunting vocals of Ethel Cain and Lucy Dacus.
Julien Baker made a surprise appearance at Lucy Dacus’ set; we can only hope that this was hinting towards a boygenius reunion in the future! Emerging singer-songwriter Sienna Spiro then delivered an ethereal performance at Sutro, with nothing but her powerful vocals, backing band, and beehive hairdo.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the audience.
Siblings Audrey Hobert and Malcolm Todd each had their own vibrant sets next although Audrey Hobert surprised festival-goers by joining her brother onstage at his set for a duet! As the day moved to night, Djo drew in a massive crowd with his hits “Basic Being Basic”, “Delete Ya”, “Roddy”, and “End of Beginning”. The last song got the whole crowd singing so loud that you could hear it across the other end of the park!
Djo was the perfect lead into the remaining indie rock bands closing out the night. After eight years away, The XX returned to the music scene at Outside Lands as part of their summer festival run.
The mist settling over their production was the perfect accompaniment to some of their softer songs, too, like “I Dare You”, “VCR”, and “Angels”. Aside from the music they create together as The XX, members of the band performed each of their songs from their solo projects in the middle of the set, ending with “Intro” — an iconic song from their debut album.
Across the park, The Strokes gave a performance that proved why they have been for around for as long as they have. Their latest album Reality Awaits — released earlier this summer — was featured heavily throughout the set although they didn’t forget to include older hits, like “You Only Live Once”, “Someday”, and, naturally, “Last Nite”. Charli XCX even returned to the park at this set to sing “Take It or Leave It” from the 2001 album Is This It!!!
This surprise was THE moment of the weekend.
Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and Magnus Ferrell (son of mega movie star Will Ferrell) kicked off Sunday with the first of two sets at Sutro and Twin Peaks — a crazy way to start the final day!
Emerging pop rock heavy-hitter Balu Brigada then got the crowd moving at Lands End, while R&B vocalists Destin Conrad and kwn serenaded attendees at Twin Peaks. The fog rolled in harder as the day progressed, but that didn’t stop the crowds at Disco Lines, The Temper Trap, and Empire of the Sun from turning each of the stages into one large dance party!
All the jumping around definitely kept everyone warm in anticipation for RÜFÜS DU SOL’s closing set. From meticulous camera angles done by their videographer and laser light shows, RÜFÜS DU SOL proved once again that “music is better when we’re together”; it was a perfect closing to the weekend.
In all, Outside Lands properly and perfectly celebrated its eighteenth anniversary. It’s safe to say that this festival leaves all attendees eagerly looking forward to the next year and with newfound love for artists they already know (and some new discoveries to add to their playlists!). Outside Lands Music Festival is already schedule to return August 6th through 8th, 2027, so hope to see you in the park! For more information visit sfoutsidelands.com.
Photography by ALIVE, Priscilla Rodriguez, & Josh Withers
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