I’ve been to 16 of the last 18 Outside Lands. Some years have been more fun than others, of course. (I missed 2010 due to work and 2021 due to COVID anxiety) But I will always come back. This party in Golden Gate Park is always a good time — the music, the vibes, the food. I’ve never had a bad time. But this year, 2026, was the absolute BEST Outside Lands I’ve ever been to. It’s been a few days, and I’m still beaming over my OSL experience, and I can’t wait until next year. Which, I might add, Eager Beaver tickets go on sale 8/19 at 10am. Register here for the presale!
On with my recap of the greatest OSL ever:
Bad Nerves
They went on at 12:25 pm. It was a typically overcast and chilly SF morning. Bad Nerves should’ve played to a subdued crowd.
Nope. Not in the cards. This Essex punk band brought their most aggressive A-game, and the audience gave right back, opening up the most massive pit I’ve seen in the Sutro Stage’s grove. It was a brutal set, and I couldn’t ask for a better way to start Outside Lands. Just plain old fist-pounding, classic punk rock, and I would see that a hundred times over.
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Die Spitz
The Bad Nerves crowd was just a warm-up to the pure, metallic catharsis of Die Spitz. The crowd went from a kinda fun circle out to a full-on crush of intensity. Complete with the audience moving as a sweaty, unified beast. Cookie Monster vocals, drop D tunings, and tears from bassist xxxxx made for an utterly pure and beautiful set.
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Durand Bernarr
A charismatic, disco soul powerhouse. He sang with every limb, moving as if the music was part of him. And, by that, I don’t think he has bones. Every step was pure fluidity… and, yes, he can sing. A spectacular voice, delirious stage presence. This is what I imagine clubbing in NYC in the early 80s felt like.
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Wet Leg
It’s impossible to encapsulate my love of Wet Leg in a mere paragraph. Their set was immaculate- Rhian was in top form- her dry vocalizing that occasionally moved into a potent soprano, with epic, Sleater-Kinneyesque guitar heroics, the tightest rhythm section out there right now. It was perfect. They played the hits, of course, and the crowd gave back with full intensity.
GloRilla
It was a really good day. Every set was better than the last. GloRilla, in any other scenario, would’ve been great. But I’m human and need to eat and sit. Her set of classic hip-hop, complete with nimble mic skills and great dancing, was something the crowd loved. Even more impressive was how she turned Chef Smelly’s Cajun Garlic Noodles into a party BEHIND THE COUNTER. Makes me want to check out their East Oakland restaurant sometime. I’m sure it’s crazy fun.
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Ms Boan
Messy. Like a cacophony of chaos. Also, the purest tribute to the NYC synth-punk originators I’ve ever seen. Ms Boan drunkenly praised all the artists, filmmakers, and queers in the crowd numerous times, all while managing to play brilliant, danceable, and downright messy music.
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Hot Goth Freak Show
What did I just see? Some unholy blend of goth drag, horror film, and burlesque that was weird, funny, and impressive. Dollars were thrown from the crowd whenever things got weirder, and it was fantastic.
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Labrinth
My original goal was to cross the park to see Turnstile after Hot Goth Freak Show. But I also wanted a good spot for Charli XCX. Then I heard the most chilling guitar solo on earth. I forgot Turnstile was even playing for a moment. Instead, I walked up to Labrinth and took in a full hour of music that was entirely foreign to me. His sound was somewhere between the post-rock world of David Sitek, the Chicago blues of Buddy Guy, the hypnotic soul of The Weeknd, and the cinematic sadness of Portishead. I’m a fan now
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Charli XCX
Charli is at her best when she’s projecting vulnerability. However, the massive spectacle of a festival headlining slot doesn’t really support this- everything is amplified. It’s bigger. How does one stay pure to the emotional core of your work while still bringing hype to 70k+ people at once?
Charli presented a master class in exactly how to do that. The set was on a three-tiered speaker-shaped stage, and she began on the first elevated tier, supported by a three-piece rock band (which included her long-time collaborator, AG Cook, on guitar). She opened with a ferocious rendition of the unapologetically silly “Rock Music.”
The band stayed onstage for the first five songs, focusing heavily on Music Fashion Film material, playing a little bit heavier than on record, feeling like the best post-punk band out there. We even got a vaguely Gang of Four feeling rendition of “Apple” that was both surprising and refreshing. Especially since the infamous dance was only gently teased.
The band would occasionally go away for songs that wouldn’t work as well in the rock band format. We got a heart-wrenching rendition of “Track 10” and “Girl, so confusing,” complete with some of the most tender choreography I’ve seen outside of the ballet. We were treated to the nearly industrial deep cut “Pink Diamonds,” which made me almost jump out of my skin.
We got a healthy dose of brat hits, a smattering of Wuthering Heights. “Guess” did, in fact, include a panties cannon. “party 4 u” became the show stopping torch ballad that I knew it could be when I first heard it six years ago on her excellent and underrated record, how i’m feeling now. “Playboy Bunny” is clearly destined to become a post-punk classic.
But the set closer. Holy shit. “No One Lasts Forever” melted my OCD heart. What the fuck is this song!?!? A potent performance that ended with a prerecorded David Cronenberg poem about letting go of control and managing failure that didn’t feel like pompous self-help propaganda, and now I want to give both of them a hug after sobbing in a massive field. Jesus Charli. Stop living in my head!
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Racing Mount Pleasant
Tired. Nursing a mild headache from Friday. Didn’t drink enough water. Bought a ridiculous garlic bread bowl, spicy rigatoni and chicken tenders thing from Original Joe’s and was delightfully serenaded by Racing Mount Pleasant. The most delicate sound six people (including three horn players) could ever make. By the end of the set, as they slowly built the energy, so did I.
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Audrey Hobert
Such a joyful human. She came out on stilts wearing Groucho Marx glasses to a track complaining about how many female singer-songwriters there are. Then she played a vibrant set of songs that were at times funny, at times snarky, and were all very pure. The Hobert hype seems to have come out of nowhere, but it’s well deserved. This set was pure fun.
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Automatic
Automatic is the kind of band that I would expect to see at a house show or an art space. Lofi synth, dry vocals, no guitar. They are pink as fuck without being typically “punk,” and I bloody love them. Happily, they got one of the biggest crowds for the Panhandle stage all weekend. And everyone was doing weird, funky post-punk dancing, and I loved it.
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Ethel Cain
For all the hype around Ethel Cain, I’ve never actually listened to her before. What we got was nowhere near what I expected, which was gorgeous country music that washed over the senses and was, well, stunning. But also lacked much anything to tether me. But my feelings don’t really matter because the concert bowl was filled with people of all ages, races, and genders singing along with rapt attention. She really struck a nerve with a lot of people.
Just not me?
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Silvana Estrada
This is more my speed. Silvana Estrada managed to encompass the entire history of Mexican pop music, including elements of mariachi, romantico, and cumbia. She even did the classic Vicente Fernández faux crying! We danced, we sang words many of us didn’t understand, we screamed “Fuck ICE” together, and we had just an amazing time.
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DJO
I’ve encountered more DJO shirts than any shirt at this festival pretty much ever. His set was pure rock n roll that bordered on prog rock territory, complete with surprise changes, unexpected synth solos, falsetto vocals, and just everything sounded massive.
The Strokes
2020 was a really painful year for… Well… Everybody. There were two artists that kept me going that year- Charli XCX and The Strokes. The first two Strokes albums took me back to a time when I had little responsibility and even less money, but managed to enjoy life a great deal, dancing and going to shows and such.
I actually hadn’t seen The Strokes live in nearly 25 years, but I was full of pent-up energy. I partook of several glasses of wine and worked up the nerve to assert my way into the thick of the crowd. From there, I was brought to full-on rock n roll catharsis. I had no idea how many lyrics I knew by heart. I didn’t stop moving for a moment.
About halfway through the set, Charli XCX came out for a perfect duet of “Take It Or Leave It,” with Julian and Charli practically trying to “out cool” each other with similar dry, disaffected delivery. “Reptilia” was complete with the audience singing along TO THE GUITAR RIFF! Even the new material of Reality Awaits kept the dance floor alive.
I can’t believe how magical that set was… The whole of Outside Lands this year was simply, well, perfect. So much so that I really don’t want to go back to reality.
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