Outside Lands, held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, is one of the most popular music festivals in all of America. This 2025 season, Outside Lands will be from Aug. 8-10. Many popular artists will hold performances.
Outside Lands is traditionally three days, although a good percentage of festival attendees do not attend all three days. This is usually because many people are going to see a specific artist, so they only attend the day their desired singer performs. Recently, the list of performers for the 2025 festival season was released, totaling to 110 official artists performing. As many music festivals do, Outside Lands have something called “headliners” which are the most famous artists performing that year. This year, the three main headliners are Tyler, The Creator, Hozier and Doja Cat. The other more popular performers listed on the released poster will be John Summit, Anderson Paak & The Free Nationals, Vampire Weekend, Glass Animals, Gracie Abrams, Jamie XX, Doechii and Gesaffelsetin.
Personally, I believe that this year’s line up, especially of the main couple headliners, is pretty solid. Tyler, The Creator was actually scheduled to perform at Outside Lands last year but had to drop out for unstated personal reasons, and was then replaced by popular singer Sabrina Carpenter. Although Carpenter was a hit during the 2024 festival, having Tyler, The Creator finally perform his long awaited Outside Lands concert is sure to rack in more attendees.
Tyler, The Creator, Doja Cat and Hozier all have more than 40 million monthly Spotify listeners each, with Doja Cat having the highest of 56.2 million. This inarguably ranks them as some of the most popular musicians today. I’ve always thought that Outside Lands has done a good job at hosting more popular singers. I attended one of the three days in the 2023 season where they hosted The Foo Fighters, Lana Del Rey and several other performers. The other headliners that year were Kendrick Lamar and Odesza, who are also extremely famous.
Outside of the most popular artists which perform at Outside Lands, there are plenty of other performances which host less popular, but maybe more talented singers, based on one’s opinion. Going to a festival like Outside Lands is a great opportunity to find new music and artists you enjoy, even if you’re unaware of their music before watching them.
In addition to the music, Outside Lands will feature a wide variety of food vendors, art installations and themed experiences. Festival goers can expect local San Francisco favorites as well as popular local spots which tend to set up installations within the park. Although the array of food is abundant, the pricing can get extreme in the park, and that’s on top of ticket prices. Ticket prices are currently selling for $529 for three day general admission, but are bound to rise as the festival approaches. Another thing to be wary of is Outside Lands’ reputation for the abundance of cannabis consumption within the park. While it does bring in more attendees, it’s important to note how it’ll affect the demeanor of people in the large crowds. This goes along with just how chaotic the city becomes during Outside Lands season, with the huge increase of tourism, public transport and any areas near Golden Gate Park become a mess. So while enjoying the festival, it’s important to be aware of these concerns. I also recommend having a set plan to get out of the park so you’re not stuck looking for an uber or trying to catch a bus at the last minute.
Overall, with Outside Lands’ exceptional lineup of artists and other festival activities, the 2025 festival is sure to be a hit.
