S.F. mayor looks to add post-Outside Lands concerts in Golden Gate Park

Looking to build on the success of San Francisco’s annual Outside Lands festival, Mayor London Breed is proposing another large-scale concert series at Golden Gate Park.

The city’s Recreation and Parks Commissioners will vote on Thursday, May 18, on whether to recommend Breed’s proposal to schedule two- or three-day music events at Golden Gate Park on the weekend following the annual Outside Lands beginning in 2024. The festival is typically held in August.

Unlike the multi-act, multi-stage Outside Lands, however, these would be headliner-driven concerts, rather than a full-scale festival.

Also, attendance for the events would be limited to 65,000 per day, which is 10,000 less than the cap for Outside Lands. And it would occupy a significantly smaller area — mainly the Polo Fields, with Lindley Meadow used for bag check and ticketing.

The proposal before the Recreation and Parks Commission calls for granting a permit to Berkley-based Another Planet Entertainment (APE) — which promotes the Outside Lands festival —  to hold ticketed concerts at the Golden Gate Park Polo Fields for three years starting in 2024.

“I’m excited to explore this new opportunity for live music in Golden Gate Park with Another Planet Entertainment while supporting our parks and recreation programming,” Breed said in a news release. “Music has been a vital part of the park’s history, from the Summer of Love to the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and Outside Lands festivals of today. These kinds of events bring excitement to our city, show off the beauty of our parks, and help support our local economy.”

One of the benefits of partnering with Another Planet — and holding it the weekend after the festival — is that these concerts could use a portion of the infrastructure that is already in place for Outside Lands.

Also, the news release from Breed’s office points out that the permit fees — $1.4 million for a two-day event and $2.1 million for a three-day event — “would allow the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department to continue to offer programming to children, adults and seniors across the City and care for its facilities.” The department is struggling with a two-year budget deficit of $780 million, city officials say.

The concerts would run from 2-10 p.m. over the two to three days.

“The agreement, if approved, would require APE to maintain the same measures to lessen noise and traffic impacts as with Outside Lands, including a community hotline for neighbors, SFMTA officers directing traffic and enforcing parking laws in the neighborhood, offering shuttles to and from the event, and a dedicated area for rideshare drop-off and pick-up,” according to a news release.

Still, the proposal is likely to face a sizable opposition from park neighbors, many of whom are upset by the noise, traffic and parking woes brought on by Outside Lands and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.

The 2023 Outside Lands is set to take place Aug. 11-13 with Kendrick Lamar, Lana Del Rey, J.I.D, Foo Fighters, Megan Thee Stallion, Odesza and dozens of other acts on the bill. Visit sfoutsidelands.com for more information.