Outside Lands: Here’s our complete hour-by-hour guide to 2023 festival
Our top picks include Megan Thee Stallion, Lana Del Rey, Odesza, beabadoobee, Janelle Monáe and Shaquille O'Neal -- yes, that Shaquille O'Neal.
Outside Lands is ready to celebrate 15 years of delighting music fans in Golden Gate Park.
And the festival intends to so with three days — Aug. 11-13 — of top-notch music entertainment, ranging from Rock and Roll Hall of Famers the Foo Fighters and hip-hop great Kendrick Lamar to electronic-music giants Odesza and mesmerizing pop icon Lana Del Rey.
Other top acts on the bill include Megan Thee Stallion, The 1975, Janelle Monae, Zedd, J.I.D and Maggie Rogers.
In all, there are dozens upon dozens of acts set to perform across multiple stages. And there’s no possible way to catch them all — although some will certainly try.
Clearly, one might need to do a little advance planning to make the most out of the festival.
Or you can just leave the advance planning to us.
Here is our hourly guide to the festival, providing an precise roadmap to where to be — and who to see — during your three days in the park.
We’re keeping the recommendations strictly to music, trusting that you’ll also make time to enjoy the fine food and drink offerings on your own.
For more information, visit sfoutsidelands.com.
Day 1, Aug. 11
Kick off the three-day adventure with Taper’s Choice, the all-star jam band featuring Alex Bleeker (Real Estate), Dave Harrington (Darkside), Zach Tenorio-Miller (Arc Iris) and Chris Tomson (Vampire Weekend) that opens the Sutro Stage at noon.
And, no, we’re not just recommending that one because that Dave guy from Darkside has a really cool last name.
Once the noodling gets to be too much — which could be a matter of mere minutes for some fans — head on over to catch La Doña on the big Lands End Stage. The San Francisco reggaeton singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist drew rave reviews for her 2020 EP “Algo Nuevo.”
As La Doña finishes up around 1 p.m., shuffle on over to the more-intimate Panhandle Stage and get a good spot to see Izzy Heltai, an award-winning indie-folk artist whose eclectic resume includes performing between sets for a Grateful Dead cover band. (Talk about a long, strange trip.)
From there, make your first trip of the year down to the Twin Peaks Stage for Evan Giia, a Brooklyn-based electronic-pop artist who is actually a classically trained opera singer.
This brings us to right around 3 p.m., which seems like a great time to explore the two dance music areas. Start over at the SOMA Tent for about 20 minutes or so of Miami DJ Nala and then keep right on boogying over to Dolores — a new dance area that celebrates the Queer community — to groove along with Ah-Mer-Ah-Su.
All of that should have one properly primed to enjoy dance-pop vocalist Becky Hill, who is a huge star in her native U.K. and poised to make a big splash in the U.S. as well. Hill performs 3:45-4:35 p.m. at Twin Peaks.
You won’t want to stray far once Hill ends, so just make a quick dash over to catch a little bit of NYC tech-house artist Westend at the nearby Pandhandle, and then zip right back to Twin Peaks to catch Shaquille O’Neal.
Yes, that Shaquille O’Neal, the NBA legend — aka DJ Diesel — who will be showcasing his hip-hop skills from 5:20 to 6:10 p.m.
Of course, some might want to use this time slot to visit the Lands End Stage for rising rap star J.I.D. And we can understand that point of view — having seen him put on a fine show at the Fox Theater in Oakland earlier this year — but we still intend to hang with Shaq.
Once the big 7-footer drops the mic, make a beeline for the Sutro Stage for Willow, a talented pop-punk/indie-rock artist who also happens to be the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.
Allow yourself 20 minutes or so or Willow and then move over to Lands End for Janelle Monáe, who returns to Outside Lands after delivering a triumphant set at the festival back in 2018.
A quick bop over to see 15 minutes of Interpol at Sutro and then bring Day 1 of the festival to a close by watching the only Pulitzer Prize winner in the lineup — Kendrick Lamar — at Lands End.
Day Two, Aug. 12
Day 2 begins on a local note, with San Francisco indie-pop band No Vacation at Lands End and fellow Bay Area pop act Geographer at Sutro. So, start with No Vacation and then, after 15-20 minutes, move over to Geographer.
Then it’s time for the day’s first trek down to Twin Peaks in order to catch Indiana hyperpop artist midwxst.
And, no, we don’t know what hyperpop is either.
We do know, however, that you should catch the Bay Area-based indie-pop trio Sour Widows — consisting of Maia Sinaiko, Susanna Thomson and Max Edelman — from 1:40-2:20 at Panhandle. And we’re also recommending Lovejoy from 2:25-3:10 p.m. at Lands End in no small part because of the fun one-sentence bio listed on the festival website — “The only indie rock band with a double kick pedal.”
Well, count us in!
We’re also curious to see Zack Fox — who plays Tariq on the hit ABC comedy “Abbott Elementary” — support his debut hip-hop album. So, we’ll skip over to Sutro around 3 p.m.
Canadian indie-pop act Alvvays, performing 3:40-4:30 p.m. at Lands End, is a top pick. But so is Mariah the Scientist, so we’ll leave Alvvays around 4:15 and then mosey over to see the Atlanta R&B singer at Sutro.
At this point, you might be tempted to follow the crowds over to see Father John Misty at Lands End. But our recommendation is that you instead walk back to Twin Peaks to hear the cool pop tunes from Nikki.
You should catch some — but not all — of Maggie Rogers at Lands End. The recommended early departure is so that you can catch L’Impératrice at Sutro. So go 6:30-7 with Rogers and then soak up a full hour of the French dance outfit.
Then comes the hardest choice of the entire festival — Foo Fighters or Lana Del Rey. The former is great and the latter is even better. So, we’ll just have to split it up and go 8:15 to 9 with the Foos and then close the night with the amazing Del Rey.
Day 3, Aug. 13
The last day of a three-day festival can be rough, but there will be plenty of time to rest come Monday (while, you know, you are at work). So, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get to the Panhandle Stage right at noon for Paper Idol (aka, Matan KG), who describes his music as “delusional pop.”
We were hoping that the Wild Child listed in the lineup was the great Doors tribute band. After all, one can never get enough “Peace Frog,” right? But this Wild Child is an Austin-based indie-pop troupe — but still worth checking out when it performs 12:40-1:25 at Sutro.
Knowing that Day 3 usually equals tired feet, just stay put at Sutro, maybe moving a little closer to the stage, once Wild Child finishes up and get ready to enjoy Nanna Hilmarsdóttir. The Icelandic musician, who is best known for her work with the “Little Talks” band Of Monsters and Men, performs 1:55-2:40 p.m.
As Hilmarsdóttir is winding down, Pretty Sick should be just about ready to crank things up. So, head on over to Panhandle and enjoy the vocal work of Sabrina Fuentes for 30 minutes or so.
But you’ll want to camped out at Twin Peaks by 3:15 p.m. in order to catch the cool Irish rock act Inhaler, which is led by the vocalist-guitarist Elijah Hewson. Last name sound familiar? That’s because Elijah is indeed the son of U2’s Paul “Bono” Hewson.”
You’ll want to stick around this side of the festival grounds to be able to catch all of the beabadoobee set, which runs 4:55-5:45 p.m. at Twin Peaks. So, while you wait, catch some of Gracie Ives’ performance — and hopefully the timing will work out for you to hear the cool track “Lullaby.”
Then it’s “Beatopia” time, which should translate to a fascinating 50 minutes of indie-pop from beabadoobee, before heeding the call of folk-R&B-pop-roots artist Joy Oladokun on the Sutro Stage.
Stick with Oladokun for 15 minutes or so then move over to Lands End for what should be smash-hit set from the one-and-only Megan Thee Stallion.
That takes you right up until 7:20 p.m. when we’re suggesting to again make the walk up to the other side of the festival grounds — for the last time in 2023, we promise — to the Panhandle for Nashville indie-rocker Soccer Mommy. (She also plays earlier in the day, at 12:40 p.m., in the Music Den as well as has an Outside Lands Night Show at the Independent in San Francisco on Aug. 12.)
There’s ample competition for what to watch at the end of night — with Odesza performing on Lands End, The 1975 at Twin Peaks and Noah Kahan on Sutro.
Yet knowing that we can catch The 1975 on Sept. 26 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento or Sept. 28 at the SAP Center in San Jose, we’ll just recommend that folks swing by Kahan for a few and then close out the 2023 Outside Lands by enjoying the high-octane electronic music of Odesza.