San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, Northern California’s premier outdoor concert, plans to return from a pandemic-imposed absence this year, moving from its usual late-summer run in Golden Gate Park to a three-day event on Halloween weekend.
Another Planet Entertainment, the independent Berkeley promotion company that co-produces the festival with Superfly, is hopeful that with the long lead time, Outside Lands is going to happen after its 2020 edition was postponed.
“That gives us the most time to have the most normal festival we can have,” said Allen Scott, Another Planet’s president of concerts and festivals.
Scott told The Chronicle that his team conducts weekly calls with public health officials from the city and the state. They are also regularly in contact with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department and the artists scheduled to perform.
“There is a lot of open dialogue,” he said. “This is an unprecedented situation.”
The news about moving the event to Oct. 29-31 was announced Thursday, March 18, after some media outlets reported that the festival was still scheduled to take place Aug. 6-8 — information based on the Outside Lands website, which had not been updated for nine months until this week.
Outside Lands has kept most of its lineup that was scheduled to perform last year – including headliners the Strokes, Lizzo, and Tame Impala – but has added 16 new acts. Among them are Kaytranada, Glass Animals, Lord Huron, Brijean, and Flo Milli, who will join nearly four dozen acts previously announced like Tyler, the Creator, Vampire Weekend, Kehlani, Rexx Life Raj, Zhu, Young Thug, Khruangbin, Sofi Tukker, Nelly, Brittany Howard, Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, and Marc Rebillet.
Whether the festival, which typically draws up to 75,000 tightly packed people a day onto the Polo Field in Golden Gate Park, can actually happen during the coronavirus pandemic will depend on several factors.
More here.