Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival 2013 Review — Down by the Bay
Welcome to San Francisco, home to famed Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival. Traditionally held in late August, the annual fest has found a home at the Golden Gate Park.
Outside Lands has grown to become a staple of the west coast for its diverse blend of art and music and other eco-friendly innovations. Apart from the best weather possible, there are several amenities that make this festival an opulent experience.
Outside Lands History
Outside Lands first came to fruition in 2008, including over 60 different internationally blended acts and countless art installations. The festival has switched venues over the years but still managed to draw crowds of 40,000 to 60,000 per day. Outside Lands is officially produced by Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly Presents and Starr Hill Presents.
The very first installment of Outside Lands featured headliners including Beck, Radiohead, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Wilco. Organizers faced slight criticism for showing ineptitude for crowd control but have since regrouped to create a safer environment.
Prior venues for Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival have included the Polo Fields, Speedway Meadow and Lindley Meadow.
Outside Lands 2013 Mix
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Outside Lands 2013 Lineup
The Outside Lands 2013 lineup is indisputably the best we’ve seen the organizers produce. The first night, Friday, is highlighted by Paul McCartney with a lead in of The National. Throughout the rest of the day, we’re most excited to see Yeasayer and Pretty Lights. Also, watching comedian Jeffrey Ross roast the city of San Francisco itself … should be interesting.
It’s hard to follow Paul McCartney, but the second day of Outside Lands doesn’t really look to slow down much. We’re most looking forward to Jurassic 5, Grizzly Bear, Baauer, and Phoenix here. People will surely be losing their shit over Nine Inch Nails closing the Lands End stage. Comedically, Crash Test with Rob Huebel and guests is sure to be a big draw at the Barbary.
The final note to Outside Lands 2013 edition will potentially make for the most consistent day altogether. Headliners include Red Hot Chili Peppers and Vampire Weekend – but if you’re thinking you’ve had an overdose on those acts, we suggest stopping by for Willie Nelson & Family and Dillon Francis. Totally diverse acts to cleanse the pallet after your busy weekend in Frisco.
The official lineup with schedule times and days is posted below.
Friday, August 9th
Saturday, August 10th
Sunday, August 11th
Outside Lands Ticket Prices
Looking for Outside Lands ticket prices now? We can help give you a general idea of what you’re spending.
UPDATE: Outside Lands is officially sold out. There’s always 2014.
General Admission 3-Day Tickets – $249.00
General Admission Single Day Tickets – $105.00
VIP 3-Day Tickets – $545.00
VIP Single Day Tickets – $229.00
Outside Land Parking Prices
Shuttle Pass 3-Day – $39.00
Parking 3-Day Pass – $195.00
According to the official rules posted on the site, you’ll need to be sporting your wristband every day of the festival. We’re unfamiliar with the details of lost wristbands but we suggest you don’t go running around with scissors during the weekend.
General admission tickets are clearly the real bang for your buck here – 1 day of VIP is practically worth the entire weekend. While you’re clearly getting the economy value here with 3-day GA, the price of VIP tickets reflects the perks.
Curious about those details? We have an entire section dedicated to VIP perks within this review. Happy to inform your purchase this year.
As a bit of a consolation prize to all you poor souls without tickets, Outside Lands does an awesome job of streaming the festival online through YouTube. Stay tuned for coverage details.
Are Outside Lands VIP Tickets Worth It?
Are Outside Lands VIP Tickets Worth It? Depends on who you ask.
“We had an amazing time with our VIP tickets. Sitting in the lounge and watching Neil Young in my favorite city of the world was easily worth the price we paid – but there was so much more that went into it. Easily an experience I’d never forget.” Christie L.
We firmly believe the best VIP experience is relative to the best festival itself – if Outside Lands made your top list, there’s no question adding a little indulgence to the weekend improves conditions dramatically.
“Can I justify the expense of Outside Lands VIP? Fuck … everything in [San Francisco] is expensive if you haven’t noticed already. Why not enjoy yourself?” Robbie A.
VIP amenities include exclusive Polo Club access with lovely shaded areas and lounge seating. You can enjoy amazing viewing areas of the Lands End and Twin Peaks stages in comfort and style. Occasionally getting away from the crowds helps you maintain your sanity over the weekend.
VIP guests also can take advantage of special food concessions, not to mention access to beer, wine and spirits services. A picture perfect view of Paul McCartney pairs exceptionally well with a glass of wine.
This year wristbands are officially replacing the 3-day ticket – one less thing to hold on to is always a good thing.
Outside Lands Weather
Outside Lands weather is easily our favorite from any other US music festival. San Francisco may be a little chillier than your average California conditions – you can mainly thank the Bay for that – but we’ll take that over the merciless desert sun any day of the week. Conditions are so damn perfect it’s hard to overlook.
The average high during Outside Lands is just under 70 degrees, the average low only dropping down to somewhere in the mid-50’s. Make sure you bring an extra layer, especially if you’re the sit down and view it all in type. If you’re planning on dancing, you honestly have little to worry about here.
It’s no question the cooler climate will end up dictating your fashion choices in many cases. If choosing an awesome festival outfit is in your wheelhouse, we’ll tell you right now you might need to exercise some creativity. You’ll have a lot of options though on the dressier side, but dressing down for comfort requires a little bit more bravery.
The nights in San Francisco can be particularly chilly, a cool breeze rolling in from the nearby Bay. If you’re really getting down that particular day of the festival, we promise you won’t mind it one bit.
Outside Lands Fashion
Outside Lands fashion is heavily influenced by the weather and the area. As there’s no official camping provided through Golden Gate Park (although we’ve heard you can opt for the homeless overnighter route), essentially anything you walk in with is what you’re stuck with for the entire day.
“I bought this really pretty loose fitting top for Outside Lands. I’m not kidding when I say I was almost more excited to debut it out than the festival itself. I learned my lesson pretty quickly that night – the wind chill made it somewhere around 40 degrees that night … I don’t know, you think California and you immediately think to dress one way.” Ashlee P.
It’s pretty easy to tell the locals from the tourists at Outside Lands – they’re typically the ones ill prepared for the weather to go south.
Men, we suggest you dress for comfort. You may want to grab a long sleeve shirt at the very least or bring along your favorite sweatshirt.
Ladies, in addition to a minimal cardigan, we suggest you consider longer dresses if you’re opting for the more fashionable route. Some of our favorite dresses are available through Mod Cloth – their longer selection styles are all exceptional. So we’ve been told by many of you.
Outside Lands Food, Beverage and Wine
Outside Land food, beverage and wine selection is amazing, offering a cultured take on festival cuisine. How could you expect a foodie centric place like San Francisco not to get this right?
Outside Lands is host to a lot of local tastes, but savvy enough to incorporate some other beers and wines you may not have sampled before.
You can check out the official listing here.
Drugs at Outside Lands
Drugs at Outside Lands is a fact of life. While we aren’t encouraging you to partake by any means – honestly, there’s more than enough beer and wine to satisfy – we also won’t pretend to its not engrained into the festival culture. Hence, we’d like to use this space to share some of your drug stories and relay you should never take anything you can’t handle.
“Molly was really popular among my group of friends when we went. I wasn’t really feeling it and ended up spending a lot of time in Wine Land. After seeing how terrible they felt the following morning, I was pretty happy with my decision. Not to mention I picked up on several bottles I’d never tried before. I even included one brand in particular at my wedding a few months later.” Hannah R.
“Weed was everywhere the year I went. There’s just an exorbitant amount of it – and it’s great stuff too. There’s a lot of stress involved in attending a music festival, it’s just a fact of life. The abundance of weed at Outside Lands really helped calm my nerves and allowed me to enjoy probably a lot more of it than I would have otherwise.” Zach J.
Outside Lands Cabana Cost
Outside Lands Cabanas cost a lot but provide the most luxurious experience possible at the festival. Here’s just an overview of what to expect.
The premium VIP experience, Cabanas offer just about everything you’d never expect given the location, resort-style amenities right on the festival grounds. Every 450 sq. ft cabana (225 sq. ft. of tented area with 225 sq. ft. of outdoor space), is seriously upscale and provides amazing viewing areas close to the main performance stage.
You and up to 20 other people receive VIP tickets every day of the festival. You’re treated to exclusive entrances, lounge seating, gratis beer/wine/non-alcoholic beverage services, nearby bathroom trailers, massage therapist access, four (4) passes for parking, festival merchandise and private concierge service to coordinate all your rich Cabana inhabiting requests.
If that doesn’t sound awesome to you – well, you probably aren’t invited to our cabana.
We’re still waiting to hear back on official pricing options, but we assume it’s nothing to scoff at given the details. Early reports indicate the cabana situation will run you a cool $25,000, something we’re led to believe will remain true here for the 2013 installment.
But hey, can you really ever put a price tag on luxury?
*Update on pricing:
The marketing team wasn’t so hip to our informal request to post official pricing on Travel Hymns — we’ll resort to our original figure of $25k until we hear differently.