Festival Review, Photos: Outside Lands 2026 Brings Charli XCX, The Strokes, Rüfüs Du Sol To Golden Gate Park
Outside Lands 2026
Charli XCX, The Strokes, Rüfüs Du Sol
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA
August 7th-9th, 2026
Photos and Review by Jared Stossel
Every year since 2008, deep in the heart of the sprawling Golden Gate Park, the city of San Francisco has played host to Outside Lands, where 220,000 people descend beneath the Cypress trees in Polo Field for three days filled with eclectic music, art installations, food and beverage, and just a hint of weed smoke. It may take place on the first weekend of August, yet the blanket of fog that hovers over the park’s microclimate makes it one of the coolest festivals you can attend each summer (a welcome respite from the 100-degree weather I faced in Sacramento the last few weeks). Even with headliners like Charli XCX, The Strokes, and Rüfüs Du Sol making this a star-studded affair, Outside Lands is a distinctly San Francisco festival, a love letter to one of the most diverse and distinctive cities in the world.
The 2026 edition of the festival boasted a lineup that was equal parts sophisticated, chic, rowdy, and calming in the same breath. In the same way that you could easily come across ethereal indie and pop like Ethel Cain, Lucy Dacus, and Not For Radio, you could find explosively energetic acts like The Story So Far, Die Spitz, and Wet Leg. Rock had a large presence at this year’s edition of the festival, with Friday featuring some of the biggest up-and-comers in the genre, including the avant-garde experimental rockers Geese and the hardcore punk madness that is Turnstile. From the moment the Baltimore band’s “NEVER ENOUGH” kicked in, the hill that crests downward towards the Sutro Stage descended into utter chaos with mosh pits and crowdsurfers. Elsewhere, acts like Tinashe, Glorilla, and hip-hop icons Clipse drew massive crowds. Day 1 concluded with a monumental performance from Charli XCX, whose new album Music, Fashion, Film. debuted to critical acclaim just a few weeks before the festival. Her Outside Lands set brought the innovative album to life in glamorous fashion, vacillating between rock-driven tracks from the new album and club bangers from the wildly popular Brat album that thrust her even further into the pop culture echelon a few years prior. If the set proved anything, it’s that Charlotte Aitchison (Charli XCX) is more than a pop star - she’s an artist.
Throughout the weekend, indie rock proved that it’s still the most dynamic force this festival has ever seen, with artists like The Strokes, Modest Mouse, The xx, The Temper Trap, and Death Cab For Cutie all delivering dynamic performances, wherever they ended up on the bill. Lucy Dacus and Ethel Cain serenaded the hearts of thousands over on the Twin Peaks stage before one of the weekend’s most anticipated acts, DJO, took the energy of Polo Fields to an even higher level. If you’ve never heard of DJO, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Joe Keery. If the name still doesn’t sound familiar, he’s the actor who played fan-favorite character Steve Harrington on the sci-fi juggernaut Stranger Things. He is as charismatic a showman as there ever was, charming the crowd with his alt-rock sensibilities and rockstar effervescence. His spot before The Strokes on the Day 2 lineup was well-earned, and it proved that he can hold his own against some of the best in the genre. By the time the sun had set on the second day, the Lands End stage was awash in saturated lights as the Julian Casablancas-fronted band played through a career-spanning headlining set, pulling from nearly every record in their catalog. The biggest surprise of the evening came during a performance of Is This It’s “Take It Or Leave It”, when Charli XCX showed up once again to lend her voice. Both artists released their new albums on the same day, and Casablancas declared to the San Francisco crowd that “she won” when it came to who sold the most copies in the first week. It was a sweet and unforgettable moment for those in attendance.
Day 3 of a festival is usually when the energy of its attendees starts to peter out. I’ll admit that the final day of Outside Lands had the lineup I was least familiar with. To my surprise, it became the best day for musical exploration. There was MySpace-style bedroom pop from Frost Children on the Panhandle Stage. Disco Lines turned Lands End into a full-fledged rave while JADE reminded everyone about the kind of pop star she really is. A surprise set from Leon Bridges at sundown delighted thousands. Destin Conrad and Mariah The Scientist serenaded the Twin Peaks stage before Baby Keem brought his CA$INO album to life amidst one of the rowdiest crowds I’ve ever seen at this festival. The Temper Trap played one of the weekend’s best sets, turning millennial ennui into hope with songs like “Sweet Disposition” echoing throughout the trees. I didn’t even mention the festival’s hottest club, the massive SOMA Stage that’s tucked away. It’s evocative of Coachella’s Sahara tent; it’s packed to the gills, features big-name DJs, and its loud, thunderous dance beats go from dusk till dawn. Rüfüs Du Sol, who played the festival’s smallest stage only ten years prior, got to bring their unique brand of dance music to the main stage as the final headliner of the weekend.
If you’ve never been, Outside Lands can be an overwhelming experience. The festival grounds are huge, and there is a lot to take in, maybe more so than any other festival I’ve been to. Most are out in the middle of a field or on a cement blacktop in the middle of summer (no complaints here). But this festival is built into the forest. By the time the sun goes down, there is something magical about watching an artist play as the expansive Cypress trees are lit up with shades of iridescent magenta and turquoise. As I finished the long weekend, I stood watching the sea of people as Rüfüs Du Sol played the final twenty minutes of their set. The fog was starting to dissipate. I looked out at the forest and felt something bigger than myself. Something filled with eccentricity, with inclusion, and with heart. I’ve been to a lot of music festivals over the last fifteen years. There’s no place like Outside Lands.
