Outside Lands Music Festival (to rent, neighborhoods, live)

[coolbeans2000]

As many of you know, the huge Outside Lands Music Festival is just a few weeks away.

If you've attended before, what was your overall experience like?

And how long were the shuttle waits and do you have any tips to share to insure the best possible experience?

[dalparadise]

It's a great, great experience, once you actually get into the park.

The buses will be mobbed all day to a degree that it is almost unbearable. Be patient. Go early. Do not drive under any circumstances, as the people in the neighborhoods around the park will be looking for any excuse to tow you. Some will offer to rent part of their driveway and either not actually have access to the driveway, or direct you to park with a small portion of your car hanging over the sidewalk. Don't do it. You will be towed. It's $500+ if you are.

The festival itself is typically foggy and a bit chilly. It adds to the mystique, I think, and the lights later in the evening are pretty cool in fog. There is the main stage and a couple of smaller stages, a comedy tent, an EDM tent, a huge wine tasting tent, an amazing amount of food, and tens of thousands of really great people who are very chill and having a good time.

It's a great festival. The park setting is perfect. There is plenty of room and the attitude of the crowd is very laid back. The only knock is how expensive everything is. Take lots of money.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by coolbeans2000

As many of you know, the huge Outside Lands Music Festival is just a few weeks away.

If you've attended before, what was your overall experience like?

And how long were the shuttle waits and do you have any tips to share to insure the best possible experience?

I believe tickets are already sold out, so hopefully you already bought them.

It's a fun festival, bring lots of cash because everything is overpriced and be prepared to wait a long time for everything including buses.

[WizardOfRadical]

Bfd and the blue grasss festival are better

[andyadhi01]

Originally Posted by coolbeans2000

As many of you know, the huge Outside Lands Music Festival is just a few weeks away.

If you've attended before, what was your overall experience like?

And how long were the shuttle waits and do you have any tips to share to insure the best possible experience?

If sitting in the fog and wind with freezing yourself after paying couple of hundred $ is your idea of fun then go for it.

[04kL4nD]

I went the last three years but I'm taking a year off this year. It's a good festival, but it's super crowded and expensive. One of my good friends lives right near GG park, so I usually park my car at her place the whole weekend and walk over. I can't imagine how awful the bus/transit situation is.

[dalparadise]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

I went the last three years but I'm taking a year off this year. It's a good festival, but it's super crowded and expensive. One of my good friends lives right near GG park, so I usually park my car at her place the whole weekend and walk over. I can't imagine how awful the bus/transit situation is.

It's as bad as you imagine.

[Chuck5000]

Someone mentioned Hardly Strictly Bluegrass above - that festival gets more crowded every year and after going for 5 or 6 years, I stopped a couple of years ago. It's just not fun, it's like being in a train station.

The only way to have fun and not feel overrun, IMO, is to get a blanket at whatever is the outermost stage and stay there.

I went to Outside Lands once and thought it was really well-run. Yeah, don't drive at all.

[bmw335xi]

I feel like most of these festivals are so overhyped now, they aren't that enjoyable anymore for people who've been to them many times already.

[dalparadise]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

I feel like most of these festivals are so overhyped now, they aren't that enjoyable anymore for people who've been to them many times already.

A lot depends on the lineup for me. Plus, I've never really thought of Ouside Lands as "overhyped". Why do you say that? I've only been twice, so I guess I'm still new to it, but the diversity and quality of the lineups, the setting in the park, the local food and drink components (albeit expensive), the well planned and executed nature of it and frankly, the people it draws have made OL an enjoyable experience for me.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is a free one, so it gets mobbed. The fact that it is and always has been a gift to the City adds to its appeal and excuses some hassles. I love the crowd it attracts too. Not sure why anyone would think of it as "overhyped" either.