OUTSIDE LANDS 2019: Your 5 Must-See Sets at San Francisco’s Premiere Musical Gathering [Festival Preview]

In just a few weeks the Golden Gate Park will transform from a peaceful escape from busy city life to a bustling space full of fans, food, fantastic music for the annual Outside Lands. The three-day festival coming to San Francisco brings something for everyone through the events and sets that are packed into the weekend.

This year’s lineup brings a diverse array of artists and genres to the multi-stage event space. If you’re on the fence about going, don’t wait too long to decide because Outside Lands has sold out in a number of the last years. If you decided to bounce around between stages each day instead of camping out in front of one to await a headliner, there’s a good chance that you’ll clock in at least a few miles of steps throughout the weekend from the large layout and spread out stages. Make sure that you plan out where you want to be ahead of arriving. This all said, here are five artists that we believe are alone worth attending this year’s extravaganza.

01. Childish Gambino
Day: Saturday
Genre: Hip-Hop
Links: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

– I was trying really hard not to add headlining acts to this list and instead focus mainly on artists that are earlier on in the day, but I can’t resist adding Childish Gambino. From headlining the opening night of Coachella to being on the bills for the upcoming Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits festivals, it’s exciting (and also no surprise) to see that he will be making an appearance at Outside Lands. Gambino is scheduled at the end of the night at the same time as RL Grime, which may prove to be a major conflict for some.

Childish Gambino believes this video is representative of America, and half a billion people would agree:

02. Aurora
Day: Friday
Genre: Electropop
Links: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

– With a mesmerizing stage presence and lyrics that seem frightening relevant, Aurora is bound to draw a crowd to the Twin Peaks stage on Friday. This will be one of the few opportunities to catch her in the U.S. before she heads back to Europe to continue to tour in support of her second studio album, A Different Kind of Human, that came out in June.

AURORA has planted “The Seed” and now it’s germinating like a weed:

03. The Neighbourhood
Day: Friday
Genre: Alternative Rock
Links: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

– With the temperature frequently fluctuating between 80*F and 50*F in San Francisco, you can bet that it will be “Sweater Weather” at some point during Outside Lands. In addition to performing in the early evening of the first day of the festival, The Neighbourhood will be giving an intimate performance at The Independent the night before. And, because we aim to get then goods before they’re “good,” check out our free song download of then band’s now hit-single, “Sweater Weather.”

It’s always “Sweater Weather” when you’re partying with The Neighbourhood:

04. Kygo
Day: Sunday
Genre: Electronic
Links: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

– If you’ve called out of work on Monday and are able to stay late on Sunday night, Kygo should be on your list to close out your 2019 Outside Lands experience. While this conflicts with Paul Simon on the Lands End stage, there is plenty of time to start there and then partway through head over to the Twin Peaks stage for Kygo. Expect to sing and dance to mixes of some of today’s top songs. The set is sure to leave you pumped up and on a high that leaves you looking forward to Outside Lands in 2020.

Kygo and Whitney Houston together will have you screaming for “Higher Love:”

05. Toro y Moi
Day: Sunday
Genre: Indie soul
Links: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

– This is different than the music that I normally gravitate to, but once I pulled it up on Spotify, I was hooked. With a sound that I can only describe as both chill and upbeat at the same time, this will be the perfect set to grab a blanket and dinner and sit back to relax as the sun starts to set on the festival.

We take no “Ordinary Pleasure” in listening to this song by Toro y Moi. We love it!:

We wouldn’t let you leave before checking out the event’s full poster: