Every time August rolls around, I get sentimental. The steady stream of X’s on my calendar grows faster and faster, closing in on the event that I wait for every year like a restless kid waits for Christmas morning: Outside Lands. My brother and I have been going since the festival’s debut in 2008, when Tom Petty, Radiohead, and Jack Johnson took to the stage. It’s maiden voyage took San Francisco by surprise, with 64 bands and 6 stages unabashedly blasting out art to over 120,000 people for 3 days. And after the chaos, when the monday morning dew had settled on the silent and foot-stamped grass of Golden Gate Park, it was obvious that Outside Lands had found a home. Since then, the festival has put forth a huge production every year, and this time around, the lineup is absurd.

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