Outside Lands 2023

written and photographed by Sydney Ling

photos edited by Naomi “Mimi” Miyamoto

San Francisco’s Outside Lands drew in around 75,000 people per day to the foggy city’s Golden Gate Park from August 11 to 13. With local food vendors and small businesses such as thrift shops and jewelry makers, cannabis at “Grass Lands,” photo booths, and other offerings, Outside Lands curated a multisensory, exciting experience that extended far beyond the music. The largest independent festival in the country, its lineup included a handful of Asian-descent artists, varying from K-pop to EDM to pop. Each act demonstrated engaging stage presence and skilled artistry in their respective genres, culminating in a blend of diverse performances. 

Day 1

Raveena entranced her audience at the Lands End stage with her angelic vocals as she twirled on stage, her vibrant bell sleeves, a signature performance look, swishing with her movement. She often introduced her songs with humorous remarks such as “It’s a song about being high” and “I’m gonna sing a song for all my Bay Area lesbians; I heard there’s a lot.” The projected background images and many of her songs, such as the buoyant “Kismet,” which includes lyrics in Hindi, paid homage to Raveena’s Indian heritage. At one point, with a dazzling smile, she began tossing flowers to her fans. Backdropped by swirling, colorful visuals and with mushrooms, plants, and two paintings set up on stage, the dreamy songstress transported the crowd to her enchanting realm. 

Despite rapper GISELLE being unable to perform due to health issues, K-pop girl group aespa’s remaining three members still embodied a powerful stage presence at Twin Peaks. With dynamic songs like “aenergy” and the more R&B-leaning “Thirsty,” aespa delivered charismatic performances, supported by a team of backup dancers dressed in black. Several fans brought aespa’s lightsticks, which lit up in a purple-blue color scheme. The visual backgrounds, primarily cyber-futuristic graphics, referenced the group’s lore and concept shaped by themes of technology and artificial intelligence. At one point, the members’ AI avatars, called æs, appeared behind them on the screen. Alongside their versatile vocals and magnetic energy, aespa provided a taste of how music artists are beginning to explore how innovation and digital tools can enhance their performances and work.   

KARINA

WINTER

NINGNING

Day 2

Following their earlier performance at the main stage, Lands End, indie pop-rock band No Vacation graced the smaller space of Toyota’s Music Den in the afternoon, surrounded by a sloping lawn with sparkling disco balls and balloons strung across trees. Kicking off the set with the breezy “Beach Bummer,” the band–comprised of magenta buzz-cut singer Sabrina Mai, guitarists Nat Lee and Harrison Spencer, keyboardist Alex Togashii, and drummer James Shi— created an intimate atmosphere with their soothing vocals and instrumental harmonies, as the audience grooved to the dreamy music.   

Vocalist Sabrina Mai and keyboardist Alex Togashii

Guitarist Nat Lee and drummer James Shi

Near the larger venue of Twin Peaks at the Panhandle stage, sunglasses-donning Filipino Canadian R&B duo MANILA GREY started their set with the smooth hip-hop track “Raindance.” Singer Soliven and rapper GhostrideNeek fired up the audience, demonstrating their chemistry and flow with each other. 

At Twin Peaks, on a stop on her world tour and coming from her recent headlining set at Head in the Clouds, NIKI serenaded the stage with her bright vocals and bouncy energy. Backdropped by her cinematic music videos projected on the stage screen, she charmed the audience with relatable one-liners before songs, like “It’s about, you know, dating a walking red flag, as you do,” before “urs,” or “This song goes to all the high school exes out there,” for “High School in Jakarta.” With a particularly electrifying outro for “urs” by the band, where she spun on stage with her acoustic guitar, NIKI weaved sincerity, nostalgia, heartache, vulnerability, and joy into a breezy, enchanting performance as the sun began to set. 

Following NIKI’s set, Conan Gray commanded the audience’s attention with his dynamic stage presence. Despite being sick and acting as a last-minute addition due to Orville Peck stepping out, Gray delivered a thrilling performance preceding the headliner, Lana Del Rey. Dressed in a vest and flared pant ensemble with matching gloves, a style he frequently wears during performances, Gray exuded confidence and sass as he strutted and danced on stage. With colorful animated graphic visuals, Gray leaned into the 80s-inspired aesthetics of his track “Never Ending Song,” released earlier in the year. Right before “Checkmate,” Gray played a popular clip from his Elle Song Association interview, where he said, “I love being dramatic, because, why would you ever deal with any emotion in a logical way when you could have the option of absolutely losing your mind?” This moment exemplified how, despite cementing his status as a star in the pop music scene, Gray maintains his relatable image from the beginning of his career through his humorous quips.

From the upbeat dance track of “Disaster” to the vulnerable, soft “Astronomy,” Gray demonstrated his range in his artistry. Additionally, he debuted his latest single, the gut-wrenching confessional “Winner,” which came out later on August 25. Seen particularly through belting the cathartic bridge of his 2020 hit “Heather,” Gray embodied the melodrama of his songs that have captured the hearts of fans worldwide. 

Electronic trap producer Julian “ISOxo” Isorena kicked off the third day at the main stage of Lands End with an explosive set that flaunted his talent as a rising artist in the EDM scene. Getting his audience to fist pump in a rave style, ISOxo displayed clean production skills with his songs and remixes, backdropped by flashing red, white, and black visuals. 

In an interview after his performance, he humbly expressed his surprise and appreciation for the number of people who showed up so early at 3 PM. Having performed at HARD Summer Music Festival and Moonrise Festival earlier in the summer, which were electronic-specific events, ISOxo reflected that he enjoyed the novelty of engaging an audience who may not be as familiar with his genre. When asked about his single released with 88rising, “dontstopme!”, he said he felt proud to be on the 88rising roster next to so many prominent Asian and Asian American artists, especially in a more niche genre that differentiated him from mainstream sounds. He played the track during his set, along with his recent song “SHYPOP,” which came out on August 24. Both provide a taste of ISOxo’s anticipated debut album, “KIDSGONEMAD,” which he revealed has been in the works for over a year. With the project, ISOxo will continue breaking through the EDM scene with his experimental work as a young Filipino American artist in a genre with relatively minimal Asian representation. 

As the final Asian artist performance at Outside Lands, beabadoobee graced Twin Peaks with her breezy performance that ranged from indie pop to alternative rock. Earlier in the day, she had posted about her upcoming Outside Lands set, using a photo of her Seattle performance taken by Sophia Chew for Rice & Spice. Decked out in her typical grunge style and viral faux freckle, smudged eyeliner makeup look, beabadoobee charmed the audience with her contagious smile and sweet vocals. Memorable audience moments that showcased beabadoobee’s fans' adoration included an attendee waving her phone, the screen displaying the Philippines flag as a connection to the Filipina-English artist, and another festival goer holding up a sign that said, “PLEASE MARRY ME, I’M FORKLIFT CERTIFIED.” Switching between an acoustic guitar and teal and pink electric ones, beabadoobee, along with her band, electrified the afternoon with tracks including her viral, heartwarming single “Glue Song.”

Among Golden Gate Park's tall trees and lawns, Outside Lands proved to be a captivating and diverse celebration of music, food, and art. The festival brought together tens of thousands of attendees of all ages from the Bay Area and beyond, creating thrilling memories to conclude the summer.