Remember when people used to say that there’s no music industry in San Francisco? Those days are gone, full stop. There’s now a number of relevant promoters, agents, managers, studios, and labels that claim time in the Bay Area. Even those no longer based here polish their connection: The city is still the third largest touring market in the country. We have a very lucrative back end.
Goldenvoice is one of the three key corporate promoters in the region (along with LiveNation and APE) that has the power and budget to throw large scale events like Portola Festival. Now in its fifth year at Pier 80, the two-day, dance music-centered Portola is squarely at the intersection of this supercharged music industry machine fueled by big acts, big production, and big money—for better and worse.
Dance music is quite possibly the biggest ticket in the festival space, and the lineups that Portola continues to put together every year are an unbelievable feat, featuring almost any well-known act name you care to think up. None of it can be done without the serious financial muscle that Goldenvoice wields, allowing them to cozy up to the City of SF and Port of SF to make this unbelievably glorious rave possible. It’s not a pretty paper trail if you follow it too far, but this is the Faustian bargain we often grapple with as consumers of live music in 2026.
At the end of the day Portola, is reflective of modern San Francisco’s current big-spending ways, and it’s an incredible party at an insane industrial venue for those privileged enough to be able to be there. This year’s installment will be remembered for some of the key performances that were unique to the 2-day, 21+ festival, the improvements that the fest has made in five years of life, and the fine tuning that could take it all to another level in the future. Here’s what popped and flopped for us at Portola 2026.
Popped: Robyn
This was only the third time Robyn performed in San Francisco in the past 16 years and it was easily the big winner of the Saturday slate. With her blonde pompadour, the Swedish pop queen splashed onto the main Pier Stage wearing lace stockings and a short mod dress. She quickly changed into an airier disco ball patterned number and slipped on a pair of knee pads to get downright physical with it. The transition from “Life,” her featured track off of Jamie XX’s In Waves, into a totally unhinged version of “Don’t Fucking Tell Me What To Do,” was an titanic statement that had every soul within an ear shot throwing their hands up in the air. Like…if this 47-year old new single mom can shake her ass this vigorously, you can too, bitches! That high was only eclipsed by the closing duo of the therapeutic “Call Your Girlfriend” and an emphatic sing-a-long to “Dancing On My Own.” The crowd erupted into a “Robyn! Robyn!” chant and one of the biggest pop music proponents for losing yourself to the heat and emotion of it all, got the proverbial flowers in SF that she deserves.
Flopped: Cell Service
Another year of Portola and another year of this bullshit. Ahead of the 2023 edition, Portola’s creative architect Danny Bell explained to us what cell COW’s were and what steps were being taken to improve cell service on site. Heck, I even touted the charm of being in the moment without cell service in 2024. But now it’s just getting tiresome, and perhaps even problematic safety-wise for some ravers. It’s pretty impossible to meet-up with anyone at Portola when messages are often sent with delays, if at all. You need to send evergreen meet-up coordinates to people and do your best to stick to that plan if you want to link with a crew you didn’t arrive with. Central meet-up markers are nebulous and the Portola disco chicken (one of few markers for a link up in year’s past) was not where it appeared on the festival map.
At least this year, VIP areas had a passable WiFi option—for one, it helped give media and creators service to be able to produce live content to blast out into the world and help market the amazing onstage talent and productions; this was not really possible in the past. Nonetheless, a solution to the communications issue for everyone at Portola would be swell. And if you want to be a cellphone limited festival, that’s cool. Just tell people that’s the deal (add it to the FAQs) instead of delivering the same “surprise” every year.
Popped: $3 Water
If you’ve ever bought a drink at a Goldenvoice show at the Regency or the Warfield, you know that even a can of water is gonna run you around $10 after tip. I fully expected this same thing at Portola and was pleasantly surprised that 16oz cans of cold (mostly) water were only $3 ($3.24 with tax and $4 with an easy choice round-up for tip.) Water bottle refill stations were also plentiful, but the water was on the warmer side. I’ll still take it. This is a legit, sweaty, dance party and you shouldn’t be profiting (much) off of keeping people hydrated. Big ups Portola.
Popped and Flopped: DJ Shadow
Count me as one of the people who was most excited for DJ Shadow’s performance of Endtroducing… on the idyllic brutalist backdrop of the Crane Stage. But as soon as the set began, it was clear that Shadow was having some technical issues and his circumstances weren’t ideal. He explained that given he only had an hour, this would be a slightly abbreviated version of the live show he’s put together for the 30th Anniversary tour of the album and I quickly tempered my expectations. But while shortened, it was nonetheless stunning.
I loved visuals during “Building Steam With A Grain of Salt” and “The Numbers Song,” of a record player stylus cutting through a vinyl groove desert canyon that felt like they were projected from under an electron microscope. Ditto for the images of a harrowing escape through a post-apocalyptic fortress guarded by nefarious armies on later cuts. There was a footwork remix of “Stem/Long Stem” that crushed and seeing archival photos from the iconic Endtroducing…. album cover shoot by legendary hip-hop photographer Brian “B+” Cross during “Midnight In A Perfect World,” was a retrospective gift to long-time fans. Shadow dedicated that song’s performance to dearly departed Blackalicious MC Gift of Gab (the track’s vocalist), and it was one of many concerted nods to the Bay Area.
“I grew up in San Jose…this is Bay Area shit right here,” Shadow said to the crowd. Adding that, “This whole show was made in the Bay Area. Shout out to Ben Stokes, an incredible video artist.” As the sun set beyond the venue’s twin cranes, someone behind me in the crowd said, “This is my childhood right here,” and I felt that. But I gotta believe Shadow (who has lived just over the Golden Gate Bridge for decades) would want to perform this calculated set properly for a hometown crowd, in full and indoors. The set felt like a concession for a longer-term play and my hope is that Shadow tacks on a San Francisco show at either the Regency or The Warfield after his Goldenvoice-promoted anniversary tour concludes in early November.
Popped: Despacio
Last year was the only edition of Portola I missed, as my son had just been born. So this year was my first time experiencing the immersive environment of one of the greatest soundsystems on earth, Despacio. The 2000 capacity space had lines of varying lengths (usually 30 mins or less) all weekend and it was the ultimate immersive sonic environment. Built around eight McIntosh speaker stacks encircling a dance floor, it’s an optimal environment to listen and dance to James Murphy and 2manydjs play vinyl records on end.
A respected local DJ pointed out to me that McIntosh has only ever officially sponsored three events: Woodstock, Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound and Despacio; this is a big deal. On Sunday night, the thumps were so crisp and the system shined on accentuating how we take for granted the truly remarkable mixes and instrumentation of ubiquitous tracks like “Another One Bites The Dust” and “Fly Like An Eagle” are. Some superfan audiophiles stayed here all day grooving alongside funk, disco, soul, 60s and 70s rock rarities & more (I stumbled onto a Despacio pre-party brunch on Friday morning at side a in the Mission for card-carrying enthusiasts of the soundsystem’s many intricacies. It was them, no doubt.) There was a moment under Despacio’s centrally-draped disco ball, when the room held me so strongly that I felt all of the soundsystem’s might and the enveloping feeling it creates. It wasn’t easy to leave.
I’ve heard from credible sources that Portola might very well have been Despacio’s swan song. Meanwhile, producer Floating Points is set to debut his decade-long design project with Sunflower Sound System at the Head Trip festival in Indio next month. Head Trip is put on by (you guessed it) Goldenovice. So perhaps we’ll have a new toy to play with at Portola next year…
Flopped: The Visual Art (or lack thereof)
I get it, Portola is meant to look minimal. Given comments from previous interviews, I’m guessing Bell (who by all accounts, has great taste) took inspiration from the minimal visual components of landmark European dance music festivals and clubs in industrial spaces like Germany’s Melt! Fest and Berghain. But why not reach into the bag to bring on local artists to further swag out Pier 80? Signage for each stage is scant and downright laughable to say the least, with a small panel of block lettering denoting its name in a rather inconspicuous spot. The Ship Stage is the worst offender, due to the large white panelled tent canvas facade begging for an artist to paint over it.
The festival unveiled a new raccoon mascot of sorts that appeared on lineup posters and in a few places around the grounds. I liked it and it fit the vibe, but maybe lean into that further? Even the festival’s beloved disco chicken was relegated to an obscure corner behind a fence. Pier 80 itself is freaking awesome and imposing and the stage lighting is sick everywhere. But just like how Portola did a fantastic job this year in incorporating more local musical acts (DJ Shadow, underscores., clearcast, and Program Audio’s sfcowboy and Erika) it’s time it did the same with visual art installations.
BIG Popped: Four Tet
This was a performance that will live in festival lore and it was Bell and Portola’s masterstroke.
Four Tet’s camp approached Portola with a concept around a new lighting rig for the Warehouse stage and it was executed brilliantly to close out the weekend on Sunday night. This was his third time playing the fest and it was hands down his finest moment. As the British producer opened with the Tony Romera Remix of “Baby,” a nearly 1,000 foot lighting strip radiating amorphous light curtains and shapes ran through nearly the entire length of the 225,000 square foot warehouse’s spine. The light cascaded in shapeshifting ways throughout the set, growing, bending, even hovering closer down to the crowd, wrapping the dance party in luminescence.
Four Tet’s setlist was a comprehensive revue of a thick portion of his discography spanning IDM, tech house, drum and bass, dubstep, etc. I raved my ass off for two hours and hadn’t felt this kind of communal release on the dance floor in years. He’s one of the very few electronic music artists who galvanizes a deep awareness of what drives endless styles of dance music, to then present it in a way where we all meet minds at the same wavelength on the dance floor.
“Looking At My Pager” recalled memories of the festival’s first year on the Crane Stage, when the track served as the unquestioned peak of Four Tet’s B2B closing set with Floating Points. We were all engrossed and enamored with the beats, right to the gentle comedown of “Two Thousand And Seventeen” into “Mama Teaches Sanskrit,” when the lights turned upwards to reveal a cosmic sky projected on the ceiling of this gargantuan space, like a million glow-in-the-dark stars in a child’s bedroom. We basked in the hum of Four Tet’s bass, a mantra, like burning sage in the form of LED lights, cleansing our souls of the weekend’s mischief. If there’s a culture at Portola, Four Tet is ingrained in it.
Popped: Groove Armada
The sound in the warehouse felt improved this year and acts like Four Tet, Overmono, and Groove Armada were big beneficiaries here. The latter are a true legacy act who rarely set foot on US soil. The duo’s Saturday afternoon set got me primed for the weekend and I couldn’t be happier seeing them thread their signature dub-house classic “Superstylin’,” with other artist’s notable tracks from across eras throughout the set. At one turn, it was with Disclosure’s “You & Me,” before a gorgeous crescendo towards the end with Underworld’s feverish club heater “Two Months Off.” Andy Cato and Tom Findlay felt equal parts forefathers of the scene, while still having a grip on contemporary sensibilities—an apt display of what timeless dance music is all about.
Flopped: The Mayor’s Grandstanding
Is something really happening in SF these days if Mayor Daniel Lurie isn’t pumping it up on his Instagram feed? Early on Sunday, Mayor Lurie filmed himself walking into Portola touting a sellout 45,000 person crowd for the day and 40,000 on Saturday (for context, Bell told us in 2023 that year one had a 33,000/day capacity.) The chatter in industry circles over the past few months about Portola, was about sagging sales figures. The festival ran targeted ads pretty much up til the weekend and when I checked late Sunday morning, tickets were still available for sale online. This crowd felt light (especially on Saturday) and it seems a bit disingenuous to have the mayor be the one to announce your rough attendance numbers. Portola’s PR representatives responded to our request for the weekend’s attendance figures indicating that the number was not available as of Wednesday afternoon (3 days after the festival).
On the IG video, Lurie lazily said, “This is one of those festivals that some people talk about, but not everybody…” Ummm….ok? Meanwhile, Lurie was not in attendance at nearby Folsom Street Fair, a festival that literally everybody talks about. This was an unnecessary slight to one of SF’s most rich and vibrant displays of our proud and independent queer culture.
Popped: The Fully Realized Footprint
Portola flowed better than it ever has. Entry to the festival was as smooth as ever. I rode an e-bike from the Mission, docked it steps from the entrance and was through the gate in about 20 minutes after I left my house. Yes, please. In year’s past, I’d pointed out how the back quadrant of the festival wasn’t fully activated and it led to an eye sore of dead space asphalt smack in the middle of the footprint. Along with that, people weren’t flocking to the main food area in that far section of Pier 80. The presence of Despacio once again this year kept attendees interested in all four corners of the fest.
Meanwhile, the Pier Stage VIP section seems to have found a permanent home on the far edge of the stage facing the downtown skyline, rather than up against the nearest boundary to the festival’s arterial thoroughfare. Because of this, it never felt clogged on that main drag anymore when choosing where to make my next move on this adventure. I took my last long walk freely from Despacio to the Warehouse on Sunday night, ready to end the weekend in my favorite corner of it all. It was cold, but I was wrapped in the residual warmth from being tightly hugged with other revelers under Despacio’s giant disco ball. I got one final open look at all the acts on each stage while I made my way—Kelela at Ship Tent, HorsegiirL at Crane Stage, Swedish House Mafia still setting up at Pier Stage, and I let the tractor beam of the Warehouse gracefully pull me towards it.
Portola has always been a push/pull proposition. It’s best to let it pull you in deeply and bask in the music. Cell service not yet included.
