Coming off of an alarming 2024, where 90 music festivals were canceled worldwide due to oversaturation, weather-related problems, and climate change, the business of music festivals is in correction. According to Billboard, 60 percent of Coachella tickets this year were paid via payment plans, which points to the vulnerability of the economy. But Bay Area music festivals continue to roll along this summer, providing a variety of musical options, affordable shows for the entire family, high-end curated line-ups, and a bevy of opportunities for local Bay Area bands to play alongside national headliners. Check these out.
MAY 10+11: MILL VALLEY MUSIC FESTIVAL
Gary Clark Jr., Nile Rodgers & Chic, Monophonics, Jason Crosby’s Crosby Collective, Ghost-Note, Sister Nancy, and more will travel here to Northern California and perform on Mill Valley’s main festival stage this May as this up-and-coming family fun showcase returns for its fourth year.
This is coming off the success of last year’s edition that saw festival promoters Noise Pop Industries and The Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce tabulate over 10,000 total attendees during the two-day event, during which outdoor enthusiasts danced to Fleet Foxes and swooned it up to Thee Sacred Souls’ emotional hex. Returning to Friends Field once again, the Redwood-lined destination is less than an hour from the heart of San Francisco is starting to feel like a seasonal tradition.
Sweetwater Music Hall will curate their own lineup of afternoon performances from what they are calling a diverse array of local artists that music lovers of all ages can enjoy. It features the student-led Marin School of Arts Band and the Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco, comprised of talented young musicians ranging in age from 10 to 18 years old.
Grab more info here. And use code 48HILLS20 for 20% off!
MAY 12-NOV 1: YERBA BUENA GARDENS FESTIVAL 25TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
Planning to bring more 100 free live programs and performances back to downtown San Francisco as part of its unique summer programming, the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival will run this year from May to October. With a slate that will include free outdoor music, theater, circus, dance, poetry, and children’s programs, it’s one of the few ongoing events in the city that is affordable and accessible to everyone.
Festival highlights include the Kick-Off Concert on Saturday, May 10, with La Santa Cecilia and SF’s own La Doña opening, plus Joe Bataan and Tall Tee on May 17, Madison McFerrin and The Seshen on May 24, and Pride in Yerba Buena! on June 28. In partnership with MoAD & SFJAZZ, the Festival will present Dani Offline on July 24 and Samora Pinderhughes and SOL Development on September 20.
“We are proud of the role the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival has played in bringing arts and culture to the Bay Area and for our role in helping make downtown San Francisco a culturally vibrant place for everyone,” states Festival Executive/Artistic Director Linda Lucero.
This summer, the Children’s Garden Series will return, featuring interactive performances specially designed for kids and their adults. Also, the Thursday Lunchtime Concert Series from 12:30pm to 1:30pm, featuring local and international musicians, returns, and new this year is a First Thursday Dance Night in the Yerba Buena East Garden featuring Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers on July 3, and Combo Chimbita on August 7, with more to be announced.
More info here.
MAY 23-25: BOTTLEROCK
This decadent food and wine pairing amid a sonically dense three day line-up, held at the Napa Valley Expo, is considered by music industry insiders as the elite tier of outdoor festivals. I mean, it’s sponsored by Jam Cellars, a Napa Valley winery.
According to our coverage a couple of years ago, RZA, the standing producer of the Wu-Tang Clan, had a very astute observation when they performed at the wine-sponsored fête in 2023. “We’re used to rocking a nighttime crowd,” stated the emblematic RZA. “This daytime crowd seems like it hasn’t smoked enough weed to get deep into the Chambers!”
As stated by our reporter Tamara Palmer, the wine-and-‘shroom-buzzed afternoon delighters threw Wu-Tang off their game. Wu-Tang, people. You know?
“Wu-Tang Clan ain’t nothing to f*ck with?”
Well, hopefully this year, headliners Green Day, Justin Timberlake, and Khruangbin will be a bit more in line with the frequency of this top-tier beau-monde outdoor production. With supporting acts Kaskade, Public Enemy, Remi Wolf, E-40, DJ UMAMI, ICE CUBE, and 4 Non Blondes? With such a radius, believe me, somebody should get movin’.
More info here.
JUNE 13-15: SAN FRANCISCO JAZZ FESTIVAL
Forget the cake-throwing tropes of EDM DJs for a second; SFJAZZ, under the direction of Terence Blanchard, is entering the music festival chat this summer with a joyful noise that represents the organization’s big umbrella of music, which slides freely through classifications. The 42nd annual San Francisco Jazz Festival, being held June 13-15 at the SFJAZZ Center, features 35 concerts spread across multiple stages and a new outdoor tent in the heart of the city’s Hayes Valley. It promises to be a summertime event with all the clicks and pops of both traditional and avant-garde tastes that hopes to speak to everyone.
This three-day bash—which includes DJs, food, wine, beer and cocktail vendors, art, vinyl merchants, and more—has a touch of contemporary while still covering all of the classic jazz lanes.
This assortment of local artists, upstart jazz-fusion warriors, and Grammy-winning legacy artists hit the city all within three days—SF peeps, you have no excuses. It features the Bay Area’s own Salami Rose Joe Louis, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Idris Ackamoor & The Ankhestra, for starters.
Plus drummer Kassa Overall, award-winning saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin & Phoenix Quartet, Don Was & the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, Lisa Fischer & Grand Baton, Stanley Clarke & Gonzalo Rubalcaba, the Fela on acid vibes of SML, and boogie-funk legend Patrice Rushen.
Purchase tickets here. Three-day and one-day passes are available.
JUNE 15 TO AUGUST 10: STERN GROVE 2025
Last year, the 87th edition of San Francisco’s Stern Grove Music Festival attracted more than 90,000 eager attendees who were stoked by the artistic eclecticism on display from week to week. And that ever-so-friendly price, for free, didn’t hurt either. Festival organizers will be running it back this summer with headliners “The Boss” Diana Ross, feminist-punk royalty Sleater-Kinney, and the first family of reggae, Damian “Jr Gong” and Stephen Marley.
And sure, there’s Orville Peck, Channel Tres, Girl Talk, The Pointer Sisters, and Phantogram, too. But festival organizers went seeking local talent, wisely placing local performers and revered Bay Area artists in the opening slots that match up nicely with those Sunday morning Bloody Mary’s.
Destroy Boys (with a performance at Outside Lands too, they’re kinda taking over), J Boogie, Patrick King Most, Davey D, Lyrics Born, and DJ Lady Ryan all hold down supporting slots, indicating that festival organizers know what’s up.
This year, they are rolling out a new ticketing system to make access fairer and more inclusive for everyone. But hey, if you’d like to catch “Upside Down” from Miss Ross a bit closer, just donate a couple grand at the Big Picnic Weekend Two-day benefit concert, and one of those picnic tables is yours.
Good luck, grab more info here, and we will see you out on 19th Ave.
JUNE 21 + 22: BLISS FEST 2025
With the third annual Presidio Theatre Bliss Festival returning to San Francisco’s national park on June 21 and 22, city residents and music aficionados can take part and thrive in the glow of live music amidst the serene environs of pine-scented forestry on a burrito budget.
Single-day tickets are $35 for adults and $10 for youth. If you choose to buy both days, you will automatically receive a package discount of $50 for adults and $15 for youth.
With a Saturday lineup featuring Martin Luther McCoy, The Seshen, and Orchestra Gold, that’s outside affordable. Counter that with a Sunday lineup featuring Grahame Lesh & Friends, Jesús Díaz and the Fifth Chord, and Alam Khan & Eman Hashimi: Tribute to Zakir Hussain.
This is hands down the most accessible, feasible, and least stressful music festival you will find amongst the SF trees this summer.
Food, beverage, and art vendors will be announced soon, and the first 100 people on both Saturday and Sunday will receive a free poster designed by Brian Blomerth. Summer just got easier to navigate, people.
Grab tickets and info here.
JULY 19 + 20: MOSSWOOD MELTDOWN
It’s the freakin’ Nerds, of all Nerds, that’s right. MF’ing Devo is headlining Mosswood Meltdown at Oakland’s Mosswood Park this July 19–20. From the cold grooves all over their manifesto of nerd-geek futurism on New Traditionalists, those keyboard progressions delivered a new world, a nebula that did not exist before. Devo’s music has always celebrated being non-members, approaching topics from the geek-rebel perspective, allowing synths to pave “new ideas, stupid moves” through bizarre tales. (Devo last headlined back in 2018, when the joint was still called Burger Boogaloo.)
Unlike, well, almost all the music festivals in the Bay and possibly in the country, Mosswood has a bit of a sense of humor about itself.
As called by its host for his 11th year, the unparalleled and distinguished John Waters: “Some call it ‘The Warped Woodstock’ or ‘An Asshole-free Altamont,’ while others holler ‘Coachella, Go-To Hella.’ We’re Mosswood Meltdown, and we’re going to lose our musical marbles again this year with a lineup of lunatic acts that will make even the angriest punk rocker pogo their way to paradise with a twisted smile on their dirty little faces.” With Shannon & The Clams, La Luz, Osees, Kreayshawn, Bratmobile, L’Trimm, Giuda, and a slew of afterparty shows to be named closer to the date, believe in Mr. Waters. He doesn’t lie.
More info here.
AUGUST 8-10: OUTSIDE LANDS
There is local and tasteful curation deep in the microfont of this year’s Outside Lands festival, being held in the most hip property for live music once again this summertime: Golden Gate Park. Festival organizers did their job in getting the big-name ‘gets’ that attract all the summertime music festival cruisers throughout the country: two-time Grammy Award-winning rapper and producer Tyler, The Creator; platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated Irish singer-songwriter Hozier; and Grammy Award-winning singer and rapper Doja Cat. Those right there are what industry folks call a butts-in-seats calculus.
Yet sifting through the lines, you see local artists Destroy Boys, Bay Area DJ Infinite Jess, Sweater Funk fave Mayer Hawthorne, and then a slew of acts I’d damn well spend a buck or two to see, such as Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, Floating Points, Jamie xx, Doechii, Thundercat, Julien Baker & TORRES, Jessica Pratt, Mannequin Pussy, and others.
It’s a bit more curated event than normal summertime pop music showcases, even down to the cannabis, which makes this happening a national event, despite residents leaving their beloved “Ess Eff” for the weekend.
Plus, the return of fan favorite Dolores’ stage, an inclusive dance floor that’s a space celebrating queer and trans communities, and returning for a second year with new expanded wedding package offerings is Outside Lands City Hall. Yep. Get hitched, sip pristine libations, get legally stewed twisting up the pricey Granddaddy Purple at Grasslands, and have Neal Francis as your wedding reception band whipping out a set of tunes that sounds like Thin Lizzy cut a disco record. Man, talking about hanging high in the trees, Bubba.
Get more info on the three-day event here.
