Golden Gate Park is known for some of the chilliest summer weather in California. It is also home to one of the coolest music festivals on the West Coast, Outside Lands, which returns with an eclectic lineup. Acts include Paul Simon, Childish Gambino, Kacey Musgraves, Bebe Rexha, Ella Mai, Lil Wayne, blink-182 and Flume. There will also be non-musical entertainment: Illusionists Jon Armstrong and Jade entwine their tricks with mixology at the Cocktail Magic stage, comedians Jimmy O. Yang and Dulcé Sloan yuk it up, and kitchen masters will show off their chops on the GastroMagic culinary entertainment stage—where last year, Bill Nye reverse-seared a steak with zany Canadian chef Matty Matheson.

Outside Lands
Fri-Sun, $155+
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

As awesome as the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest is sure to be, many locals will surely be heading to San Francisco this weekend for the annual Outside Lands event. This year certainly boasts a litany of great acts, including The Weeknd, Florence + The Machine, Janet Jackson, Future, Portugal. The Man and many, many more. Fans of local music should be sure to catch Hot Flash Heat Wave and SOB x RBE. There’s also the D.A.V.E. stage, which will feature “Discussions About Virtually Anything” with the likes of Gavin Newsom, Bill Nye and Mickey Hart. Runs through Sunday.

Outside Lands
Fri-Sun, $149+
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

With just two weeks before one of the biggest annual music events in Northern California, organizers announced set times today for Outside Lands Music Festival.

The festival kicks off August 7 in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park with Mumford and Sons and D’Angelo headlining, followed by the Black Keys and Kendrick Lamar (Saturday, August 8) and Elton John and Axwell & Ingrosso (Sunday, August 8).

Tickets are officially sold out. Find more info on the festival’s website.

ALSO SEE: Metro’s Highlights and Photos From Outside Lands 2014

Friday, August 7

Saturday, August 8

Sunday, August 9

Full of sirens, lotus-eaters, and erstwhile suitors, the Outside Lands festival can feel like a personal Odyssey. Just getting through the gates is a rite of passage.

With thousands of festival-goers kicking up dust while they pass under the majestic treeline that surrounds the polo fields, it looks like a pilgrimage. It’s just well orchestrated chaos, and then, you get in.

Once inside, the churn begins. From the main stage, to the many stages around the fields, it’s a constant flow of bodies moving through the arteries of the festival. The trick is to not mind getting lost.

ALSO SEE: Photos from Outside Lands 2014

Something as simple as checking the time can get people separated. Cell phone service is unreliable, so the best case is to find new friends, or just enjoy the solitude while surrounded by tens of thousands of people. Eventually, everyone finds each other, one way or another.

Here are some highlights from this year’s festival:

Big Freedia
Bounce. Bounce that booty like a basketball. Bounce. Big Freedia is a force to be reckoned with. An absolutely wild stage show that includes butt shakes, backflips, a ladder, tough beats and an orchestrator that defies gender. Big Freedia charmed the crowd like no other this year. The New Orleans artist and crew brought the “bounce” in a serious way.

Chromeo
Dave and P-Thugg seem like your high school buddies, even when you’re looking at them from the middle of a crowd of 30,000 people. Shiny aluminum guitars, a kind of funk that you want to play to impress a first date, and that thing that Dave does that makes dudes act super chill is only possible with Chromeo.

Tom Petty
Watching Tom Petty play is like eating crispy bacon while looking at an eagle fly through a double rainbow.

Haim
These LA ladies shred. They are three sisters that pledge allegiance to the guitar gods of yore, and pay tribute with style, grace and skill. If there is an altar of Rock, Haim are the priestesses that maintain the holy grounds.

Spoon
Spoon is a treasure. They repair relationships. Their music is a cool shot of water to the face when you’re lost in the dessert. This Austin outfit have been doing it so well for so long. They make music that makes musicians jealous.

Flaming Lips
Wayne Coyne and company are strange individuals that I’d encourage all to hang out with. There’s a part of us that we all contemplate in private that they celebrate in public. Coyne has the ability to make all weirdos feel normal…which we are, while they play.

Kanye West
If you’re not intimately familiar with the many hits Kanye has produced in the past, his stage show may confuse you. To the uninitiated it was a self-decadent ramble that broke mid-song more than a couple of times. To the fans, it was pure bliss as they were delivered their favorite Kanye tracks by the man himself, live and direct.

This year’s Outside Lands festival, all hyperbole aside, was nothing short of spectacular—topped by memorable performance by Sir Paul McCartney.

Friday night wrapped up an already impressive day of music that included the Heavy, Band of Horses, and The National before McCartney headlined.

At 71 McCartney has the stage presence and energy of a man one third his age. With his famous Hofner violin bass, he started the set with the Beatles’ “Eight Days A Week” and a selection of Wings tunes and carried on for almost three hours with music from the last four decades. During “Live and Let Die,” the main stage erupted with fireworks that lit up the entire polo field.

As the temperature dropped, and the fog mixed in with the haze left by the fireworks above the crowd, McCartney sang “Hey Jude.” For a a few extended moments, if felt like we were all on the Yellow Submarine, surrounded by the warm purple glow of the illuminated trees that surrounded us and a voice many in that audience were deeply familiar with.

The second day of the festival was an appropriate sequel to Friday. Blues guitarists Guy Clark Jr. started the festivities early before Jurassic 5 got the crowd primed for the night’s headliners.

The polo field was a solid block of people for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and by the time Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails walked onto the stage, the crowd was so packed it would have been easier to just walk on top of the people rather than through them.

Sunday—always the toughest day to get through at Outside Lands—had some of us shaking off the groggy morning blues until Hall and Oates began their set. Willie Nelson and Vampire weekend performed on opposite stages shortly there after. There were people sobbing during Kaskade and women screaming like teenage girls when Anthony Kiedis walked on stage.

When the Chili Peppers finished their set with their 90s hit “Give it Away,” and the festival had officially come to a close, the crowd started to slowly dissipate through the exits, kicking up plumes of dust. Walking out of Golden Gate Park that night almost felt like a communal dream. We all made our way to our separate homes together.

Continue to the next page to see more photos by Metro photographer Jennifer Anderson at Tomek Mackowiak.

San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music Festival has earned a reputation for bringing some of the biggest names in music to Golden Gate Park and recruiting some of the best restaurants and food trucks San Francisco has to offer to feed attendees.

This year, the sold-out festival welcomes Paul McCartney, Nine Inch Nails and Red Hot Chili Peppers as headliners Aug. 9-11, with more than 50 other acts performing on six stages throughout the weekend.

We’ve paired some of the bands performing this year with some of our favorite menu items at the festival.

Paul McCartney with S’mores and Hot Chocolate from Charles Chocolates
Connection: S’mores and hot chocolate are the ultimate summertime comfort foods to accompany comforting Beatles and McCartney classics among the trees and mist at Golden Gate Park.

Nine Inch Nails with Pork Belly Burger from Big Chef Tom’s Belly Burgers
Connection: A dark, complex band bursting with energy meets a complex burger bursting with flavor.

Red Hot Chili Peppers with Spicy Pork Fries from Bacon Bacon
Connection: A band that brings the heat, in performance and name, with a dish that does the same.

Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk with Chicken and Waffles from Farmer Brown’s Little Skillet
Connection: There’s something inherently funky about the chicken and waffles from Farmer Brown’s Little Skillet—syrupy with a hot sauce kick and a side of cornbread to mop it all up—and Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk is about as funky as it gets on the bill this year at Outside Lands.

Baauer with Gourmet Funnel Cakes from Endless Summer Treats
Connection: The man behind “Harlem Shake” grew up in Pennsylvania, where the popular festival item was first introduced. Tip: Don’t attempt to eat while doing the “Harlem Shake.”

Willie Nelson with Grilled Cheese Sandwich from American Grilled Cheese Kitchen
Connection: An American music classic meets an American food classic.

Vampire Weekend with Escape From New York Pizza
Connection: New York’s reigning champs of indie rock with San Francisco’s best attempt at New York pizza.

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue with Shrimp and Grits from 1300 on Fillmore
Connection: Modern NOLA funk that pays tribute to the musical city’s heritage pairs perfectly with a Louisiana dinner table staple, Barbecue Shrimp & Creamy Grits.

Pretty Lights with Bacon Wrapped Hot Dog from Brass Knuckles
Connection: The perfect late-night artist meets his match with the perfect late-night snack from Brass Knuckles.

Gary Clark Jr. with Cheeseburger from 4505 Meats
Connection: A meaty meal to accompany meaty riffs from Austin, Tex., guitar slinger, Gary Clark Jr.

Zedd with Bratwurst from Rosamunde Sausage Grill
Connection: Zedd was raised in Germany, famous for its wonderful sausages. Rosamunde is just about as good as it gets in San Francisco.

Kurt Vile and the Violators with Philadelphia Cheesesteaks from Earthly Delights
Connection: Mellow stoner rock from Philly paired with a hearty stoner meal (also from the City of Brotherly Love) from a festival regular with a very mellow name.

ALSO SEE: The Ultimate Outside Lands Playlist, the Outside Lands Night Show Lineup and Craft Beer Options at Outside Lands from our friends at SF Station.

Keith Mizuguchi contributed to this report.

The daily lineup for San Francisco’s Outside Lands music festival was released this morning with Paul McCartney headlining the first day of the festival on August 9, followed by Nine Inch Nails and Red Hot Chili Peppers closing the show on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Festival organizers are also releasing a limited number of single-day tickets for sale on June 26 starting at 10am via the festival’s website.

The daily lineup, set times TBA:

FRIDAY, August 9
Paul McCartney
Pretty Lights
The National
D’Angelo
Band of Horses
Yeasayer
Zedd
Rhye
Jessie Ware
Surfer Blood
Chromatics
Smith Westerns
Wavves
The Heavy
Twenty One Pilots
Daughter
Anuhea
Wild Belle
The Men
Midi Matilda
Houndmouth
Foy Vance
Naia Kete
The Plump DJ’s
Stanton Warriors
Motion Potion
All Good Funk Alliance
Lexel

SATURDAY, August 10
Nine Inch Nails
Phoenix
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Jurassic 5
Grizzly Bear
Young The Giant
The Head and The Heart
The Tallest Man on Earth
Youth Lagoon
Gary Clark Jr.
Baauer
The Mother Hips
Griz
The Growlers
Thao & The Get Down Stay Down
Bombino
Milo Greene
Atlas Genius
The Soft White Sixties
James McCartney
The Lone Bellow
Cherub
LoCura
Krafty Kuts
Lazy Rich
DJ Shotnez (Balkan Beat Box)
DJ Sam Spiegel (NASA)
Dub Gabriel

SUNDAY, August 11
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Kaskade
Vampire Weekend
Willie Nelson & Family
Daryl Hall & John Oates
Matt & Kim
A-Trak
Foals
Dawes
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
Kurt Vile and the Violators
Emeli Sandé
Dillon Francis
Camper Van Beethoven
Rudimental
Fishbone
King Tuff
Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk
MS MR
Deap Vally
Kopecky Family Band
Little Green Cars
Bhi Bhiman
The Easy Leaves
DJ Pierre
Gene Farris
Sleight of Hands
Whitenoize
Griffin Camper

San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music Festival returns to Golden Gate Park on August 9-11 with Paul McCartney, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

The festival was announced today with a video released by festival organizers:

The complete lineup:
Paul McCartney
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Nine Inch Nails
Phoenix
Willie Nelson
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Vampire Weekend
Jessie Ware
Gary Clark Jr.
Foals
Dawes
Trombone Shorty
Matt & Kim
The Head and the Heart
A-Trak
Band of Horses
Hall & Oates
D’Angelo
Kaskade
Pretty Lights
The National
Jurassic 5
Yeasayer
Young the Giant
The Men (pictured above)
Grizzly Bear
The Tallest Man on Earth
Chromatics
Wavves
Zedd
Twenty One Pilots

We’ll announce more details as they arrive.

We headed up to San Francisco over the weekend to catch performances from Metallica, Beck, Jack White and more.

Photos by Zach Davenport.

With Electronic Dance Music still emerging as a genre, Skrillex’s set at Outside Lands last weekend was probably the best free publicity the Identity Festival could ask for going into its return to Shoreline Friday.

When the EDM-focused ID Fest came around last year, the music was mostly still a club phenomenon, at least in the South Bay. But since then, there’s been a lot of epic raving to go around, from Bassnectar’s San Jose show to the I Love This City festival to Skrillex’s Golden Gate debut.

This year’s headliner is Eric Prydz, who I think can be largely credited (or blamed, depending on your point of view) for kickstarting the ‘80s revival, which started bubbling up not long after his 2004 song “Call on Me,” which took the title line (and vocal sample) from Steve Winwood’s mid-80s megahit “Valerie,” drenched it in electro riffs, and stuffed it into the most laughably hypersexual (and yet, still totally hot) music video ever set in a gym.

The Shoreline stop also features Le Castle Vania, who has become a South Bay fave after regular club stops here, and Doctor P (the only DJ who also played I Love This City), as well as Excision, Paul Van Dyk, Hardwell, Bingo Players, Showtek, Noisia, Adrian Lux, Eva Simons, Audrey Napoleon, The Eye and more.

The IDENTITY FESTIVAL will be presented Fri, Aug. 17 at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, 2pm; $60.