Big crowds turn out for first day of Outside Lands 2022
SAN FRANCISCO -- Outside Lands 2022 officially got underway Friday, with the three-day music and culture festival expected to draw a crowd of around 220,000 people this weekend.
"I'm excited for music, good food, good drinks," said Marin resident and festival attendee Bella Guyan.
Annalise Arroyo is at Outside Lands for the first time this year. She snagged a spot as close to the main stage as she could on Friday.
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"It's really amazing. A lot of artists that I really wanted to see are here. And from just looking at the general set list, I was able to find a bunch of new artists that I really liked," she said. "It's really amazing having this really close experience to see all of these different artists. And seeing all of the people here is really interesting."
111 artists will perform across the nine different stages at the festival over the three days. Among them, Outside Lands first timer Sloan Streble, also known as Dayglod. He admitted it was a big deal for him.
"It's an honor to be here. It still blows my mind, but yeah, I'm really excited," said Streble. "It's just, like, a good festival with a lot of good history, a lot of amazing artists on this lineup. And it's just cool to be a part of it."
This year, there are no COVID-related safety protocols in place, but attendees are advised to wear masks in crowded spaces. Arroyo said she would be cautious in close quarters.
"I have other things that I'm going to have to go to sooner than later, so I just wanted to play it safe," she said.
Others are less concerned about COVID, but were initially a bit spooked by monkeypox.
"I got tripping on monkeypox last night. My girlfriend said don't worry about it," attendee Bo Lottie said. "I did enough Googling, so I'm not really worried about monkeypox. And I just finished having COVID, so I'm ready to go."
"This morning I woke up to hear about the U.S. on monkeypox, so I was a bit like, wow about that," Will Newcombe said. "But COVID, I've learned to live with it by now."
The festival also celebrates Bay Area foodie culture. 96 local restaurants, 36 wineries, and 30 breweries are participating this year.
SZA is Friday's headliner, Green Day will headline on Saturday, and Post Malone will close out the festival on Sunday. Weekend passes are sold out, but single-day tickets are still available.