‘Legendary’ Golden Gate shows reviving San Francisco

Leading US independent promoter Another Planet Entertainment (APE) is basking in a “legendary” period after wrapping up its biggest series of events yet at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

The firm, which is based in the city, celebrated the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary with a three-night stand (1-3 August), as well as the 17th edition of Outside Lands Music Festival (8-10 August) and a one-off show from Zach Bryan (15 August).

In total, the seismic run brought in 450,000 attendees from 38 countries and all 50 states, generating an estimated $200 million for the city.

“It felt very legendary for San Francisco,” APE core member and Outside Lands co-founder Bryan Duquette tells IQ. “It’s the biggest thing our company’s ever pulled off consecutively.”

Partly inspired by BST Hyde Park’s consecutive weekend day-festival model, this year saw the expansion of the Golden Gate Park Concerts series, which launched last year with a show from California natives System of a Down. The standalone ticketed shows are part of a municipal-approved initiative, which also includes free concerts in downtown SF (Shaboozey and Poolside are on tap for two in September).

“San Francisco has been down and out for a few years, and the energy is just incredible in the city right now,” continues Duquette. “We’re on the upswing, and Golden Gate Park was the centre of it.”

This year’s Golden Gate programme began with a historic three-night run in honour of San Fran savants The Grateful Dead, anchored by the band’s spinoff, Dead & Company. The group comprises former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, along with John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, Jeff Chimenti, and Jay Lane.

“Being part of the 60th anniversary felt like an incredible like connection to the past, present and future”

Celebrating the band’s rich legacy, the Live Nation co-promoted celebratory stand saw 170,000 ‘deadheads’ descend on the city, 75% of whom travelled in from outside the Bay Area. Dead & Co performed three unique headlining sets, supported by Billy Strings, Sturgill Simpson, and Trey Anastasio Band throughout the momentous run.

“Being part of the 60th anniversary felt like an incredible like connection to the past, present and future for all of us that had worked on the show, and for [CEO] Gregg [Perloff] and [co-founder/president] Sherry [Wasserman] in particular, who had worked with with Jerry [Garcia] and the original band members way back when they started,” he shares.

Leading up to the shows, city officials drenched the town in rainbow tie-dye via city banners, wrapped “Trippy Trains” and “Psychedeli-buses,” and pop-up markets and street fairs. Apple also launched a maps integration, spotlighting central spots in the band’s history.

“San Francisco has always been a tourist city,” says Duquette. “People from all over the world love coming to San Francisco. So the infrastructure is here, but tourism has been down because the city has had issues with crime and homelessness — but it feels like it’s coming back now, and it feels good.

“Setting the city as a place that people want to come to, and using that with our Golden Gate Park series for one-off, special shows makes a lot of sense. People do enjoy coming to San Francisco, and I think we can work closely with the city to provide great experiences for tourism.”

A well-loved SF event, Outside Lands, followed the next weekend, bringing the likes of Tyler, the Creator, Doja Cat, Hozier, John Summit, Gracie Abrams, and Doechii to the city. With core concert infrastructure already in place, the site was then expanded for the eight-stage festival, and was later stripped back down for Zach Bryan, maximising its potential.

For the first time in festival history, a headliner played double duty – Vampire Weekend opened and closed the Twin Peaks stage, offering attendees two one-of-a-kind opportunities, a gamble that paid off in spades for organisers.

“Music has always been part of the fabric of San Francisco and part of the culture”

“By the time they finished [at 1:30 PM], we had almost 20,000 people in the site,” Duquette says.

Another win came in the form of an elevated electronic music experience, with OL’s formerly tented Soma stage transitioning to open-air and incorporating three triangular video structures through the field.

“We had agents hitting us up over the weekend, because their artists were seeing the social content. They didn’t even know where it was, just asking their agents to play that stage because it looked that great,” Duquette explains. “Having the artists feel like they’re having good sets, big moments, that just resonates across social media, that resonates across the industry, and then that makes us stand out.”

Following Outside Lands, the staging infrastructure was converted again to host the likes of Zach Bryan, supported by Kings of Leon, Turnpike Troubadours, and Noeline Hofmann.

A country-twinged closure for the impressive run, the AEG-co-promoted, one-off show brought in 55,000 fans to cap this year’s series. Bryan ended the show with his anthem Revival, a moment symbolic of APE’s efforts to give back to its home city.

“All of these things we’re doing are trying to make San Francisco feel alive and energetic, and bring business and tax dollars and all the things that make it a place that people want to live and work and play,” concludes Duquette. “Music has always been part of the fabric of San Francisco and part of the culture… We’re seeing a global landscape of music and artists and culture, but we’re really activating it on a micro level.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.