Outside Lands rocks Golden Gate Park

SAN FRANCISCO

This is the fifth year of this concert series in the park. Some of the diehard fans say they are excited that it continues to grow, but a few residents who live nearby, say just the opposite.

Promoters say it's sold out 65,000 tickets each day. Still, some neighbors say the noise and congestion that comes along with the three-day event are too much to deal with.

"The sound seems to go up and down, but it will come through, you can feel it, vibrating the floorboards of my house," said Richmond District resident Sue Fry.

Fry is with a group of neighbors who continue to raise concerns. Each year outside lands moves into Golden Gate Park, she says some of her neighbors leave for the weekend. And this year 5,000 more tickets were sold per concert day than last year.

"We have no access to BART, we have no access to CalTrain or to the Ferry, we have absolutely no parking, and we're in a quiet residential neighborhood. So why on earth are we having tens of thousands of people pouring in for this event?" said Richmond District resident Sue Fry.

Promoters say they've worked hard with neighborhood groups to make sure the festival is as minimal an inconvenience as possible.

"A lot of the ideas on what we're doing to mitigate the impact of the event has come from the neighborhood groups themselves," said Allen Scott with Another Planet Entertainment.

There is increased parking enforcement. There are more tow trucks to clear blocked driveways. And promoters say they're open to any other suggestions. They also say 12,000 tickets were sold to people who live in the surrounding five zip codes, so there are plenty of neighbors who support the event. Outer Sunset resident Ronnie Higgins is one of them.

When Higgins was asked if it was a big deal to him to be able to have Outside Lands in the park, he replied, "Yeah it's a big deal, it brings a lot of people here, it brings a lot of money to the neighborhoods and to the city."

The growing popularity of this event means promoters are able to attract some pretty big names. Neil Young headlined on Friday night, Metallica on Saturday, and music legend Stevie Wonder takes the main stage on Sunday.

Copyright © 2025 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.