Portola

A new music festival is coming to San Francisco this year, bringing its drool-worthy lineup for the inaugural Portola Music Festival. The two-day fest takes place on September 24 + 25 and is spearheaded by the enormous company behind Coachella, AEG.

Thanks to the initiative of local production companies Non Plus Ultra and Goldenvoice (a subsidiary of AEG), Portola fills a noticeable gap in dance music festivals around the Bay Area. In spite of San Francisco's reputation as a steward of electronic music culture, there aren't many large-scale festivals dedicated to the genre. Promoters from Goldenvoice said the festival’s name was inspired by the 1909 Portola Fest, a celebratory rebirth event for San Francisco after the catastrophic natural disasters of the same year. In the wake of a post-pandemic world, 2022 seems to be in need of a rebirth of its own. But at a pretty steep $200 for a single-day ticket, this rebirth won’t come cheap.

Regarding the music, it might be easier to ask who’s not on the Portola lineup this year. The roster is EDM-leaning with a few notable hip-hop and electro-pop artists. On Friday, future bass superstar Flume, uber-cool beatmaker Kaytranada, electro-pop queen Charli XCX, and the innovative Jamie XX sit on top of the lineup. On Saturday, prepare for epic house parties with Duke Dumont, Lane 8, and Peggy Gou before falling into the silky-smooth indie beats or Toro y Moi and James Blake. But what has our interest most peaked, is the appearance of dance music legends Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and DJ Shadow. AEG seems to have hit all the marks with Portola: the underground house enthusiasts, the popstar party-poppers, and the old-school royalty that even the most avid rave-dwellers never get to see.

It’s an openly indulgent showcase that reads very Coachella, but the granulated event branding and bare, gravel lot venue at Pier 80 make it feel welcoming to lo-fi, house kids. The premiere of Portola is hard to predict, but we're eager to see what it brings to the Bay Area.