Review & Gallery: Outside lands 2025
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY ELIJAH CLOWER ☆
OUTSIDE LANDS REMAINS A BENCHMARK OF A FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE- well-run, sustainable and soaked in California spirit. From eco-conscious waste management to a friendlier-than-ever media tent and countless non-music distractions, the festival continues to raise the bar. But let’s be real: no festival is flawless. One consistent frustration, especially for not only fans but us media personnel trying to hop between acts, was the cluster of overlapping headline sets. Having Doja Cat, John Summit, Tyle the Creator, Gestafflestein, Hozier and Anderson .Paak begin within minutes of one another (sometimes with only five-minute or no offsets), making the ability to catch multiple headliners with minimal set time loss nearly impossible. Intentional for crowd control, sure, yet a little staggering (10–20 minutes) could go a long way in letting fans catch more magic without missing the next.
Now onto the crowd-shakers: Tyler, the Creator was my personal standout. Nothing but pure energy that gets you MOVING. Which was one of the big concepts of his latest album "Don't Tap The Glass”. He opened with “Big Poe” and slammed through a 21-song set without even letting off the gas pedal once—from Don’t Tap the Glass bangers to beloved staples like “EARFQUAKE”, “I Take Care of You”, “Sticky”, “New magic wand”, and more. Hands down the best performance of the festival, although some may say differently regarding one of the artists coming up soon.
Doja Cat arrived dripping in stylized eighties glam—platinum mullet, zebra catsuit, bold cheekbone contour—and rode Vie’s nostalgic vibe with tracks like “Woman,” “Baby I’m Jealous,” and the fiery “Paint the Town Red.” Her return was themed around her new album coming out this August which is themed around the 80s which is always an exciting time to hear modernized musically.
Then there’s Doechii—the breakout crowd favorite of the festival. Starring atop a massive boombox set, she led “Doechii’s School of Hip‑Hop” with breaks built like lessons in bars, flow, and attitude. Choreography and swagger matched every beat. Fans couldn’t stop talking about her even after the headliners. Doechii brought the most production and story telling aspect to her performance and considering she was the talk of the festival, you can see how much of an impact it had.
Now truthfully I had my reservations for Anderson .Paak as a headliner. Don’t get me wrong I do give him his roses and know what he's accomplished, but compared to Tyler or Doja Cat on top of the fact this would be his second performance of the festival (Performed as DJ PeeWee). I was a bit skeptical, but to my surprise he had one of the best sets of the festival and exceeded all expectations. He also capped the fest off by bringing out Bay Area legend E-40 and Cordae for a “Yay Areaaaaa” moment to remember.
Real OSL festival goers know that the magic isn’t only in the headliners—it’s the undercard that keeps you wandering, discovering, and lighting up with surprises. INJI, LaRussell, Good Neighbours, and Artemas put on some amazing performances.
Acts like A TRIP, Mannequin Pussy, Fujii Kaze, Hope Tala, and the great Glass Animals sprinkled variety across the Golden Gate Park —pop, indie, rap, R&B, and dream-funk that made every corner of the festival its own block party.
The layers of the fest were just as unforgettable as the headliners. Finneas offered a lovely, emotionally anchored mid-Lands End set. I’ll be the first to admit, considering it was his last US performance on this 2025 tour, both his parents being there, I was day-dreaming that he’d bring his sister Billie out as a surprise guest. He even mentioned the last time he was there was when his sister performed on the same stage back in 2018. Nevertheless it was a great performance, maybe we’ll get Billie back next year!?
On the lighter side of the spectrum, Rebecca Black dazzled with her awe struck set drawing big crowds at Dolores’ & Sutro. This was my second time seeing her perform (First time was her opening for Katy Perry), and I do have to say the second time was even better. Everything from outfit, hair, choreo, and vocals was as they say, “serving”. Wallows, who definitely landed in my top 5 OSL sets this year, put on an amazing show. It's amazing to see how much the band has grown since the last time I saw them (Link), and this performance just rejustifies why they are one of my favorite bands to cover. The energy and passion is always felt.
While on the opposite end of the park Hozier closed with a much more exciting set than imagined. Backed by a 10 crew band/backup vocalists the vibe and energy was much higher than expected compared to how his studio recorded songs sound. He had some great stage production with some huge moving screens which was a nice surprise. Both Hoizer and Anderson Paak’s performances remind me of one of the key elements of festivals that is sometimes forgotten and that is that festivals while the headliners are the main attraction, it's also about discovery. Had I not covered both these sets my perception of them as performers would be totally different, and that my friends is the unspoken beauty of a music festival. It gave us hype in Tyler’s raw energetic set, kaleidoscopic flare in Doja’s new ’80s era, talk of the town performance from Doechii, and magic from non-headline stars all throughout. It’s already over and we’re already asking the question… “Who are we gonna see next year?”
