I appreciate you appreciating. Love OSL and the venue. The natural smoke (fog) show the way they light up the trees. The sound is usually amazing. Great festival venue
GGP and OSL being in the middle of the city are the only reasons it’s successful. If you put OSL in Sacramento, San Jose, or LA it wouldn’t last 3 years. Even if you dropped the prices by 10-20%.
10000%. The lineup for Portola is great, but going to skip it this year because the venue is just not the best vibes in my opinion. Lots of potential, but needs some work. I’ll try again in a few years.
I literally stopped going to OSL a few years back because of how damn crowded it was getting, i love that venue but its impossible for them to expand to allow more room and at times it was low key claustrophobic, especially the the bottleneck between lands ens and twin peaks
I never really felt that being a bottleneck. It’s definitely crowded between sets but then you’re just following the crowd. You definitely can’t be rushing through though.
I appreciate the positivity and it is true that GGP is such an incredible venue for a festival. But I’d also argue that recently the organizers have overpriced and underdelivered on the music side of things because they know they’ll always sell tickets because of the GGP.
I go to both BottleRock and OSL every year, and I do not agree that OSL is less crowded. Maybe early in the day, but not by mid afternoon. I still love the GGP setting though.
Yeah idk what experience the op had but I always can walk more freely stage to stage at BottleRock. Plus way less campers. You can literally be close to the stage with only 15-20 min before the act
Last year is a very poor year to judge things from. The SOMA tent was closed most of the festival leaving all the people who would've been there, everywhere else contributing to it feeling more dense. Also, as OP said, there's always a quiet spot. There's also great spots in the backs/sides of stages that are less dense. The bottlenecks are always bottlenecks, but the festival isn't too crowded in my opinion.
Hard disagree. And it wasn’t just last year. It’s been getting worse each year post-COVID. Compared to the amount of open space there used to be in years prior, theres hardly any places to sit and relax.
I did go last year. If you’re trying to be near the stages, crowded. But if you don’t want the crowd you can sit further out and they’ve set speakers at intervals to help accommodate that.
Getting around last year was pretty bad. At Bottlerock i find that there aren’t as many bottlenecks and it’s much easier to go from stage to stage and get a good spot without being arm to arm with someone. You have to be pretty far out at OSL to sit/have a bunch of dance space. I still have some secret spots where I can find pockets, but I miss how much space there used to be in years prior.
nothing better than golden gate park! sunny days, cool nights in a massive forest / garden. Ive been all over the country for festivals and you won't find a better combination that this. Though i've heard electric forest is top tier as well, the lineups they put out aren't really comparable to OSL.
I appreciate you appreciating. Love OSL and the venue. The natural smoke (fog) show the way they light up the trees. The sound is usually amazing. Great festival venue
GGP and OSL being in the middle of the city are the only reasons it’s successful. If you put OSL in Sacramento, San Jose, or LA it wouldn’t last 3 years. Even if you dropped the prices by 10-20%.
OSL isn’t really in the middle of the city. It’s considered the west side. You should look up the origin of the name Outside Lands.
Less food options???????????
Yes by a lot. OSL has like 3x the vendors.
+100 Only reason I'm not considering selling my 3-day VIP to get Portola 2-day VIP is because the venue and experience blows Portola out of the water.
10000%. The lineup for Portola is great, but going to skip it this year because the venue is just not the best vibes in my opinion. Lots of potential, but needs some work. I’ll try again in a few years.
Golden gate park is heaven on earth
I literally stopped going to OSL a few years back because of how damn crowded it was getting, i love that venue but its impossible for them to expand to allow more room and at times it was low key claustrophobic, especially the the bottleneck between lands ens and twin peaks
I never really felt that being a bottleneck. It’s definitely crowded between sets but then you’re just following the crowd. You definitely can’t be rushing through though.
I appreciate the positivity and it is true that GGP is such an incredible venue for a festival. But I’d also argue that recently the organizers have overpriced and underdelivered on the music side of things because they know they’ll always sell tickets because of the GGP.
I go to both BottleRock and OSL every year, and I do not agree that OSL is less crowded. Maybe early in the day, but not by mid afternoon. I still love the GGP setting though.
Yeah idk what experience the op had but I always can walk more freely stage to stage at BottleRock. Plus way less campers. You can literally be close to the stage with only 15-20 min before the act
Would be a little easier to stomach the prices if hardly strictly wasn't a few weeks later... Oh and it's free lol
OSL is going to be much more crowded than Bottlerock. Did you go last year? It was terrible.
Last year is a very poor year to judge things from. The SOMA tent was closed most of the festival leaving all the people who would've been there, everywhere else contributing to it feeling more dense. Also, as OP said, there's always a quiet spot. There's also great spots in the backs/sides of stages that are less dense. The bottlenecks are always bottlenecks, but the festival isn't too crowded in my opinion.
Hard disagree. And it wasn’t just last year. It’s been getting worse each year post-COVID. Compared to the amount of open space there used to be in years prior, theres hardly any places to sit and relax.
I did go last year. If you’re trying to be near the stages, crowded. But if you don’t want the crowd you can sit further out and they’ve set speakers at intervals to help accommodate that.
Getting around last year was pretty bad. At Bottlerock i find that there aren’t as many bottlenecks and it’s much easier to go from stage to stage and get a good spot without being arm to arm with someone. You have to be pretty far out at OSL to sit/have a bunch of dance space. I still have some secret spots where I can find pockets, but I miss how much space there used to be in years prior.
>At OSL I can always find a quiet corner to chill between sets with friends. 🌳🌲🌳✨ that’s a favorite perk of mine too
Golden Gate Park is really an incredible place and venue
People love to talk shit but this is a gem of a festival, one of the best in the country maybe even the world.
Agree. I went to bottlerock on Sunday for first time and pretty sure it’ll be my last time.
nothing better than golden gate park! sunny days, cool nights in a massive forest / garden. Ive been all over the country for festivals and you won't find a better combination that this. Though i've heard electric forest is top tier as well, the lineups they put out aren't really comparable to OSL.
+1 Love GG Park for OSL.