Allen Scott understands that some people have enjoyed some Outside Lands’ lineups better than others. He knows that because, well, he’s one of those people — and he’s also one of the primary architects putting together the lineup each year.
“I have different feelings on the lineup every year,” says Scott, co-founder of Outside Lands and president of concerts and festivals at Another Planet Entertainment. “Sometimes, I like the lineup more than others, certainly — like everybody. And I am like really, really fired up for this year.”
That seems to the general consensus about the bill for the 2023 Outside Lands, which marks the 15th anniversary of the festival. Kendrick Lamar, Lana Del Rey, Odeza, Foo Fighters, Megan Thee Stallion, The 1975, Janelle Monae, Zedd, J.I.D and Maggie Rogers are among the well-known acts set to appear at the three-day event, which takes place Aug. 11-13 at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. (See sfoutsidelands.com for details and read our guide to the festival.)
“Everyone seems to like it — like 98 percent positivity about the lineup, which is unheard of,” Scott says. “Usually like half the people don’t like it and half the people do. But kind of everybody’s really excited about this.”
One of the biggest selling points, Scott says, is the lineup just contains so many great concert acts.
“The performances are going to be so good,” he says. “Kendrick Lamar, Foo Fighters and Odesza — those three headliners are just powerhouse live acts.”
Also, as they say, timing is everything. And Scott and company have booked a lineup that is full of currently hot acts.
“We have a lot of artists kind of cresting at the right time — like a Noah Kahan or Lil Yachty,” Scott says. “Lana Del Rey is in the top 10 most streamed artists this year. She could’ve headlined on the main stage. She’s that big. But Twin Peaks (where Del Rey is set to perform) is like a headlining slot for us these days.”
Del Rey is performing on Saturday at the same time as the Foo Fighters, who “are bigger, probably, than they have ever been in their career right now,” Scott says.
Kahan will take the stage on Sunday at the same time as Odesza, the electronic music act that filled Mountain View’s Shoreline Amphitheatre to the brim twice in 2022. “They sold out two nights — 44,000 tickets — last fall,” Scott says. “And they blew them out.”
Those kinds of marquee lineup conflicts have caused quite a stir on social media, as music fans debate the hard decisions of what to leave in and what to leave out in this jam-packed lineup.
“It’s going to be hard to pick where to go,” Scott says. “When you have a really positive lineup like that, you are going to have people disappointed about the set times. I think of that as a well-curated festival — when people are upset about the conflicts. That is one of the things about festivals — you have to choose your own adventure.”
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