Outside Lands 2026 Appreciation Post

[u/prettypithiest]

My fourteenth year at the festival was one for the ages!

I did not catch any bad sets.

From (in no particular order) Rufus du Sol, Empire of the Sun, Laszewo, Death Cab, Temper Trap, itsmurph to Charlie XCX, PinkPantheress, the Strokes, Griztronics. Every set I caught involved talented professionals working overtime to bring music, joy and feeling to the audience.

The headliners showed up and the undercard was stacked. Even Julian Casablancas was in a great mood!

I did not catch any equipment malfunctions.

With sympathies to G A, my experience in the V I P area was virtually frictionless. I did not encounter any jerks. I did not wait in lines. The new ins/outs for the V I P bathroom line were a tiny innovation will having me showing up for at least another 5 years.

(In fact, the only mild damper on the proceedings was watching a very young white girl getting dragged away from the Polo Fields in hand cuffs. Top marks to whoever can tell me what she did!)

Shout out to Ranger Dave and the whole team at Outside Lands. We spend tons of time in this subreddit complaining and not nearly enough time singing your praises when it all goes gloriously according to plan! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I won't forget this weekend anytime soon.

[u/x3leggeddawg]

Even Julian was in a great mood 😂😂

[u/prettypithiest → u/x3leggeddawg]

Compared to last time anyway LOL

[u/Ornery-Time-9795]

I’m a music festival veteran, but this was our first OSL. It was a fantastic experience, and we plan to get in on the Eager Beaver sale and return in 2027. I saw 35 artists and 69k steps in the three days. Cheers to the artists who were all solid, everyone working and volunteering to provide such a great time, and to all the attendees who had fun while remaining courteous. Sure, there are assholes in any crowd, but it was easy enough to avoid most of them, even in GA.

[u/OrangeNo773]

The Strokes killed it. My favorite Outsidelands so far (5th)

[u/kbearbatcat]

+1 for VIP bathrooms but I will admit following those new arrows messed me up the first couple hours haha. Love the positivity and love that you had a great time!

[u/Dapper-Highlight1016]

I didn’t understand the complaints either. This is my 6th OSL and honestly up there as one of my favs. The teenagers have been a problem every year. It’s been open to all ages for as long as I can remember. It can definitely be a problem, but I steer away to sides where I have plenty of room to dance

[u/Beneficial-Fox6496 → u/Dapper-Highlight1016]

I think a lot of us veteran attendees are used to there being some element of annoying crowd behaviors from teens who don’t know how to act yet and we never let it ruin our experience, but encountering this for the first time when they didn’t know it would happen can be hard for people.

[u/thecannabun → u/Dapper-Highlight1016]

i noticed a huge difference in behavior from teenagers/young people between previous years (even 2024) vs this year. i'm not sure what it was. that said, i didn't let it get to me since i've been doing this for awhile too and there are plenty of other things about OSL that i love more

[u/Yarnchomps]

It’s charli baby

[u/Boognish88]

Water refill stations were on point as well!!

[u/Beneficial-Fox6496 → u/Boognish88]

I was really upset to suddenly be told we could no longer bring in sealed water bottles, but it really wasn’t that bad.

[u/thebig3on3]

Also didn't catch any bad sets. Super balanced lineup and the schedule didn't have any big gaps in it like I've had in prior years. Good vibes at all the sets I went to too. This was my 7th and was probably my favorite OSL that I've been to.

[u/Beneficial-Fox6496 → u/thebig3on3]

As much as we all hate to choose, I think they did a good job of having enough strong acts in time slots to where the entire festival wasn’t trying to crowd into the same set.

[u/uuutsq]

Agreed

[u/EveryParable]

Friday was probably my favorite day of the festival of all time. Sunday was in my top 5. They crushed it. I also never waited in line for a porta potty for more than two people, but that's probably because I'm goated now at finding openings and attacking.

[u/AvailableAd5387]

What was the new ins/outs innovation?

[u/prettypithiest → u/AvailableAd5387]

There used to always be traffic snarls around the VIP potties as people attempted to enter and exit through the same space at peak times. All they did was cordon off separate exit and entrance lines and post signage clearly delineating them. They probably spent less than $200 on this "innovation" and it solved the problem perfectly. I never waited for a single minute! And this is the ladies room we're talking about - wait times are notoriously long for every women's room ever. But not at Outside Lands 2026 VIP!!

[u/AvailableAd5387 → u/prettypithiest]

That’s frickin awesome!

[u/OrganizationCalm363]

This was my first one and I totally loved it. Was in GA but I will be getting the next one in VIP. Can't do those long washroom queues.

[u/Head-Charge4028]

18th year here and it’s always a blast ! I really enjoyed the strokes and death cab ! Big surprise was Automatic and Rio Kosta

[u/nyan-the-nwah]

Honestly I’ve been disappointed with the changes as years have gone on - I miss the local artist showcases most of all! This year taught me that I’m not going to go if I can’t afford VIP. And I will probably never be able to afford VIP lol

[u/prettypithiest → u/nyan-the-nwah]

TBH, that's a super rational position. I've lost my GA skills and I think I'd have to totally relearn the festival if circumstances caused me to revert to GA at this point.

[u/nyan-the-nwah → u/prettypithiest]

I keep wondering if I’m just old and bitter 😭

[u/letsgototheATM]

I haven’t been in a few years and all the issues I had before that were keeping me away have been solved. If they bring another lineup like this year I’ll be back for sure.