Outside Lands 2014 kicks off tomorrow, August 8th. From then until late on Sunday, our own dear neighboring Golden Gate Park will be playing host to some 70,000 people a day.
Some of the shows featured in this year's music festival include (brace yourself) Chromeo, Cut Copy, Lykke Li, Death Cab, Flaming Lips, Dum Dum Girls, Big Freedia, Woods, Jenny Lewis, Tiësto, Duck Sauce, and the typical highlight headliners: Kanye, Tom Petty, and the Killers.
At this point you're either going or not going (non-scalped tickets sold out weeks ago), but you're going to want to prepare either way.
First off, with thousands of extra people jammed into the streets and public transit, don't plan on relying on the bus to get in or out of the neighborhood. Parking around the Richmond, Sunset and into the Haight is going to be packed too, so if you can do it, park now for the whole weekend.
If you do have to take the bus, one handy workaround is to take the 43-Masonic north until you hit a large east-west artery, like Geary.
Remember that many of those 70,000 people find the buses too much to deal with after the show and will be stumbling east to find connections later on. If you're ordering dinner out or running out for a burrito, do it before 9pm.
If you are going into the party, walking or biking are both great options. There's parking for thousands of bikes at the Crossover Drive overpass before the entrance to Outside Lands. (There will also be a Levis-sponsored bicycle valet service again this year.)
The weather this weekend is going to be typical (partly cloudy, semi-cool, 100 percent ambivalent), so bring your sunscreen and your jacket, of course.
And when it comes to water, don't feel conned when you get there: water bottle refills are available for purchase only, unless you're refilling your snazzy new official Outside Lands memorabilia water bottle.
If you're feeling renegade, you can always listen to the action with a perch inside the park but outside the official festival grounds. And if there's an onshore breeze, you can often hear a little bit of sound drifting in as far as Kezar Stadium and Cole Valley, but don't count on being able to sing along.
