The Golden Gate Park Concerts Are a Win for SF's West Side

Imagine someone told you they were organizing a concert series in the park down the street from your house, and the headliners over the years would include Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Radiohead, System of a Down, Deftones, and Kendrick Lamar. Now imagine they offered to pay the city millions of dollars a year for the privilege. Sounds like a dream, right? Believe it or not, some Richmond District residents have been up in arms about concerts like these for years. I am of course talking about Outside Lands and the weekend concerts scheduled around it.

In 2024, System of a Down and Deftones performed at Golden Gate Park the weekend after Outside Lands, selling out in 90 minutes and bringing in 50,000+ fans. In 2025, Dead & Company performed at the park for the band's 60th anniversary, in what turned out to be the final show before Bob Weir's passing, not far from where it all started. The Dead & Company shows brought nearly 175,000 attendees over three nights, more than half from outside California, and an estimated $110 million for the regional economy.

Most cities would kill for something like this. But in the Richmond District, some loud voices have written complaint letters and submitted 311 reports about the concerts. While negative comments previously dominated the public record, recently a group of residents and long time local business owners showed up to publicly comment in support of the concerts and the Board of Supervisors voted to extend the permit through 2029.

First, some history. In September 2023, when the original Polo Field permit came before the Board of Supervisors, it passed 10-1. The only no vote came from our own supervisor, Connie Chan, citing concerns about noise, traffic, park access, and wildlife. "Those are real concerns for the Richmond. They're probably very, very different from your constituents and how they view these concerts. Regrettably I will have to vote no on this item as the Richmond representative."

The complaints continued. A 2025 article in SF Standard pulled 311 records about the concerts:

Then in July 2026, a letter in the Richmond Review called the extension a "giveaway contract" that is "not a good deal for San Francisco." The comments on the article were equally negative:

I’ve noticed an underlying NIMBYism for culture in the negative comments. Everyone wants to say they support music and the arts, just not near me and not like that. They want the benefits of saying they live in a world class city with a thriving music scene, but don’t want to deal with the inconvenience of weekend noise and the people it brings to their neighborhood. They can’t bear to lose access to part of the park for a few weekends, even though over 90% of the park remains fully open. The loudest complaint letters claim to speak for the Richmond District’s residents. They forget about all of the legendary concerts that have occurred in the park that made the city what it is: Rage Against the Machine at the Tibetan Freedom Concert, the Human Be-In, Pearl Jam and Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix in the Panhandle. I can assure you that these concerts were also loud and disruptive.

But these voices don’t speak for everyone in the Richmond District, including myself. I have personally attended Outside Lands 7 times, and have great memories of going with friends 3 years in a row. A decade later, we still talk about the fun times we had at the Gastro Magic stage and the legendary D’Angelo set. The System of a Down and Deftones show was a childhood dream come true for me. And I bought a ticket to the Dead & Company show even though I’m not a deadhead. I just had to witness it.

While other articles have only highlighted the enraged Richmond District residents, they missed the overwhelmingly positive comments that were made at City Hall. On June 17, 2026, the extension came before the Budget and Appropriations Committee, which is chaired by Connie Chan. I watched the meeting, and the public comment was not what the online complaints and letters would lead you to expect. During the public comment, nine speakers came to the podium, all speaking in support of the concerts.

Beatrice Clark, a young woman who was born and raised in San Francisco, praised how quickly the park gets cleaned up and returned to business. Restaurant owners and food vendors, some of whom have worked these festivals for over a decade, described the concert weekends as the revenue cushion that carries them through the slow months. A parent from the Outer Richmond, Sasha Diedrich, supported the extension "partially for selfish reasons. I want to have a world class festival in my neighborhood.” She also mentioned a benefit that no economic report has listed so far: fundraisers during concert weekends have "helped us raise thousands of dollars that we would not otherwise be able to raise."

After public comment closed, Chan, who three years earlier had explained her lone no in a floor speech, personally moved to send the extension to the Board with the committee's recommendation.

A recent report shows that the concerts have had a positive economic impact on the city. According to the Bay Area Council Economic Institute’s report, roughly 437,000 concertgoers came to the park for Dead & Company, Outside Lands, and Zach Bryan. This series of concerts generated:

The city also collected $2.84 million in permit fees across 2024-25. The new agreement's minimum is $1.53 million a year for two shows ($2.3 million for three) or 5% of gross ticket revenue, whichever is greater. This amount goes up to $915,000 per day if the options run to 2035.

Is $1.53 million a "giveaway?” Critics have pointed out venues like Chase Center and Shoreline take 15 to 20% of ticket sales. But those venues are run by arena owners and Live Nation, the largest concert corporation on Earth. Those buildings are already built and staffed year round. Unlike Live Nation, APE is a Bay Area independent promoter founded in Berkeley by Bill Graham Presents veterans. Every year, APE needs to set up the stage, the fences, the power, and the security at its own expense, then tears it all down and restores the field. Also the city's deal is a guaranteed minimum or 5% of gross ticket revenue, whichever is greater. Even if no show happens at all and a big act falls through (which was confirmed at the June hearing), the city gets the fee.

The deal also contains community benefit funds that total $40,000 each per year for Districts 1 and 4, and free downtown concerts like the Portugal. The Man and Dirtybird concerts. In 2024, recipients of the community benefit funds included Parent-Teacher Organizations, local neighborhood conservation programs, neighborhood beautification initiatives, equipment for the Richmond Recreation Center, and funding for neighborhood night markets.

On July 21, the Board approved the extension. We now get Polo Field concerts through 2029, with options running to 2035, at higher fees.

If there's a lesson in all this, it's that showing up works. For three years, the case against these concerts was made by the small number of people who wrote complaint letters, while no one heard from the happy people who have been enjoying these concerts every year. Nine people showed up in person to publicly comment about their positive experiences with the concerts, and their personal stories were hard to deny. So if you want something in this city, whether it is a concert series, a night market, an apartment building, or a train on Geary, make sure you show up in support. The complainers often dominate the narrative. They are organized and know their tactics are effective. If you are someone who has been simply been enjoying these events year after year, it is important to get your voice heard as well. The city needs more positive voices on the record.