Seeing Orville Peck at the Stern Grove Music Festival

I had never been to Stern Grove, so when my friend asked me to enter the ticket lottery for an artist I'd never heard of, I was game.

What is the Stern Grove Festival?

The Stern Grove Music Festival is a non-profit outdoor music festival that's been in operation for 88 years now! It's totally free, and as of last year, you just have to enter a lottery for a free ticket to attend. The only reason they implemented a ticketing system is because it got too popular, and having been there now, I can totally see why. It's a gorgeous venue tucked away in a forest of eucalyptus trees, and it sets a great scene for a music festival.

The festival runs all summer, with a show every weekend from mid-June to mid-August. This year featured Sleater-Kinney, Girl Talk, Phantogram, and The Pointer Sisters, among others. And the headliners for the final weekend were Damian Marley and Stephen Marley on Saturday and Diana Ross on Sunday.

Where is the Stern Grove Festival?

The Sigmund Stern Recreational Grove is a 33-acre park in the Parkside District of San Francisco. It's a little bit of a trek to get there from East Bay, as you have to take MUNI all the way to West Portal/St. Francis Circle. It definitely took me over an hour, but I was excited to explore a new part of the Bay I hadn't yet seen and to experience this iconic outdoor music venue.

When you arrive at the park, you scan your ticket and go through security at the top of the park. Then, unless you need the shuttle to the bottom, you walk about five minutes down a surprisingly steep slope of a paved road to the concert venue at the bottom.

You emerge into a small huddle of pop-up tents arranged around a center courtyard that feels crowded at, like, fifty people. There are pop-up tents set up for food (chicken tenders, hot dogs, fries, and the like), drinks, merch, first aid, and information. And because it's a free concert, there are signs everywhere soliciting donations. But that's it. It's a very small concert pop-up, essentially, set up in front of the bathrooms (actual building, thank goodness).

Then, there are a few openings in the thicket of trees to pass through to the actual venue part of the park. There's the giant, beautiful stage on the left, some tables (that you can reserve for a couple of thousand dollars if you want to ensure great seating), and the main seating to the right.

When I say seating, it's really only a few levels of actual, paved amphitheater before it turns into just dirt. Similarly, you only get one or two flights of stairs before it's all dirt trail. It's truly a hike in the woods, just with live music. Almost all of the seating is basically in the trees, with really minimal infrastructure, and you could see where visibility was limited because each patch of seating would just have one empty line all the way back.

What can you bring into Stern Grove?

People brought blankets and chairs - camp chairs without legs are much better, considering the steep slope of the hill that is much of the seating. It's also allowed to bring in your own food and alcohol, so people were setting up picnics and having little parties before the acts started. There was a DJ for an hour, then an opener, and then the headliner, so three hours of entertainment. But the doors open at noon, and a lot of people arrive that early to get good seats, so it's really perfect for an afternoon picnic while you wait.

I would also recommend sunscreen, water, and a jacket since the trees provide more shade than you might want. You should also plan to wear good walking shoes or even hiking shoes. Some people were dressed for a concert, which makes sense, but it's super hard to walk through the dirt and leaves in heels!

Seeing Orville Peck in concert

Finally, I don't want to leave without giving a nod to the performers! It was a full country weekend. The opener was named Jamie Wyatt, and I really enjoyed her voice and her music, which was a folksy country vibe. The main act, of course, was Orville Peck, who is an alt-country star, maybe a little goth-rock. He wears a mask, has a great stage presence, and sings in a deep, sultry voice. The concert was a lot of fun, and I recommend Stern Grove to anyone and everyone in the Bay Area!