Outside Lands 2026: Sunday Highlights
A Different Kind of Church
Listen, I’m not a regular churn-goer, but I’ll happily spend my Sunday mornings/early afternoons with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. The group warmed up the Lands End stage at noon on Sunday, and it felt like they took us to the churn of good vibes and wholesome fun. As they took the stage, one of the long-time members of the chorus told us that he’d been doing this a long time, but this was the most exciting event they’d ever done. Their set included covers that spanned across decades; from Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” to Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club.” Here’s hoping this becomes an annual tradition for the fest because it was such a fun, feel-good way to kick off the final day.
Photo by Alive Coverage
Double Death Cab and Outside Plans
This year was my first Outside Lands, but I heard from another festival attendee that one of 2025’s headliners, Vampire Weekend, played two sets at 12:45PM and in the evening. Luckily for those of us attending this year, we got treated to the same phenomenon with Death Cab For Cutie, who played two unique shows on Sunday. I caught their matinee set at 12:40PM on the Sutro Stage, which also happened to be them performing their beloved album 2005 Plans in its entirety. The album features fan favorites like “Crooked Teeth” and “I Will Follow You into the Dark.” For an hour, the festival became Outside Plans.
The meadow where the Sutro stage is situated quickly filled up, and this set was easily the most packed that I’ve seen a set before 1PM at a music festival. Especially on the last day of the fest, it’s such a feat to get everyone to show up early! We were also lucky that the show went on at all—Lead vocalist Ben Gibbard let the audience know that he woke up with no voice at all, but that the medical staff at the festival was able to treat him and get him back to singing for us. Gibbard was able to push through again for the later headlining show, which featured a mix of the band’s discography. The double-duty headliner is another tradition I hope Outside Lands and other festivals can keep alive.
Photo by Alive Coverage
Bands of Brothers
Saturday at Outside Lands gave us sets from siblings Audrey Hobert and Malcolm Todd, and Sunday we got incredible performances from not one, but two bands with siblings in them.
One of those bands was Day We Ran, hailing all the way from Australia and comprised of brothers Matthew, Michael, and Daniel Lough. Sunday marked the band’s first performance at Outside Lands, but Death Cab for Cutie wasn’t the only one performing double duty— Day We Ran performed a set at 1:25PM on the Panhandle stage, followed up by another more intimate show at Duboce Triangle at 3:25PM. Both sets drew enthusiastic crowds, and I was impressed by the beautiful harmonies delivered by the siblings.
Balu Brigada, the project of brothers Henry and Pierre Beasley from New Zealand, also drew an enthusiastic and large crowd at Lands End on Sunday afternoon. The duo told the audience that they feared no one might turn up to their set, but they think it ended up being the largest crowd they’ve ever played. The Beasley brothers exhibited energetic stage presence and had a sense of natural chemistry onstage that really only happens with family. Fans loved their performance of their hit “Backseat” as well as their live cover of “Oblivion” by Grimes.
Photo by Alive Coverage
Walking On a Sweet 2000’s Dream
Two other really fun and popular performances of the day went to Empire of the Sun and The Temper Trap. Watching their shows brought back all the feel-good nostalgia as they performed their landmark hits from the late aughts.
The Temper Trap played first over at Sutro again, and lead singer Dougy Mandagi asked the crowd “Did you miss us? We fucking missed you guys. We’ve been here once upon a time and now we’re back.” It truly felt like no time had passed as the band opened up with the opening track “Love Lost” from their 2009 album Conditions. The pinnacle of their set came with the performance of “Sweet Disposition” from the same album, which was received with overwhelming cheers from the massive crowd. I got goosebumps when the opening notes of the song rang out into the meadow, and I’m not sure if it was the San Francisco chill or the thrill of the nostalgia.
Later on, Empire of the Sun also drew a huge crowd at Lands End for their pre-headliner evening set. The band hit the stage donning their signature stage costumes, and dazzled the crowd with some of their nostalgic favorites from 2008 like “We Are The People” and “Walking On A Dream.”
Photo by Alive Coverage
And The Surprise Guest Is…
When the Outside Lands set times dropped the week before the festival, eagle-eyed fans might have noticed a slot labeled “Surprise Guest” at the intimate Duboce Triangle stage on Sunday evening at 7:45PM. I had the set added to my schedule, but wasn’t sure if I’d end up making the show as there were a few other sets going on around the same time.
As Sunday evening rolled around and the mystery still loomed overhead, Outside Lands posted a hint on their Instagram stories that was a cowboy emoji followed by two bridge emojis. Fans started to speculate based on the clue that it might be Leon Bridges, and their hunches ended up being confirmed by the festival with in-app notification about an hour before the singer was scheduled to take the small stage.
In the minutes leading up to Mr. Bridges surprise set, the grassy hill around the stage became increasingly more packed and filled the air with excited anticipation. Bridges hit the stage backed by talented instrumentalists and backup vocalists, opening the show with some of his newer material like “Light The Way” and “Your Love is Electric” from his forthcoming album entitled Happiness Anytime. The new material had a groovy funkiness about it, mixing it up from his more soulful roots, but Bridges also included some of his earlier work like “Texas Sun” and “River” to close out the surprise performance. It was a beautiful way to wrap up the weekend at Outside Lands.
Photo by Rachel Zyzda
