Soulwax

Photos by Chris Kocher // Written by Molly Kish //

Portola Music Festival //
Pier 80 – San Francisco
September 28th-29th, 2024 //

Closing out the last weekend of September and kicking off another Indian summer in the Bay Area, Portola returned to Pier 80 for a third installment and drew its largest crowd to date. With tickets quickly selling out in record time, it seemed like someone finally let the raccoons out of the bag. Goldenvoice’s marketing team, per usual, leaned into a hilariously unhinged campaign, and this year’s lineup of night shows dwarfed previous years in talent and quantity. It almost felt like Portola elevated its identity into a brand with a third installment of their “Racoon Social” afters occurring a month later at The Midway.

This year’s roster stayed true to form and highlighted talent from all over the world and electronic music spectrum. Heavy hitting legacy acts headlined outdoor stages both nights, allowing the crowd to enjoy the perfect weather and lose themselves in nostalgia-filled dance parties under the giant, crane-lifted disco ball. As one of the premiere dates of their new stage design, Justice dominated as the best and most heavily anticipated headline set of the weekend. The French duo satiated longtime fans with a set of throwback hits that breathed new life into their past material and mixed seamlessly with tracks from their fourth LP Hyperdrama that dropped in April thanks, in part, to their incredible new A/V production. Other closers worth mentioning were the “Dark Prince” aka Gesaffelstein at the Crane Stage on Day 1 and FISHER’s absolute takeover of the pier’s eastern half on Day 2, plus let’s not forget both Four Tet and Sara Landry blowing out the Warehouse each night.

There was a refreshing amount of performances with live instrumentation this year, expanding upon the ideas and notions of what the electronic genre encompasses. Between Peaches — aka the “Teaches of Peaches” — commandeering the stage, Soulwax’s insane multi-drummer live spectacle, Tycho’s return to form with a full band and Mount Kimbie covering Stereolab, the sounds we heard for two days leaned more noticeably in the direction of alternative dance. Barry Can’t Swim, more specifically, performed his live show for only the third time ever in the states with an ecstatic crowd on hand, leading directly into an electrifying sunset set by Disclosure with a full horn section. RÜFÜS DU SOL closed out the Pier Stage on the fest’s first day to a huge audience that got a sneak peak at the Australian three-piece’s new stage design before its upcoming world tour was announced.

Tycho’s Zac Brown

The Camp was also ramped up a little more, although the bill wasn’t as queer-focused as the previous two. horsegiirL performed to an equestrian-themed Ship Tent and crossed over as the first interspecies DJ to play Portola. Meanwhile, meme-turned “super serious, underground, exclusive tastemaker, gay, EDM, culture, Bushwick raver,” Rebecca Black debuted as an experimental vocalist/DJ on Sunday and Natasha Bedingfield pulled a surprising amount of hyped attendees away from Jamie xx’s performance Saturday for a brief 15-minute, hits-only set that even Four Tet himself couldn’t resist taking in. Reigning supreme as a highlight of the weekend, however, was disco queen Jessie Ware’s performance over at the Pier Stage that channeled Studio 54 and even included a cover of Cher’s “Believe” from her 1998 album of the same name.

The festival footprint expanded in 2024 with VIP areas taking over more space in front of the stages, which was received with mixed emotions. Cellphone service almost seemed worse than ever before, remaining an ever-present pitfall that unfortunately prevented us from being able to enjoy Portola to its fullest potential. Increased seating areas and bathrooms contributed greatly to the GA experience, but they still seemed limited amid the larger crowd size. A healthy amount of food offerings and expanded beverage selection was widely appreciated, and plenty were still surprised yet delighted by activations like the hidden speakeasy, which this time transformed into a robot-themed bar in honor of Daft Punk.

Though the third edition of Portola proved successful in continuing to expand Goldenvoice’s influence across the Bay Area festival landscape, it’s unknown at the moment as to whether or not it will return next year. Still being dubbed as “the city’s loudest event” after as many as 224 noise complaints — 24 on Saturday followed by 200 on Sunday — were filed despite organizers’ efforts to lower the decibels, rotate stages and utilize acoustic blankets. Judging by the turnout this time and increased demand for an event of this caliber in the Bay Area, we would be surprised if Portola wasn’t back after another 12 months. But once the permits are approved by both the SF Entertainment Commission and Port of SF, one can only hope that Goldenvoice will throw down on some distributed antenna systems or reliable WiFi coverage for 2025.

Justice

PORTOLA MUSIC FESTIVAL 2024 AWARDS:

Headliner of the Weekend: Justice

Favorite Stage: Pier

Breakthrough Performance: Franc Moody

Best Dance Party: Disclosure

Largest Crowd: FISHER

Most Controversial: M.I.A.’s endorsement of Donald Trump

Festival Daddy: Tycho guitarist/bassist Zac Brown

Portola Queen: Jessie Ware

Best Legacy Act: Soulwax

Hardest Set: Sara Landry

Best Performance: RÜFÜS DU SOL

Most Cunty: Horsegiirl

Best Stage Production: BICEP present CHROMA (AV DJ set)

Favorite Festival Addition: Giant crane-lifted disco ball

Best Activation: Daft Punk speakeasy

Favorite Merch: Pier 80 blanket

Best Afterparty: Boiler Room with Club Heat

Best Mascot: Warehouse raccoons