Robyn
Photos by Marc Fong & Christine Kemp // Written by Molly Kish //
Portola Music Festival //
Pier 80 – San Francisco
September 26th-27th, 2026 //
Portola took over SF’s Pier 80 once again last month for its fifth year with a new footprint and slightly different creative direction. For this installment, the Swedes dominated the lineup with Swedish House Mafia playing the first of only two announced shows in 2026, Robyn returning to the Bay Area after a seven-year hiatus, Tove Lo debuting her new album Estrus to go with its stage production and Zara Larsson wrapping up her “Midnight Sun Tour” at the two-day event.
This year’s lineup leaned heavily into pop but was balanced out by a decent amount of house favorites and legacy acts. The heavily anticipated return of Dog Blood featuring Boyz Noize and Skrillex ended Saturday with an electronic assault on the senses after Groove Armada rocked the warehouse and DJ Shadow honored the 30th anniversary of his seminal debut Endtroducing….. that ranks among Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest albums of all time. Mike D & 5D tested out their new material that was spliced with Beastie Boys hits while Fatboy Slim, who was also celebrating three decades of his own debut LP titled Better Living Through Chemistry, tore up the Crane Stage on Day 1 in true legendary fashion prior and set the stage for former Spice Girl-turned-DJ Melanie C (aka Sporty Spice) to put on a nostalgic dance party subsequently.
The vibes remained high on Sunday, with energetic sets from Channel Tres and Ben UFO kicking things up a notch early on. SG Lewis delivered a rare live performance that got the crowd moving, and Daphni came out hot in the Ship Tent with easily one of the weekend’s most corpse-reviving moments. Then it was time for trance daddy Tiësto, who drew a giant audience to the Warehouse over an extended 90-minute set following a breakout pop performance from Slovak singer-songwriter/dancer Adéla. And of course we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the second appearance at Portola for equine princess horsegiirL that provided some strong female representation on the Day 2 bill.
Swedish House Mafia
Four Tet closed down the Warehouse with arguably the most anticipated set of the weekend, debuting his immersive lightning design by Ed Warren and spinning favorites along with brand-new tracks, one of which was a remix of Turnstile’s “Look Out for Me” off their Grammy-winning album Never Enough. Die-hards and festival attendees catching Kieran Hebden on the decks for their very first time got lost in his set that euphorically put a bow on the weekend and further solidified Four Tet’s legacy among Bay Area electronic music fans.
Not long after the final notes were played, rumors swirled about whether or not Portola will be back in another 12 months for its sixth edition. Even with a solid roster of artists for 2026, it can’t be overlooked that tickets took longer than in previous years to sell out. Whether there was any correlation or not, we noticed a lot more attention was directed at sponsored activations and increasing the space of the VIP sections, and while you couldn’t help but notice as well that the demographics seemed to be much more concerned with capturing content than during the fest’s first four iterations, Portola still remained true to its roots in the end.
With that in mind, we hope our favorite Bay Area music festival will continue the tradition next year. Only time will tell, though if this was goodbye after the past five years, we can definitely say that Portola went out with quite a bang.
Gelli Haha
PORTOLA MUSIC FESTIVAL 2026 AWARDS:
Best Headliner: Robyn
Top Swede: Swedish House Mafia
Favorite Pop Girly: Zara Larsson
Loudest Singalong: Tie between “Dancing on My Own” by Robyn & “Habits” by Tove Lo
Best Production: Four Tet
Loudest Set: Dog Blood
Favorite Legacy Act: Fatboy Slim
Biggest Disappointment: Skepta’s no-show
Best Merchandise: Raccoon tail key chain
Biggest Crap Shoot: Despacio’s entry line
Best Remix: Daphni’s “Born Slippy” into “Lost”
Favorite Dish: Bodega’s mushroom lo mein
Largest Crowd: Tiësto in the Warehouse
Strongest Undercard: Nimino
Most Creative Set: Gelli Haha
Biggest Comedian: Marlon Hoffstadt
Favorite Repeat Act: Soulwax
Biggest Breakthrough Artist: Underscores
Festival Upgrade: Despacio pre-party
Improvement Needed: The noticeable decrease in the number of bars and bathrooms
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