For the last weekend of September, The Portola Festival once again drew ravers from far and wide to Pier 80 in San Francisco for performances from electronic music legends ranging from hard Industrial powerhouses like Gesaffelstein to full vinyl RnB pop sets from icons like Anderson .Paak. There is truly something for everyone, with all types of rave aficionados – a group of friends dressed in iridescent abba costumes, frat boys in snapbacks and sports jerseys, people dressed in head to toe polyurethane gorp – turning out for two jam packed days of dancing. Even though this is only the third year of the festival, Portola is shaping up to be a must-attend national festival, succeeding in selling out all of its 45,000 tickets this year when other more established festivals like Coachella and Burning Man have begun to struggle for the first time to do the same.
So what is so amazing about Portola?
It would be easy to argue that the venue is a key draw of the experience. Pier 80 is a massive industrial port, giving the festival a more gritty vibe than most which are often hosted in public green spaces – think Outside Lands at Golden Gate park or ‘the playa’ of Burning Man– which makes it feel like an apt space for an EDM festival. There is a stage by a ship, a crane, one inside a massive airplane hangar. Much of electronic music has come out of an underground, urban and industrial scene, and the venue reflects that. Coupled with the views of the bay and rolling fog, Pier 80 makes for an eerie electronic playground.
The core of the festival’s pull, however, is the lineup. A personal stand out set on the first night was AG Cook – the producer behind one of the summer’s most successful albums BRAT by Charli XCX – playing a fast paced hyperpop set that incorporated their BRAT remix of Von Dutch. BRAT was a constant tune throughout the festival, incorporated into a wide range of sets from Joy Orbison’s remix of B2B to Four Tet’s use of 360. In a broader way, y2k and early 2000s rave culture was homaged in of much of the music mixed throughout the festival, both in sets where you might expect it like HorsegiirL’s use of Rush, and in places you wouldn’t like Sara Laudry’s incorporation of 212. This high energy, campy ethos was most concentrated in Rebecca Black’s set on day two where she danced with two men wearing bouncing fake boobs and sang her hyperpop remix of her 2011 viral hit Friday into a bedazzled chainsaw. This all really speaks to the excitement around electronic music’s return to the cultural forefront this summer – gone are the days of indie singer songwriters and rap/trap music dominating the top 40. Instead ‘nostalgic’ ‘naughts electronic is what young listeners are demanding.
While there were many good performances, the best set I personally saw this weekend was from Honey Dijon on Sunday night. A classic house DJ, her performance swung from danceable disco to more pure techno – but all of it was absolutely delightfully playful. The set was in the warehouse stage, and complete with a spectacular laser light show and sleek 3D images of Honey herself projected behind the stage. One of the last sets of the weekend, it was a perfect way to finish off the Festival.
In the end, the true magic of Portola is in the vibrating energy of the crowd. Everyone has come ready to make the most of the weekend, dancing through two ten hour packed days of music. The collective excitement for this moment, from young people and seasoned ravers alike is truly spectacular. Leaving the festival, I was left with a feeling of excitement to see what the next year of Portola will hold.
Review by Riley Saham and photos by Angelica Smith (read Riley’s Portola 2023 recap)
