San Francisco’s Portola Music Festival took over Pier 80 once again this weekend with electronic music, pop superstars and fashionable attendees.
It was two days of stellar performances, but in its fourth year, the festival still has a few kinks to work out in terms of overall experience – and a ways to go in terms of making the pier’s concrete landscape into a vibrant and welcoming zone. Read on for all of the highlights and lowlights from our festival coverage team.
Magdalena Bay performs on the Pier Stage at the Portola Music Festival on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (Charles Russo/SFGATE)
Magdalena Bay turns up the rock
Miami-by-way-of-LA duo Magdalena Bay became an SFGATE staff favorite over the past year for their candy-coated synth pop. At Portola, they expanded into an explosive four-piece live band, bringing an energetic rock edge worthy of its place on the main festival stage. Bonus points for four costume changes from singer Mica Tenenbaum. – SFGATE senior culture editor Dan Gentile
Moby goes the extra mile
Moby delivered a joyful, euphoric performance that brought live instrumentation into Portola’s electronic-heavy lineup. Backed by powerhouse vocalists who soared through jaw-dropping high notes, a full band and even guest cellists, he reworked popular tracks with live vocals, experimental guitar riffs and sweeping arrangements. The Crane Stage pulsed as the set built toward its finale. As he closed, with what he introduced as “the fastest song in the world,” the beat accelerated to a dizzying pace. My friend and I marched out to the next set, awestruck. – SFGATE news reporter Olivia Hebert
Rico Nasty performs on the Crane Stage during the Portola Music Festival on Pier 80 in San Francisco on Sept. 21, 2025. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
Rico Nasty’s cathartic raps
Rico Nasty electrified the Crane Stage on Sunday with a set that blended punk aggression and hip-hop swagger into pure chaos. Backed by pop-punk guitar riffs, the genre-defying rapper unleashed her signature raw, versatile vocal style, which swung from snarling rage-rap growls to bouncy “sugar trap” melodies. Fans screamed along to tracks like “Smack a Bitch,” moshing in the front rows as she cut through heavy beats with her sharp, cutthroat flow. Explosive and abrasive, her performance stood out as one of Portola’s most visceral highs, a jolt of catharsis amid the festival’s electronic backbone. – Olivia Hebert
No cell service or Wi-Fi
One of my biggest gripes with this weekend was the spotty cell service at Pier 80. Texts and calls often failed to go through, and if they did go through, it was rarely in a timely manner. This became a logistics headache for my friends and I as we struggled to regroup in between sets. In a festival that sprawls across multiple stages, the lack of dependable service made coordinating plans unnecessarily difficult, turning simple linkups into one of Portola’s more consistent challenges. – Olivia Hebert
“Hot” stickers were Portola’s most ubiquitous fashion trend. (Dan Gentile/SFGATE)
A hot fashion trend
At Outside Lands, tiny green and floral sprouts reigned supreme as the ubiquitous festival accessory, but at Portola a new trend was even hotter: Neon orange and yellow “hot” stickers, of the variety you’d find on a grocery store rotisserie chicken, were downright everywhere (one attendee passing them out noted he picked up a giant roll from a little store called Amazon). Playful, sassy and positive, the stickers were a unifying style statement that will likely be a mainstay at festivals for the next year. – Dan Gentile
An awkward exit
Walking out of the festival on Saturday, I trotted past dozens of Bay Wheels bikes and Lime scooters that were essentially inoperational due to the lack of cell service. This also made hailing a ride via Lyft or Uber damn near impossible. Granted, festival shuttles moved relatively swiftly toward the dropoff point at 24th and Mission post-show, but those looking for alternative modes to leave Portola were out of luck. – Dan Gentile
LCD Soundsystem performs the headlining set on the Pier Stage at the Portola Music Festival on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (Charles Russo/SFGATE)
LCD Soundsystem’s video director
What’s there to say about LCD Soundsystem that hasn’t been said? Undeniably one of the tightest headlining rock acts playing today, its millennial anthems are still just as sonically adventurous as they were 20 years ago. But special kudos should go to the band’s video director, whose tasteful psychedelic effects and slick editing made it feel like the audience was right onstage with the band. – Dan Gentile
A couple shares a moment during the Portola Music Festival on Pier 80 in San Francisco on Sept. 21, 2025. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
No place to sit
On Saturday night, LCD Soundsystem sang one of their most incisive lyrics: “If you’re worried about the weather, then you picked the wrong place to stay.” Well, at Portola, if you were looking for comfort, you picked the wrong festival. It feels like there’s almost no thought put into making the festival a hospitable place, one example being that the VIP area by the Pier Stage had almost no seating – a pregnant friend of mine ended up having to eat sitting on the concrete. It’s a problem that could easily be solved by a low-cost solution like wood pallets, or just throwing down some turf. Ignoring such a simple way to make patrons more comfortable just feels like a thoughtless cost-cutting maneuver. – Dan Gentile
The afters were on point
One of the best parts of the weekend comes after Pier 80 shuts down for the night, with various artists performing at afterparty sets. My friends and I walked to the Midway after Sunday’s lineup came to a close to groove to the Live to Earth showcase, a cathartic marathon of back-to-back high energy sets from KI/KI, DJ Gigola and MCR-T before Brutalismus 3000 took the stage with Underworld. The smaller venue created an intimate counterpoint to the festival’s industrial sprawl, with thumping beats keeping crowds moving well into the morning. – Olivia Hebert
A couple poses for a selfie in front of a Portola sign during the Portola Music Festival on Pier 80 in San Francisco on Sept. 21, 2025. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
Lack of visual art
Unlike festivals such as Coachella or Lightning in a Bottle, Portola offered little in the way of large-scale visual art, which can often act as an oasis in a concrete desert at venues like Pier 80. Throughout the festival, the expansive industrial site remained mostly bare with no sculptures, shade structures or installations to serve as gathering points – aside from the chicken by Pier Stage. Without visual landmarks or interactive spaces, festivalgoers were left to cluster on very few picnic tables or the concrete ground. More immersive gathering spots could have provided both a meeting point and a reprieve from the Portola chaos. – Olivia Hebert
Despacio disrupted festival tropes
The pop-up audiophile dance club Despacio proved to be the best addition to this year’s festival. Despite the space being at capacity for nearly the entire weekend, the line for entry was quick. Thousands of people crowded into the minimal, immaculate-sounding club space, choosing dubby disco music over the main stage’s EDM drops and the warehouse stage’s muddy sound. Let’s hope it returns next year. – Dan Gentile
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