San Francisco City Hall served as the backdrop of an event featuring EDM DJs Fred Again and Skrillex on June 1. The outdoor concert was just one of several live music events that Another Planet Entertainment and city officials are partnering to host in San Francisco.
Skyler Greene
After a successful concert turnout for Fred Again and Skrillex that drew an estimated 25,000 people to downtown San Francisco last month, Another Planet Entertainment is back with its next event — and this time, it’s free.
Back to Baysics, a collaboration with San Francisco independent house and techno label Dirtybird Records, is set to take over Embarcadero Plaza at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Belgian DJ and producer Sacha Robotti is scheduled to headline the four-hour outdoor event, which also includes sets by local artists Deron Delgado, who also serves as Dirtybird Records’ label manager, and Moody Jones, the general manager for the dance division of Empire Records, which acquired Dirtybird in 2022.
“It’s important that we bring San Francisco back,” Bryan Duquette told the Chronicle.
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Duquette, who founded Another Planet Management, the artist management arm of the Berkeley-based concert production company, added that Back to Baysics aims to remind everyone “why people love the city, why people move to the city, why people still live here.”
Another Planet Entertainment and Dirtybird Records are bringing a new free event to San Francisco this weekend, and Sacha Robotti is set to headline.
Courtesy of Dirtybird Records
It’s all part of Another Planet’s partnership with the city that aims to host more live music events and spur a cultural and economic comeback from the pandemic. The agreement, which went into effect at the start of 2024, binds the Bay Area promoters behind San Francisco’s annual Outside Lands festival to three years of free and ticketed concerts, in addition to increased community benefit funding.
Back to Baysics: 2-6 p.m. Sunday, July 21. Free. Embarcadero Plaza, between Market and Steuart streets, S.F. apeconcerts.com
Sunday’s dance party is the first of three free events in public spaces on the eastern side of the city, and it is set to be followed by another free show at the Civic Center Plaza on Sept. 21 and one in Union Square in October. Details and headliners have yet to be announced.
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“We’re doing this as a requirement, but we’re going above and beyond on the deliverables,” Duquette said. “We believe that it’s really important to the ethos of San Francisco to create free experiences for people, that there is equality across all socioeconomic levels.”
While Back to Baysics was announced a little more than a week in advance, much like the Skrillex and Fred Again show, it has been months in the making. In fact, Delgado told the Chronicle that the initial idea arose a few weeks before the two electronic dance music titans’ sold-out Civic Center Plaza nighttime concert in June.
“It’s about just bringing people into the city (and) revitalizing that life,” he said. “One thing we didn’t want it to be was just speakers and an audience.”
Thousands of fans wait in line to enter the Civic Center Plaza on June 1 to see electronic music producer Fred Again and Skrillex.
Camille Cohen/Special to the Chronicle
In an effort to make it a more of a family-friendly event, organizers are featuring activities such as lawn games and bringing in face painters, in addition to offering free ice cream.
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Delgado expects a turnout of at least a few thousand people but hopes the midday scheduling will help to avoid noise complaints that other outdoor EDM events in the city, such as the annual Portola Music Festival on Pier 80, have received in the past.
Dirtybird first began with monthly parties at Golden Gate Park almost 20 years ago, eventually switching locations to Treasure Island to accommodate larger crowds. In 2015, it began its Dirtybird Campout, a multiday summer camp-like experience that was first held in Orange County and boasted games, a “ganja garden” and live music that ran until the early hours of the morning. Though Dirtybird Campout was last held in 2022 at the Modesto Reservoir, Back to Baysics aims to bring back that vibe with its lineup of interactive activities for all ages.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the record label Bay Area artist Moody Jones is affiliated with. The DJ is the general manager of the dance division of Empire Records, the San Francisco label that acquired Dirtybird Records in 2022. The headline and story has also been updated to clarify that Back to Baysics is an outdoor dance party and not a rave.
Reach Zara Irshad: zara.irshad@sfchronicle.com
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