Missing Portola? You Can Still Dance at These San Francisco Parties
Portola Music Festival returns to San Francisco’s Pier 80 on Sept. 26 and 27, showcasing the Bay’s dance and electronic music scene among a huge, international lineup that features Kelela, Zara Larsson, Swedish House Mafia and more.
If you’re missing Portola, there’s no shortage of things to do. The music festival coincides with the San Francisco staple Folsom Street Fair, which will celebrate the diversity of our most sexually liberated on Sept. 27. All throughout this week, there will be plenty of Portola and Folsom pre-parties, after-parties and other music events to make you feel alive.
Thursday, Sept. 24
To kick off the long Portola weekend, San Francisco staple Program Audio will kick off the official Portola Week festivities and host the DC based DJ trio Black Rave Culture at Club Six, bringing the sounds from their debut album to San Francisco.
Friday, Sept. 25
As part of his Enigma Tour, the Compton artist Channel Tres is turning the Regency Ballroom into a dance party ahead of his Portola set on Sept. 27. This same night, Argentinian perreo-rave singer Six Sex will take over the Great American Music Hall with B0yg1rl and a b2b DJ set with Femme Jatale and erika (Six Sex also performs at Portola on Sept. 26).
Saturday, Sept. 26
The drag queens will be outside for Folsom Street Fair. Brunch Queens at Mayes Oyster House will feature RuPaul’s Drag Race stars Hershii LiqCour Jete, Heidi N Closet and Honey Davenport, alongside Tila Pia and host Aurris Garcon.
If drag and leather aren’t exactly your thing, Earthling, the experimental outdoor listening party, will be in Golden Gate Park, merging out-there electronic production with nature. Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes, The Space Lady, Dream Crease and W.A.L.A. will fill the Elk Glen Meadow with ambient sound.
If you’re looking to dance, Juke WRLD is taking over Mission District staple El Rio. DJs Twoseven, Mars Kasei, Tha Nxxt Step, New Juicy and DJ Ari B will spin Jersey and Baltimore club, ghettotech from Detroit and footwork from Chicago.
SXTPS, a body-positive dance party dedicated to Black and brown queer people, will have the dance floor moving at DNA Lounge for a Folsom pre-party with DJ Kidd, Iloveducky and Charles Hawthorne. Bringing the underground sounds of Black queer communities from New York, L.A. and Chicago to San Francisco, anything goes “as long as it’s gay and Black as fuck,” according to the organizers.
Sunday, Sept. 27
If you’re craving something slower after all that partying, Bar Shiru in Oakland will host their Silent Sunday listening session, playing Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life on their hi-fi speakers. This could be a much-needed break from all the dance and electronic music pumping through the streets.
Sunday night also offers some solid concert options: Chicago rapper Lucki will be at The Warfield, performing music from his Drugs R Bad album. Mexican singer and multi-instrumentalist Julieta Venegas is doing two nights at the Masonic, and the Mexican regional music band Elsabon Armado, who hail from the Central Valley, will be at the Fillmore.