There’s a lot to highlight about this year’s Portola festival, having outdone itself for the fifth year in a row. Portola weekend brought the best kind of every flavour for any kind of dance music fan - a 100% failproof ticket to what might have been your favorite show of the year. Whether you bought the ticket and want to relive your favorite sets or you missed one of San Francisco’s most coveted weekends of the year, here are some of our big highlights from Portola 2026:
WHAT WAS DONE RIGHT
There was a lot of things done right but the festival this year. Firstly, the attitude and expression of the audience didn’t wither through the weekend as we say eccentric outfits and dance moves full of expression at every corner despite the increasingly colder weather. But it all really started right at the entrance. Envision this: right after having entered festival grounds, a contagious rhythm echoes from the Warehouse stage, where heavy-impact production and sound is amplified in the hands of non-stop, back-to-back DJs. The 225,000 square foot space, able to hold up to 18,000 guests at once, left a safe, spacious option for guests to look forward to and an emphatic DJ set to attend. The stage featured some amazing sets from Tiesto, Four Tet, and Prospa throughout the weekend. Notably, festival-goers were abundantly eager to attend the returning Despacio tent, a nonstop 7-hour vinyl set where attendees could “trip the light” - so to speak - under a hypnotizing disco ball light production and an analog sound system made by James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) and brothers David and Stephen Dewaele (Soulwax). Despacio alone may have garnered a lengthy line, but those in attendance said it was well worth the wait.
SATURDAY
To kick off Portola weekend on Saturday, Six Sex brought us a provocative femme-erotic latin techno-pop set, getting people moving and dialed in early on the intimate Ship Tent stage. Hometown hero of production, DJ Shadow was able to recover some of his original floppy disks to bring the 30th anniversary celebration of “Endtroducing.....” live to Portola. Another highly anticipated act among Saturday’s DJ duos, Fcukers, compounded the palpable energy among the crowd at the Pier stage before some veteran acts later on, moving along with the crowd to hits from their recently released album like “Play Me” and “Lonely”. Reeling it back to “old time’s sake,” Tove Lo gave crowds a throwback with some of her classics like “Habits (Stay High)” and “Talking Body”. Pop-veteran and queen of reinvention Robyn led some powerful sing-alongs with hits like “Dancing On My Own” and “With Every Heartbeat”. While day one was filled with plenty of fan-favorites, major anticipation for star-studded power duo Dog Blood had only been building throughout the evening - and they didn’t disappoint. Nine years after their last major live performance, EDM legends Skrillex and Boys Noize reunited on San Francisco’s Pier 80 to
bring to Portola a feverish high-octane performance to end the night on the highest note - which includes (but is not limited to) dynamic pyrotechnics and light production to boggle the mind.
SUNDAY
It only gets better - Sunday’s lineup was equally electrifying, only contributing to the festival’s non-stop high energy renown. April Harper Grey made a big hometown appearance in the bay as Underscores, having recently gained a larger online following with instant hit “The Peace” and also as an opener for Charli xcx on her Music, Fashion, Film Tour. Grey was also brought out as a guest alongside Mgna Crrrta during a set by Ninajirachi, who will be back in San Francisco come November after a small taste of the fun at Portola. As the evening of the second day began to show its truer colors, so too did internet sensation and longtime pop-princess Zara Larsson on the final festival show of her Midnight Sun Tour - that is, plenty of colors. Whether a new or old fan of the singer, or simply a curious stranger, Larsson’s Portola set had a little bit of something in it for everyone. A Zara Larsson show brings to the table a well choreographed production, a stellar wardrobe, and unmatched live vocals on some of the singer’s best known hits. Over the course of her tour, Larsson has managed to sustain a cult-following among pop fans and those with a knack for movement and vision (after all, the singer herself has a knack for both). For the final act of the Crane stage, Parcels took advantage with a beautifully done set including upbeat instrumentals that just made your worries wash away as each song led to another. And just as one may believe that day two’s lineup couldn’t get any better, the evening continued on a high with a headline set by Swedish House Mafia. The legendary Swedish trio brought the customary spark that seemed like all Portola goers were waiting for. You couldn’t helped but be awed and swayed by the set production, classic discography, and engagement by the group as the final Coup de grâce for Portola.
When the final beats settled out over Pier 80, one thing was for sure: not a single inch of the festival was untouched by rhythm. Every corner of Portola thoroughly blanketed by sound, proving Portola’s identity that thrives in its curation from when the gates open to the very last encore. Whether you got caught up in the analog warmth of Despacio, singing along under the mainstage lights, or running to your next set through the cold, the festive weekend delivered on all of its promises. Portola being now five years in, they aren’t just maintaining their status as a staple on Pier 80, but a constant redefinition of what a premier dance festival can feel like. We were left with nothing but the feeling of exhausted fun and eagerly counting down the days till we get to do it all over again.
Words and photos by Evan Twiford