The biggest music festival in the Bay Area may be Outside Lands, but for the ravers who live for drums and big synths, the true highlight of the year is Portola Festival, back for its fifth year at Pier 80 this Saturday and Sunday.
The location is spectacular, with stages framed by hulking cargo ships and giraffe-like cranes; at dusk, golden light spills across the venue and the choppy waters of the Bay. The 21+ crowds are convivial and (generally) peaceable — no teens getting into brawls here.
And the music: DJs and artists from every corner of the globe are packed into a two-day lineup.
Most of the biggest names on the slate, such as Swedish House Mafia, Tiesto, and Fatboy Slim, hail from outside of the Bay Area, but there are a half-dozen local artists to see this weekend, including a number of rising indie talents and one of the most acclaimed pop acts of 2026. Here’s who to know:
DJ Shadow
It’s hard to overstate the influence DJ Shadow, aka Joshua Paul Davis, has had in electronic music the last 30 years. Born in Davis and based in San Jose, Shadow is a pioneer of so many elements of modern dance music that we take for granted today. His innovative approach is perhaps best summed up by his 1996 debut album Endtroducing….., an experimental hip hop record that elevated the art of sampling to new heights.
Shadow is revisiting that seminal work at Portola with a set themed around the album’s 30th anniversary, which should meld the gap between the silken trip-hop energy of his debut with the more jagged, experimental sounds of his later work. He’ll almost certainly play the entire record, and I can’t wait to float into the sky when I hear the dulcet voice at the beginning of “Midnight in a Perfect World.” (I expect some high-energy peaks, too.) My only beef: I think Shadow deserves a set time later than 6:10 p.m.
underscores
Charli XCX may have boosted the “genre” of hyperpop to the mainstream with 2024’s Brat, but it’s San Francisco native underscores who has, in my mind, most clearly pushed the sound forward with U, released in March. The record is a riot, stuffed with modern electronic music influences from Skrillex’s wobble-womp synths to the brutal industrial beats of Sophie (rest in power) and even doses of Imogen Heap (peep the ethereal chords on “The Peace”).
underscores, aka April Harper Grey, was born in Miraloma Park and has deep roots in the city; before her gender transition, Grey attended the Cathedral School for Boys in Nob Hill, and began publishing music on SoundCloud at 13. Her sound has morphed over the years; when I saw her at Outside Lands in 2024, she was still in the rock-music groove of her 2023 album Wallsocket. Even then, however, her stage presence and eclectic taste made me declare her “the future of pop music.” Turns out my Steph-Curry-from-the-logo take was 100 percent correct.
underscores is one of two women who have ascended into the dance-music stratosphere this year, alongside fellow producer and singer Ninajirachi, whose bouncy, Y2K-themed “iPod Touch” has become a viral anthem for millennials who had an iPod Touch and young Gen Z who wish they had. Lucky for us, underscores is playing the Crane Stage at 5:50 p.m. on Sunday, followed by Nina right after at 7 p.m. I anticipate it will be the hardest one-two punch of the weekend.
Clearcast
Franky Cohn, aka Clearcast, had a big 2025: They toured in three different countries, opened for the hugely popular Fred Again at Cow Palace, and even played an afterparty for Portola. This year, the up-and-coming San Francisco producer and DJ earned a full timeslot at the festival, albeit a tough one: Clearcast is opening Portola on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. That will mean a small crowd, but consider it a perfect opportunity to be up close and personal to some excellent music.
Clearcast was born and raised in Santa Monica but relocated to San Francisco in 2019, joining the indie radio org HydeFM and playing local venues with the DJ collective Vitamin1000. Their sound is uptempo and driving: Think hypnotic basslines, stuttering drums, and chopped-up melodies. If you’re not attending Portola, you can catch Clearcast at Public Works on Oct. 10.
erika and sfcowboy
Erika Martinez and Arthur Javier are the founders of Program Audio, a DJ collective and promoter that throws dance music parties around the city, including at F8 in SoMa and Arcana in the Mission. They’re also the minds behind the quirkiest venue in San Francisco: Program’s teeny, 59-year-old wooden kiosk across the street from Amoeba Records in the Haight. It’s the perfect nook for the wide variety of Bay Area artists that work with Program, and a physical metaphor for the group’s vibe: edgy music with unexpected creative twists.
erika and sfcowboy will be going “b2b” (back to back) at Portola, mixing together and alternating tracks on the fly. Generally, their sets are centered around the percussive rhythms of techno, with dashes of Latin club music, breakbeats, and reworked pop music. They’re opening the Crane Stage on Saturday at 1:30, but also throwing a Black Rave Culture party on Thursday, Sept. 24, at Club Six as part of the festival’s official Portola Week event slate.
Felly Fell and Kaytree
Mackenzie Fell is a San Francisco-based producer and DJ who has, coincidentally, a residency with Program Audio and plays in their kiosk (check out this dreamy set infused with sounds of nature). Felly Fell has also opened for some of the best rising stars in the dance music world, like Portola veteran Overmono, and played top-tier underground events in the city like Parameter (which I can’t recommend enough). She’s opening the Ship Tent on Saturday at 1:40 p.m., during the same time as erika and sfcowboy.
Felly Fell’s frequent collaborator is Kaytree, her “sister in dubstep” and the opener at the Ship Tent on Sunday. In another coincidence (or not?), Kaytree is a supporting act for Overmono and Ben UFO at an official Portola afterparty on Sunday night. Kaytree’s DJ sets blend bassy grooves with global influences, as heard in her opening set for Yaeji at The Midway in July. Kaytree is also the founder of the dance music crew Pixie Pop, which in April hosted the acclaimed songwriter and performer Alice Longyu Gao at Public Works.
