Back to Baysics, a collaboration with San Francisco independent house/techno label Dirtybird Records, will take place at Embarcadero Plaza on Sunday, July 21st at 2pm. DJ and producer Sacha Robotti will headline the four-hour outdoor event, which will also include performances from fellow Dirtybird artist Moody Jones and Deron Delgado, who also serves as label manager for Dirtybird Records.
It’s all part of a partnership between Another Planet and the city of San Francisco that aims to bring more live music events to spur cultural and economic recovery from the pandemic. The agreement, which goes into effect in early 2024, requires Bay Area promoters of San Francisco’s annual Outside Lands festival to host free and paid concerts for three years, in addition to increasing community support funding.
“Back to Basics,” like the Skrillex and Fred Again show, was announced a little over a week ago but has been months in the making — in fact, Delgado told the Chronicle that the idea for it first came a few weeks before the two electronic dance music titans played a sold-out nighttime concert at Civic Center Plaza in June.
“The purpose of this event is to bring people to the city and revitalize the life of the city,” he said, “but we didn’t want it to be just a speaker and an audience.”
To make the rave more family-friendly, organizers are planning activities like lawn games and inviting face painters, as well as providing free ice cream.
Delgado expects at least a few thousand people to attend, but hopes that by holding the rave at midday, he will be able to avoid the kind of noise complaints that have plagued other outdoor EDM events in the city in the past, such as the annual Portola Music Festival at Pier 80.
Dirty Bird began hosting monthly parties in Golden Gate Park nearly 20 years ago, eventually relocating to Treasure Island to accommodate a larger crowd. In 2015, they launched Dirty Bird Campout, a multi-day summer camp-like experience that was the first of its kind in Orange County and featured games, ganja gardens and live music that lasted until the early hours of the morning. Dirty Bird Campout was last held at Modesto Reservoir in 2022, but Back to Basic aims to bring back that atmosphere with a lineup of interactive activities for all ages.