It’s hard to beat the SF arts and culture scene, especially when it comes to Bay Area music festivals. There are dozens of diverse events to keep track of, ranging from famous names like Outside Lands and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass to smaller niche celebrations and fairs like Jerry Day and the Half Moon Bay Wine & Jazz Fest. Read on for our running list of the best 2025 music festivals in the Bay Area or nearby.
Table Of Contents
Spring 2025 music festivals in the Bay Area
Noise Pop Festival
SF’s 32nd annual Noise Pop Festival is back with a weeklong schedule of concerts, happy hours, art exhibitions, and pop-ups. Planned event venues include the California Academy of Sciences, August Hall, The Independent, and SF Jazz.
🎤 Headliners: St. Vincent, Benjamin Gibbard, Earl Sweatshirt
🗓️ Dates: Feb. 20 – Mar. 2, 2025
📍 Location: Multiple venues in San Francisco
🌐 Learn more: Noise Pop Festival
Mill Valley Music Festival
Mill Valley introduced this fun boutique music festival in 2022 as a way to bring more visitors to the beautiful mountain town. The outdoor music festival takes place on the sprawling Friends Field next to the Mill Valley Community Center.
🎤 Headliners: TBA
🗓️ Dates: May 10-11, 2025
📍 Location: Friends Field, Mill Valley, CA
🌐 Website: Mill Valley Music Festival
BottleRock Napa Valley
BottleRock launched over a decade ago as Napa Valley’s first large-scale music festival, also presenting some of the best California food and wine. See a diverse range of artists play across three stages at the Napa Valley Expo.
🎤 Headliners: Green Day, Sublime, Justin Timberlake, Benson Boone, Noah Kahan, Khruangbin
🗓️ Dates: May 23-25, 2025
📍 Location: Napa Valley Expo, Napa, CA
🌐 Website: BottleRock Napa Valley
California Roots
California Roots highlights the best musical artists in the realms of hip hop, reggae, and folk. The festival is known to draw over 11,000 attendees per day and is considered one of the largest reggae festivals in the country.
🎤 Headliners: Rebelution, Buju Banton, Slightly Stoopid, Iration, Dirty Heads, T-Pain
🗓️ Dates: May 23-25, 2025
📍 Location: Monterey County Fair & Event Center, Monterey, CA
🌐 Website: California Roots
Carnaval San Francisco
Carnaval SF is a free music festival in San Francisco that’s gearing up for its 47th year. The enormous event takes over SF’s Mission District with 5 stages, 50 performers, 400+ vendors, and the famous community-led cannabis garden.
🎤 Headliners: TBA
🗓️ Dates: May 25-26, 2025
📍 Location: Mission District, San Francisco
🌐 Learn more: Carnaval San Francisco
More spring music festivals around the Bay Area
- Petaluma Music Festival Mardi Gras – Mar. 4, 2025 – Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds, Petaluma
- Berkeley Bluegrass Festival – May 2-4, 2025 – Freight & Salvage, Berkeley
- Half Moon Bay Wine & Jazz Festival – May 10, 2025 – Downtown Half Moon Bay
- Pickin’ on the Polk – TBA – Polk St, San Francisco
- San Francisco International Arts Festival – Apr. 25 – May 11, 2025 – San Francisco
- 420 Hippie Hill – Formal celebration is TBA, but informal celebration is on Apr. 20 – Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
Summer 2025 music festivals in the Bay Area
Stern Grove Festival
Stern Grove Festival is a free outdoor concert series featuring a wide variety of genres on Sundays throughout the summer. This beloved event is the oldest outdoor music festival in the Bay Area and will kick off its 88th season soon. Past headliners have included names like Mitski, The Doobie Brothers, Carlos Santana, Pink Martini, Janelle Monae, and more.
🎤 Headliners: The Pointer Sisters + more headliners TBA
🗓️ Dates: June 15 – Aug. 17, 2025
📍 Location: Stern Grove, San Francisco
🌐 Learn more: Stern Grove Festival
Country Summer
Country Summer is considered to be NorCal’s biggest country music festival, drawing over 26,000 attendees over three days in 2023. Enjoy on-site camping and craft food and drinks in the heart of Sonoma County.
🎤 Headliners: Sam Hunt, Kane Brown, Dustin Lynch
🗓️ Dates: June 27-29, 2025
📍 Location: Sonoma County Event Center, Santa Rosa
🌐 Website: Country Summer
San Francisco Pride
SF Pride is the largest gathering of the LGBTQ+ community and allies in the country, dating back 54 years. The free, two-day celebration is centered around SF’s Civic Center Plaza with performances across 8 areas.
🎤 Headliners: TBA
🗓️ Dates: June 28-29, 2025
📍 Location: Market St, San Francisco
🌐 Learn more: San Francisco Pride
Outside Lands
The country’s largest independently-owned music festival takes over SF’s Golden Gate Park every summer. This is SF’s most highly-anticipated music festival, drawing upwards of 200,000 attendees each year.
🎤 Headliners: TBA
🗓️ Dates: Aug 8-10, 2025
📍 Location: Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
🌐 Learn more: Outside Lands
Blue Note Summer Sessions
Enjoy a series of summer concerts at the Silverado Resort in Napa. Past performers include EmmyLou Harris, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Marlon Wayans, and more.
🎤 Headliners: TBA
🗓️ Dates: TBA
📍 Location: Silverado Resort, Napa
🌐 Learn more: Blue Note Napa
More summer music festivals around the Bay Area
- Healdsburg Jazz Festival – June 13-22, 2025 – Healdsburg
- Fillmore Jazz Festival – July 5-6, 2025 – Fillmore District, San Francisco
- Festival Napa Valley – July 5-15, 2025 – Meritage Resort, Napa
- Mosswood Meltdown – July 19, 2025 – Mosswood Park, Oakland
- Jerry Day – Aug. 2, 2025 – Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, San Francisco
- San Jose Jazz Summer Fest– Aug 8-10, 2025 – Downtown San Jose
- Golden Gate Park Concerts – Aug. 15, 2025 – Polo Fields, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
- San Francisco Jazz Festival – TBA, usually in June – San Francisco
- SFJAZZ Summer Sessions – TBA over the summer – San Francisco
- Free Live Music on the Colonnade – TBA over the summer – Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Santa Cruz
- Sierra Nevada World Music Festival – Canceled in 2024, event TBA in 2025 – Mendocino County Fairgrounds, Boonville
- Stanford Live Arts Festival – TBA in July – Frost Amphitheater, Stanford
- Midsummer Mozart Festival – TBA in July – Saratoga
- Rock the Gates – TBA in August – United Irish Cultural Center, San Francisco
- Concord Jazz Festival – TBA in August – Concord
Fall 2025 music festivals in the Bay Area
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is a completely free music festival in San Francisco dating back to 2001 in Golden Gate Park. It began thanks to the efforts of SF venture capitalist Warren Hellman, who originally founded it as “Strictly Bluegrass.” It evolved to encompass a multitude of genres, hence the decision to add “Hardly” to its name in 2003. Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has always remained completely free and noncommercial at the bequest of Hellman, who passed away in 2011.
🎤 Headliners: TBA
🗓️ Dates: TBA, usually in late September/early October
📍 Location: Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
🌐 Learn more: Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Portola Festival
The Portola Music Festival is San Francisco’s newest live music festival happening at Pier 80. 2025 details are TBA, but past years’ headliners have included Skrillex, Eric Prydz, Nelly Furtado, Rüfüs du Sol, Jamie XX, and more.
🎤 Headliners: TBA
🗓️ Dates: TBA, usually in late September
📍 Location: Pier 80, San Francisco
🌐 Learn more: Portola Festival
More fall music festivals around the Bay Area
- Solano Avenue Stroll – Sept. 14, 2025 – Albany and Berkeley
- Monterey Jazz Festival – Sept. 26-28, 2025 – Monterey County Fairgrounds, Monterey
- Breakaway Festival – Oct. 24-25, 2024 – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco
- San Francisco International Hip Hop Dancefest – Nov. 8-9, 2025 – Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, San Francisco
- Due South – TBA summer/fall – Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, SF
- SF Music Day – TBA in October – San Francisco
- Yerba Buena Night/Yerba Buena Gardens Festival – TBA – Yerba Buena, San Francisco