Get Down with Your Bad Self: Treasure Island Music Festival | San Francisco, USA

Imagine a music festival where you can pee without waiting in line for a fraction of eternity. A fest where you can meet up with friends that you didn’t come with, where you don’t spend half a month’s paycheck on admission, and where you can still be home (and in your comfy, cozy bed) by 11 pm.

Treasure Island Music Festival is just not really like other music festivals.

After the likes of Coachella and Outside Lands, these are the very things that feel like luxuries, and this year, we headed to Treasure Island with wide-open arms. Each October, the little man-made island just outside of San Francisco transforms into a venue of exceptional quality. Waterfront views overlooking the city make for some of the world’s best sunsets (festival or otherwise), and the illuminated Ferris wheel and accompanying Indie sets don’t hurt either.

Treasure Island Music Festival distinguishes itself from other music festivals by staying true to its roots (and that’s pretty likable!) but we’d actually say it is the best San Francisco music festival.

Why pick Treasure Island Music Festival?

• Amazing lineup: First and foremost, a great music festival should have great music. Year after year, Treasure Island features unique acts, big and small, and gives festival-goers a chance to hear their favorites interspersed with up-and-comers. Take some time on Spotify to figure out who is who before the festival. The 2015 Lineup featured CHVRCHES, Deerhunter, The National, deadmau5, The War on Drugs, Big Grams, and many more.
• Crowd control: They cap it at around 15,000 attendees which is WAY less than some of the larger festivals. Everything goes a whole lot quicker, and you can count on more space throughout the event.
• No overlapping sets: Yep! That means you can easily move from one set to the next without anyone missing out on their pick. The festival features one electronic/hip-hop and one indie music day, so if you can narrow down your taste in music to one of those genres, you should even be able to see all your favorites in one go!
• It’s affordable: It’s not cheap, but it is super reasonable compared to its festival friends! Single-day tickets start at $95, and two-day tickets sit right around $165. All admission includes a free shuttle from San Francisco. Tickets typically go on sale a couple of months before the festival.
• Slow to grow: The organizers of Treasure Island Music Festival (Noise Pop and Another Planet Entertainment) have been slow to grow and put a lot of thought into the planning. Not into the main act? Head to the silent disco or Ferris wheel instead! Rather than stuffing the festival with headliners, they’ve been careful about increasing the quality without scaling it up too much.
• Emphasis on carbon reduction: The team works to make everything from water bottle waste to festival transit more efficient. What’s not to like about that?

We went to Treasure Island to celebrate Daniel’s birthday and had all kinds of fun. Thinking about going? Check out some of our favorite photos from the 2015 Treasure Island Music Festival!

Have you ever been to a major music festival? What’s your favorite? Think one of the other San Francisco Music Festivals wins? Tell us about it in the comments below.