Outside Lands 2025 Day 1: Doja Cat, Doechii, and Mannequin Pussy Set the Bar
Outside Lands came back to Golden Gate Park, and right away, it felt different. Friday’s lineup was so strong it could have carried a whole festival on its own. From the rush of Destroy Boys in the afternoon to the full-scale spectacle of Doja Cat at night, every set hit. By the end of the day, I realized I had just lived through the best single day I have ever had at a festival, the kind where everything lines up, and you remember why you keep showing up year after year.
Destroy Boys: Lands End Stage
Destroy Boys opened the main stage on Friday with a set that proved they’re ready for bigger platforms. From “Shadow (I’m Breaking Down)” into “Crybaby” and “Drink,” the Sacramento punks poured energy across the stage, with Violet Mayugba sprinting down the catwalk and Alexia Roditis stepping confidently into a co-lead role. The early-day crowd quickly thickened, and by mid-set, it already felt like a prime-time slot.
The band balanced ferocity with catchiness, hitting high points on “Should’ve Been Me” and “Muzzle” before closing with their chaotic anthem “I Threw Glass at My Friend’s Eyes” and “Now I’m on Probation.” Midway through, Roditis used the mic break to deliver a pointed message: “If somebody much older than you is hitting on you, that person is weird, and people their own age do not mess with them.” It was strikingly direct, a rare moment of candor at a festival set.
Controversy aside, Destroy Boys showed why their following keeps expanding. Their songs are sharp, their presence undeniable, and they set the tone for Day One with a jolt of pure punk adrenaline.
Mannequin Pussy: Lands End Stage
What started as a casual Friday crowd quickly shifted the moment Mannequin Pussy walked out. Within minutes, the band had Golden Gate Park in their grip, tearing through a set that felt less like a mid-afternoon slot and more like a coronation. By the end of the weekend, it was still one of the best performances I saw, proof that this band has outgrown the “rising act” label.
The Philadelphia quintet opened with “Sometimes” and didn’t let up, firing off “Everything,” “Softly,” “Loud Bark,” “I Got Heaven,” “Of Her,” “Aching,” “Perfect,” “Clams,” “OK? OK! OK? OK!,” “Pigs Is Pigs,” and “Romantic.” Their sound was sharp and punishing, but there was a warmth to the layers, a tension between hardcore grit and post-punk atmosphere that made every song feel both brutal and lush.
Near the end of the set, bassist Colins “Bear” Regisford stepped up to the mic while Missy slid over to bass, and the switch-up became one of the night’s standout moments. Bear’s lead carried a raw, unfiltered energy that deepened the intensity just before the set’s finale.
At the center of it all was Marisa “Missy” Dabice, who has quietly become one of the most stylish figures in rock. She came out in a shredded goddess dress that looked ripped from some secret couture runway, moving with exaggerated sensuality that felt part punk, part performance art. Onstage she blurred the line between punk show and runway, every move and outfit adding another layer to the spectacle. It is not hard to imagine her making waves in the fashion world if she ever wanted to.
The show wasn’t just about aesthetics. Dabice carved out space between songs to speak directly to the men in the crowd, challenging them to be better, and made a point to clarify she wasn’t a misandrist. Her commentary hit as hard as the feedback ringing off the amps. During “I Got Heaven,” the politics and the performance collided, and it became one of those rare festival moments where the air changes, and everyone knows they are seeing something bigger than just a band playing songs.
The last chords of “Romantic” hung in the air like smoke, leaving no doubt that Mannequin Pussy had just owned Day One and set a tone the rest of the weekend had to live up to.
Jessica Pratt : Sutro Stage
I was excited to head over to the Sutro Stage, one of the festival’s most beautiful settings. If you have never been, the stage sits tucked inside a eucalyptus-lined valley, creating a natural bowl where the sound floats through the trees. It is the kind of space where intimate, atmospheric performances often shine, and I thought Jessica Pratt’s dreamy, ethereal style would be a perfect fit.
Jessica has built a lot of momentum over the last couple of years, with a sound that feels almost transported from another time. Her voice carries a Laurel Canyon softness, delicate and haunting, the kind of tone that calls to mind Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star. The music itself is distinct though, a little bluesy, a little folk, and deeply textured.
That is why I thought Sutro would deliver a magical moment. But honestly, the performance fell flat.
From the start, the vibe felt off. Something was wrong with the sound mix. One of the guitar strings, either hers or one of her bandmates’, was buzzing loudly. You could hear it across the stage, and Jessica stopped several times mid-song to address it. Over and over, she halted the performance, apologizing and asking the crew to fix it. The repeated interruptions broke the flow completely and made it hard to stay immersed.
It also felt like Jessica was tense and unsettled on stage, which clashed with the natural magic of the setting. Maybe she was having a bad day. Maybe the tech issues just threw her off. It happens. But between the sound problems and the constant stopping and starting, I could not connect to the set the way I had hoped.
I wandered off after a few songs, disappointed, but I am choosing to give her the benefit of the doubt. In a different context, with a smoother setup and fewer distractions, I still think Jessica Pratt’s voice and sound could be stunning live. I will just hope to catch her again under better circumstances.
HeadCount Booth: Mission Area
After the Jessica Pratt letdown I wandered deeper into the festival and found myself in the Mission, the thoroughfare where Outside Lands gives nonprofits prime real estate to reach festival-goers. It is one of my favorite parts of the grounds because you can stumble into organizations doing real work.
HeadCount had reached out to me before the festival, and I was glad to find their booth. They are a nonprofit dedicated to registering voters and connecting young people, queers, and LGBTQ+ communities to civic engagement. Daniel and the staff greeted me with warmth and jumped right into a conversation about what is keeping queer folks from voting. Their answer was simple: trust. For many people, it is hard to trust elected officials or any authority figure at all. And for queer folks in particular, the bad taste of politics runs deep.
Lucille Wenegieme, HeadCount’s executive director, later followed up with this: “At HeadCount, we know that community is key to getting needs met, whether that’s practical resources or large scale change. One in 10 eligible voters, and one in four Gen Z voters, identify as LGBTQIA+. For some, there are barriers that make it harder to register to vote and cast their ballot. HeadCount’s Vote with Pride program supports queer communities with ways to get registered, update their voter registration, and secure necessary ID to participate civically. We’re excited to be back at Outside Lands to engage music fans in a city with a rich history of queer identity and activism.”
What I loved was the way their mission connects with so many overlapping issues: youth homelessness, addiction, domestic violence. These are problems you cannot fix with a single act of kindness, even though helping a friend in the moment matters too. Systems have to be rebuilt, and organizations like HeadCount are trying to shift the structure itself so that people have something to fall back on long term.
Also, their booth was fun. Fans, pins—a bright presence in the middle of the chaos. It was a reminder that activism at a festival does not have to be boring. Sometimes it can be a little glamorous too.
FVCKERS: Panhandle Stage
From the Mission area it was only a short walk to the Panhandle Stage, tucked just beyond the nonprofit booths. After regrouping from Jessica Pratt and stopping by HeadCount, I made my way over to catch FVCKERS. The Panhandle is the smallest of the four main stages, but often the most rewarding. It is the spot where you can get up close to new artists or bands that feel a little too wild for the bigger fields. I only had time for three songs before heading back across the park for the the first of the day’s headliners, but those three songs were worth every step.
Fvckers came out swinging with a sharp, high-energy set that felt like being dropped straight into the late 2000s electroclash era. Think The Rapture, Justice, and DFA-style disco-punk vibes colliding with punchy beats and live instrument layers that made everything feel bigger and rawer than a standard DJ set. The energy was infectious and their sound had that textured, gritty quality that pulls you in fast.
The band fully committed to their aesthetic, rocking matching Adidas pants and Charli XCX-style shades. The lead singer spent the entire set holding a small beach ball without ever tossing it into the crowd, which somehow made the whole thing even more chaotic and weirdly intimate. It fit the playful, unpredictable energy of the performance.
I missed Fvckers at Portola Festival last year and regretted it, so I am glad I caught at least part of this set. Their music is fun, sweaty, and layered in a way that reminds me why dance floors used to feel magical. My only gripe is that some of the tracks ran a little long, looping on and on until I started glancing at the food stalls and debating a Korean corn dog. Still, the payoff was worth it. Next time, I am staying for the entire set.
Doechii: Lands End Stage
Even in daylight, Doechii arrived at Lands End with the gravity of a headliner. She built her set like theater: a two-story boombox, a sliding DJ booth where DJ Miss Milan peeked in and out, and dancers who moved between ballroom sharpness and b-boy explosiveness. It felt less like a festival slot and more like a world of her own design.
Her Miu Miu wardrobe extended the fiction. The uniforms suggested prep school, but every detail undercut the idea of discipline. Flashes of white briefs, exaggerated tailoring, and choreographed slips of camp turned authority into something both comic and commanding.
The structure was strict. She leaned on Alligator Bites Never Heal and arranged the set like a curriculum. The opening trio, “Stanka Pooh,” “Bullfrog,” and “Boiled Peanuts,” placed her swamp-born Southern identity front and center. Standing on a classroom desk to rap over East Coast-leaning production, she announced herself as both student and professor. Later, “Nissan Altima” and a snarling cover of Beyoncé’s “America Has a Problem” expanded the syllabus into satire, folding pop into parody.
The middle of the set became its most theatrical stretch. “Alter Ego” unfolded with parasols and stylized spins, closer to performance art than a standard festival number. “Persuasive” folded in a sly nod to Daft Punk, while “Spookie Coochie” and “Nosebleeds” collided eros with aggression. “Crazy” functioned as a hinge point, paired with a costume change that reset the mood.
By the time she arrived at “Anxiety,” delivered as a hushed near-ballad, the show had flipped its own logic. Tracks that were heavy on record turned light, while the gentler songs grew sharper and more volatile.
She skipped “What It Is,” the single that broke her to radio, and the absence felt deliberate. This was not a victory lap but an intentionally curated piece of performance art. It was a recalibration, a demonstration of the kind of artist she intends to be.
Then came rupture. Spotting Palestinian flags in the crowd, she called “More peace y’all, no more” and “Free Palestine.” For a moment the set’s choreography collapsed into something unplanned, political, and urgent.
The performance lasted under an hour but carried the density of something longer, compressed by costume changes, pyrotechnics, and carefully plotted segues. If it sometimes felt exhausting, that was also the point. Doechii is staging herself as both spectacle and critique, pop star and dramaturg. Watching it made her recent cancellations make sense. To sustain this level of intensity would require downtime most festival calendars do not allow.
Her set left the rest of the weekend chasing her energy, proof that Outside Lands’ biggest story started before sunset.
Doja Cat: Lands End Stage
Doja Cat ended the first day of Outside Lands by stepping into character. She appeared in a zebra-striped bodysuit, platinum mullet wig, and spiked belts that evoked both Tina Turner and a cartoon villain. It was fashion as theater, a visual manifesto for her current concept era.
The performance opened with “Woman,” a warm invitation that doubled as a reminder of her deep catalog. The first stretch of the set leaned on recognizable crowd-pleasers: “Get Into It (Yuh),” “Talk Dirty,” and the live debut of “Jealous Type.” Midway she cycled into harder cuts like “Rules,” “Juicy,” and “Boss Bitch,” songs that carried both humor and menace. The final run was built for catharsis, with “Need to Know,” “Kiss Me More,” “Say So,” “Agora Hills,” and “Paint the Town Red” detonating back to back before a surprise encore of “Wet Vagina.”
The staging kept the spotlight squarely on her. A live band was stationed on a raised platform, though the cameras rarely acknowledged them. Instead the attention stayed fixed on Doja’s constant shifts in persona. She smoked a cigarette in sunglasses during “Demons,” exaggerated cartoonish expressions for “Juicy,” and treated “Agora Hills” with an unusual restraint. Her face carried as much of the show as her voice, a reminder that she knows how to play the festival camera as well as the mic.
Production amped the spectacle. Pyrotechnics shot off between “Demons” and “Tia Tamera,” fireworks capped the encore, and her command of the stage alternated between high platform and floor level. The design emphasized isolation, a single figure holding court. Tyler, the Creator would headline the next night with a different kind of minimalism, but Doja’s felt theatrical rather than stripped down.
The depth of her catalog became undeniable as one hit followed another. Far from feeling repetitive, the succession of singles highlighted her versatility and her ability to shift between rap, R&B, and pop with ease. The flow of the set underscored why she is increasingly spoken of in the same breath as Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, and Cardi B. She is one of the rare performers who can move across genres without losing her identity, a true singer, rapper, and pop star at once.
She closed with fireworks and a sense of finality. Day one had already peaked hours earlier, but Doja Cat ended it with scale, confidence, and a reminder of her staying power. It was less about reinvention than consolidation, proof that she now belongs in the conversation with pop’s most enduring performers.
Day one of Outside Lands ended the way it began, with music that felt larger than the moment. From Destroy Boys tearing open the main stage to Doechii bending form in the daylight and Doja Cat shutting it all down in fireworks, the lineup never lost its grip. I have been to a lot of festivals, but this Friday still stands as the strongest single day I have ever experienced. It was the kind of day that reminds you why people chase these weekends in the first place.
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