I was expecting a little bit of chaos, given that Dirtybird’s Back to Baysics rave was considered a follow-up to the massive Skrillex rave at Civic Center. I didn’t attend but saw pictures and a 25,000-person crowd, and it looked a bit overwhelming.
It turns out Back to Baysics wasn’t just an underground 20-somethings rave, retrofitted for daylight. It was an intentionally-well-lit party with less than one fifth the attendance of the Skrillex show. “There’s no security at all, you can just walk into the plaza,” Bayview native Marciano Pimental told me.
He was right. I saw very few security personnel, and the ones I did see were just enjoying the show like everyone else. That alone made a huge difference in the atmosphere. People were tossing bean bags at the cornhole set, dancing with hula hoops, and rockin’ colorful face paint designs — all adding to the intentionally childish spirit of the event.
A giant panda with pink paint sprayed on his or her face, a polar bear, and a dinosaur were dancing on stage. While disco balls hung above the DJ set could be considered obligatory decor at any rave, the glitter-filled inflatable beach balls in a constant state of levity above the crowd seemed novel and particularly daytimey.
There was a notable presence of families in attendance, reminiscent of the crowds you would see at Golden Gate Park. Kids who could barely hold their heads up were nestled against their parents’ chests with tiny pastel earmuffs. I imagine this was many a baby’s first rave.
“It reminds me of how San Francisco was when I was younger. People of all ages and backgrounds in the same place, just looking for a fun time,” Pimental said.
Toddlers were toddling, and being towed around by their parents. I can’t tell you how many 3-year-olds, perched on their dad’s shoulders, had a better vantage point than I was able to get. I love scenes like this because it shows me that the San Francisco genre of parenting is the kind where you continue to live your life, even after the fact.
The atmosphere felt safe and ultra-communal. When your job is to maneuver through crowds in packed venues, you’re used to getting shoved around and spilled on, but that didn’t happen once today. I think everyone was genuinely happy and feeling good about the state of their city and thankful to be experiencing something like this for free. I mean, who doesn’t like free things?
The event still had its share of interesting and unique personalities — and would we even be San Francisco without them? Many hands were occupied with beers or canned cocktails, but I didn’t actually see even one person who looked inebriated the entire day. This is its own, new genre of rave; and its shockingly wholesome.
DJ Deron Delgado and DJ Moody Jones opened the event, while DJ Sacha Robotti headlined with his eclectic music style that he turns up at major festivals like Burning Man and Coachella. Mz Worthy — one of the co-founders of Dirtybird — had her moment on the turntable and came out periodically during other sets to sprinkle the front rows with bubbles from 2 handheld bubble machines.
Mayor London Breed even made it to the stage to toss around a few of the glittery beach balls and get some playful facetime with her city.
For people like me who arrived in San Francisco post-pandemic and never experienced the city in its full, pre-COVID-19 swing, Back to Baysics fulfilled expectations that weren’t met on arrival — and it was worth the wait. It’s always exciting when mass-scale public events are announced, and today we basically just walked outside of our apartments into a free, daytime rave, organized by the promoters who do Outside Lands.
Courtney Muro is a San Francisco-based content strategist, producer, designer, and creator.
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More photos from Back to Baysics
All photos by Courtney Muro for The Bold Italic.
