Photo: Robin Russell
This weekend’s first City Hearts Festival San Francisco was undoubtedly one of the funnest Sundays we’ve had in this fine city of ours in awhile. As the inaugural festival held by the legendary Desert Hearts crew in the city – a major step from their regular City Hearts shows events previously held at venues in SF like Public Works – it was a huge leap of faith from night to daytime and into a much larger space, and it worked out perfectly.
It was a beautiful, sunny day – weather that couldn’t have been more perfect for the situation – with the entire block shut down outside of The Great Northern. Sunday afternoon parties can often be a challenge when you’re dealing with the looming fear of work the next day, but this showed to be no problem for the DH crew. By midday, the block was packed with colorful costumes and personalities alike that emanated the same all-love, no-stress vibes we felt at the Desert Hearts Festival at Los Coyotes just a few weeks ago. From vendors and chill spaces to photo booths, new friends and more, it was a snippet of the culture we’ve always admired so much about the festival and their following.
With three stages pumping heavy sound for eight hours, the groove was nonstop from noon to 9pm both inside and outside. Marbs, Mikey Lion, Andreas Henneberg, Porky and Lee Reynolds kept the booty-bumping house music beats on the outdoor stage flowing into the sunset with a crowd that never wavered. Local legends like Rachel Torro and Benjamin K kept the inside’s main stage high-energy as well – no matter where you turned, you were able to find a beat that would keep you moving.
Walking away from the event after hours of nonstop dancing left us fulfilled and thrilled to dive into the rest of the week – a similar feeling to one that we found ourselves loving after leaving Desert Hearts Festival. This taste of the fantastic culture and top-notch music that the festival has regularly given SoCal year after year was a much-needed home base for a day for all of our Northern California Desert Hearts fans. We can only hope the crew will be back again soon!
