Radiohead, Jack Johnson headline Golden Gate Park Concert - (outside lands festival, golden gate park, outside lands, outside lands concert)

This looks like one amazing festival happening in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

Sixty-four bands, six stages, 60,000 concert-goers expected each day — that’s the gist of the inaugural Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival set for this Friday through Sunday in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

Somehow Golden Gate Park — from the heyday of Hippie Hill to the totally free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival — never really got in on the grand-scale festival business.

When Radiohead takes the stage at the inaugural Outside Lands Festival on Friday, Aug. 22, it’ll be the first time a band has played in a sanctioned performance after dark in the park.

“The headliners of the caliber of Radiohead and Tom Petty want to be able to play with their production and a large part of that production is lights,” said Allen Scott, vice president of Bay Area promoter Another Planet Entertainment. “To have a truly world-class festival you have to go into night.”

Three years in the making — the end result of dozens of meetings with city, park and neighborhood officials — the first “multi-day ticketed festival” ever held in the park is a joint venture between Another Planet and Bonnaroo promoter Superfly Presents, based in New Orleans.

Headliners Radiohead, Tom Petty and Jack Johnson top a 64-band lineup that lands all over the genre map: Beck, Wilco, Ben Harper and Primus give way to the international flavors of Café Tecuba and Manu Chao. Lyrics Born, Lupe Fiasco and The Mighty Underdogs put hip-hop on the bill. You want old-school? Steve Winwood keeps the ’60s and ’70s alive.

A quarter of the acts are local bands, with The Coup, Goapele, Sila & the Afrofunk Experience, Two Gallants, Sean Hayes all landing prized slots.

Instead of burgers and dogs, the gourmet spread taps local restaurants like Maverick, Eos and Gordo’s. The wine comes from 20 local wineries.

Jumping through hoops with park and city officials, promoters have worked out special deals with BART and Muni to provide plenty of rides to the festival.

“Radiohead was looking for opportunities like Outside Lands to play in a city proper and for them, public transportation was a very important element to where they were playing on tour this year,” said Scott.

But, getting back to the main draw — live outdoor music on parade all day (and night) — perhaps it was festival veteran Steve Winwood who summed it up best:

“I think the decline of the record industry in many ways is quite good for the health of music. Because I think it gives people other roots and other avenues to get their music across, such as festivals and live music.”