Fans relish in success of Skrillex, Fred Again.. rave; Illenium coming to San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO - A massive dance party took over the heart of downtown San Francisco on Saturday. 

Tickets to the rave, featuring two of the most popular DJs and producers in the business, Skrillex and Fred Again.., sold out instantly days ahead of the event. The turnout perhaps also proved the demand for more music and entertainment in San Francisco. 

If you weren't at Civic Center Plaza on Saturday, you could hear the show across the city, even see it from high up, blocks away in downtown San Francisco.

"I go to a lot of shows, and I've never had a pop-up rave concert like that, and I feel like everyone in this area was just into it - just the energy around the concert, it was just great," said attendee and Vallejo resident Eddie Molina. 

Molina was among 25,000 fans who packed Civic Center Plaza, just a week after Skrillex, who grew up in San Francisco, announced the surprise rave on X.

Molina said the show injected some necessary energy into the city. 

"It hasn't been what it used to be, and it gets a bad rap, but the city's alive and well," he said. "But there's a lot of people that want to come out here and want to have a good time and this is just an example of what it potentially could be."

Travis Hitt and Gabby Horner flew in from Denver, Colorado for the rave. 

"I don't even know how they did it, to have the permits for this," said Hitt, citing the impressive production. 

"I think there's been a lot of up-and-coming things with San Francisco and cleaning up the city, so hopefully it just continues to do that, bring people back," added Horner. 

Though the rave appeared spontaneous, San Francisco Rec and Parks said Another Planet Entertainment initially applied for a special event application on February 23, 2024. 

"Another Planet worked incredibly hard to put on this successful large-scale event in such a short amount of time, and we’re so grateful for their partnership. This event brought an influx of people to downtown, benefitting local businesses, hotels, and restaurants, providing a boost to our local economy," said SF Rec and Park communications manager Daniel Montes in a statement to KTVU. 

Outta Sight Pizza, located within walking distance of City Hall in the Tenderloin, said it didn't see a huge influx of customers, though like many businesses, it closed in the early evening. 

"It's cool that that one was outside, because even if you couldn't get a ticket, you could still kind of enjoy the experience, you could obviously hear the music, it was incredibly loud," said general manager John Hill. 

Nearby Philz Coffee was prepared with more staff and ingredients, based on increased foot traffic from past concerts at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. 

"We were anticipating a big rush, maybe around 3 to 4, but it never really happened," said Team Lead Daniel Mai.

Fresh off the success of the rave, Another Planet Entertainment just announced four shows, featuring Illenium at nearby Bill Graham in July. The DJ went to high school in San Francisco.  Ticket pre-sales begin on Thursday, starting at around $70.