DJ LadyRyan ready to thrill sold-out Stern Grove Festival crowds

SAN FRANCISCO — Thousands of music fans are ready for a summer of Sundays at Stern Grove in San Francisco with the Bay Area’s longest-running music festival expected to host packed and enthusiastic crowds at the iconic venue. 

Ticket reservations for the June 19th concert headlined by Bay Area indie electronic-dance artist Toro Y Moi sold out in 30 minutes.

For popular local DJ LadyRyan, performing on the Stern Grove stage will be a full circle moment on Sunday. 

She remembers attending the festival 20 years ago. 

“I almost want to say it’s kind of similar. It’s the culture of the Bay Area, bringing your food and your games, I’d bring dominos, we’d lay our blanket out, and the music is incredible. The smell of the eucalyptus trees is very memorable,” she explained. “But also, just the culture of chatting with your neighbors and making new friends.”

In addition to her long-standing residencies at popular clubs and events over the last 15 years, DJ LadyRyan spins for the Golden State Warriors. This Sunday, she’ll be warming up a crowd of 10,000. 

“This particular artist, Toro y Moi, is super groovy, so it’s kind of like a good opportunity to get very eclectic with the music. Play some good indie music, as well as some nostalgia to bring everyone together,” said LadyRyan.

Toro Y Moi — aka singer and producer Chaz Bear — recently released his seventh album Mahal to wide acclaim. Oakland band Hello Yello — who blend punk, grunge, emo and hip hop — will also perform. 

“We hope that again this likely will appeal to a little different demographic and again we hope that it’s exciting,” said Stern Grove Festival Executive Director Bob Fiedler. “We intentionally program a different genre of music every single week to try to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.”

The festival said it deliberately chose more Bay Area headliners than it would normally showcase to celebrate its 85th season. 

Beyond the first day that reservations are open to the public, Stern Grove makes an additional small batch of tickets available for Flash Friday the same week they are originally released. More reservations are typically released every single day all the way up to the concert date. 

Follow the Stern Grove Twitter account to get tipped off about ticket availability or get more information at the Stern Grove website.