San Francisco’s most gloriously untamed weekend just got a little wilder. Freak Nest Festival has stacked its August 22 and 23 return at PublicWorks with a new wave of additions, and if you had any doubt this 10-year anniversary revival was going to live up to its warehouse-era mythology, consider that doubt officially crumpled up and tossed into the mosh pit.

Leading the freshly announced batch is psych-rock institution Dead Meadow, whose fuzzed-out, slow-burn riffs feel practically hand-crafted for a Bay Area loft stage at golden hour. They’re joined by A-1, Falcons, Afterthought and The Top Chefs (as part of the Stoop Sessions showcase), Samson on DJ amp-up duty, and Baghead by way of the Sucka Free Collective. It’s the kind of stylistic whiplash Freak Nest was built for — and honestly, the only kind of lineup logic worth trusting.

Then there are the reunions. Bay Area heads, take a breath: Coo Coo Birds, Down Dirty Shake, and The Orange Peels are all dusting off the amps for special performances. The Orange Peels’ return is a particularly sweet moment, tying directly into a full Good Duck Records stage takeover. The artist-driven, community-led non-profit label — co-founded by Allen Clapp, now planting roots in the SF area — will roll deep with Mother Goat, The Housewives of St. John, Chasing Hues, PuZL, and The Orange Peels themselves, essentially staging a Virgin Islands-to-Bay-Area invasion of the loft stage across both days.

Keeping the hometown energy locked in, San Francisco hip-hop collective Family Not A Group (FNG) is bringing their beloved El Rio day party spirit over to PublicWorks for the weekend. Five years of Hip-Hop, R&B, and Bay Area Classics served up by actual Bay Areans — no gentrified imitations, thank you.

These artists join a headlining core that already includes SunSquabi, Sugar Candy Mountain, Shaheri, The Helltones, The Blank Tapes, Inspector Gadje, MJ’s Brass Boppers, Gaucho, Justin Waves, Belle and Chain, dustcollector, Michael Musika, Indianna Hale, Soundhoose, The Shimmering Leave, and The Jimmy Touzel Bluegrass Explosion, among many more. Three stages. Over forty acts. Balkan brass to deep house, hip hop to bluegrass, psych rock to New Orleans second line — plus live painting, art installations, projections, food, and dance performances weaving through the whole thing.

A little backstory for the uninitiated: the first Freak Nest went down in 2016 inside co-founder Taylor Lissandrello’s Dogpatch/Bayview warehouse, The Cave — a shoestring-budget, noon-to-midnight affair with marching bands parading through the crowd during set breaks. It was proof of concept for something bigger. A decade later, co-founder Matthias Wesner says the timing to bring it back was non-negotiable. “I got tired of watching the corporate takeover in the music and arts community and wanted to do something about it. So, we called all of our favorite bands from the Bay Area and beyond to put together something different.”

Get a taste of what Dead Meadow will be bringing to PublicWorks here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QzZfvbnRJc

Tickets are on sale now. Freak Nest Festival goes down August 22 and 23 at PublicWorks in San Francisco — grab yours before the warehouse folklore sells out from under you.