As senior Zhan Ng strolled across Golden Gate Park, heavy bass accompanying an intricate melody caught his attention. He began bobbing his head to the soft rock music, immersing himself into a crowd of fans, while humming along to “Keep Going” by the Revivalists on a summer evening.

Ng bought a $135 one-day pass for Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival on Aug. 7. Outside Lands is an outdoor music festival that includes more than 60 musical acts from around the world performing for roughly 50,000 people in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. This year’s lineup included popular artists and bands such as Sam Smith, Kendrick Lamar and Mumford and Sons.

When Ng arrived at the festival, he was amazed by the impressive variety of musicians. Although Ng originally came to see an indie rock band called Glass Animals, he ended up liking four or five other performances by artists he had never heard before.

“I never knew I wanted to listen to The Revivalists,” Ng said. “But I stopped by to listen, and thought, man, this is the best.”

As opposed to a solo concert, which only includes one artist or band and one style of music, Outside Lands exposes  a whole spectrum of music artists to its attendees, from pop legends like Elton John to garage rock bands like The Black Keys.

“These music festivals are a great way to see bands that you wouldn't necessarily have a chance to see alone,” said senior Ankitha Sarvesh, who also attended the festival.

Sarvesh also loved Glass Animals’ performance.

She said she probably wouldn’t have gone to see the band in a solo concert, but she liked  to their performance at Outside Lands.

When the band began playing “Gooey,” one of its most popular songs, Sarvesh realized just how amazing the group is  live.

“[It was] literally the best thing ever,” Sarvesh said. "They were so into their performance, and just as good live as they are on their albums, if not better.”

As impressive as the lineup was, it was the people who made Outside Lands such an amazing experience for Ng.

Ng, who considers himself to be an outgoing person, occasionally strikes up conversations with strangers. People at Outside Lands, however, responded to him in a new way. Ng said that when he talks to some people who don’t know him, they seem reluctant to converse. But at Outside Lands, he could strike up a random conversation with a stranger, and no matter who it was or where they came from, it would be a great moment they had shared.

“Everyone’s together, everyone’s open to anything,” Ng said. “For music, for arts or for food, Outside Lands is a community.”