Northern Nights, one of California’s most beautiful summer music festivals, announced Thursday that it has partnered with Dirtybird, a record label founded in San Francisco, for this year’s three-day EDM party under the redwoods. The festival will be held July 18-20 at Cook’s Valley Campground on the Mendocino-Humboldt county line.
Both Northern Nights and Dirtybird have “summer camp for grownups” vibes, so the collaboration is a natural fit.
The 12-year-old Northern Nights, which draws 5,000 or more people to the Eel River every summer, was the first music festival to allow the on-site sale of cannabis. The 20-year-old Dirtybird, which developed out of a series of impromptu barbecues in Golden Gate Park, is perhaps best known for its multiday Dirtybird Campout, which ran from the 2010s until 2022, when the final event was held outside Modesto. The collaboration is a return of the campout experience in many ways.
“To mark 20 years of Dirtybird, we knew bringing back the Dirtybird Campout experience was a must. While many festivals are canceling due to rising costs, we sought a partner who shares our values of what a festival experience should be, and we’re doing it bigger than ever,” label manager Deron Delgado said in a statement. “Northern Nights is a perfect choice. Their vision aligns seamlessly with ours.”
Dirtybird grew out of a loose collective of house and techno DJs and producers led by Claude VonStroke, and the atmosphere at Campout was a freewheeling one, with unsanctioned “renegade” stages blasting dance music until the wee hours. San Francisco-based Empire Distribution purchased the label in 2022.
In contrast to increasingly corporatized affairs like Coachella that attract hundreds of thousands of revelers but come with strict noise ordinances and phalanxes of PR reps, the much smaller Northern Nights takes place in a rural area, where revelers can be as loud as they want and party into the wee hours.
The 2025 Northern Nights lineup has not been announced. However, tickets are already on sale, with GA wristbands selling for $330 and VIP entry priced at $536.
In the face of rising costs, many California festivals have folded. Last year was particularly bleak. In 2024 alone, the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, the Lucidity Festival, and the Bésame Mucho Festival — which Shakira was set to headline — all canceled, as did Oakland’s Hiero Day.
Locally, however, there have been bright spots — many of which involve Dirtybird. For instance, San Francisco partnered with the label last July on a rave that took place along the Embarcadero. Meanwhile, Empire Distribution signaled that it is committing to San Francisco by purchasing the 100,000-square foot building 1 Montgomery St. in the Financial District.
- Date and time
- July 18-20
- Price
- $330-$536