Suki Waterhouse headlines Stern Grove this Sunday for free — but the lottery closed June 21 and that Reddit ticket offer won't get you through the gate. Here's how to actually show up.

Suki Waterhouse headlines the Stern Grove Festival this Sunday, July 26, with doors at noon and the show at 2:00 p.m. at Sigmund Stern Recreation Grove, 19th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard, San Francisco. Opening acts are Charlotte Lawrence and KEXP DJ Cheryl Waters; the DJ set runs at 1:00 p.m., per sterngrove.org. The show is free — and, as of the lottery closing on June 21, sold out.

That Reddit post offering spare tickets? Skip it. The festival's official entry policy is unambiguous: every attendee needs a ticket obtained through the Stern Grove lottery, and "tickets from a third-party will not be accepted," per sterngrove.org.

Waterhouse is the London-born indie-pop songwriter behind "Good Looking," which earned nearly a billion streams and went RIAA platinum, according to her Stern Grove artist bio. Her 2024 Sub Pop album Memoir of a Sparklemuffin drew praise from the LA Times, Interview Magazine, and SPIN; she's played Coachella and Lollapalooza, opened for Taylor Swift and Laufey, and signed to Island Records in 2025. Her newest single, "Back in Love," is the first preview of a forthcoming album. Stern Grove's natural eucalyptus amphitheater holds 10,000 people.

If you have an official ticket: The queue opens at 10:00 a.m., two hours before gates, and fans reliably line up early for prime lawn spots. There is no public parking lot and street parking is scarce; MUNI is the move. Take the M Ocean View or K Ingleside Muni Metro to St. Francis Circle — one block east of the main 19th and Sloat entrance — or bus lines 23-Monterey or 28-19th Avenue, which stop right at 19th and Sloat. From BART: transfer to MUNI M or K at Civic Center, Bus 23 at Glen Park, or Bus 28 at Daly City. Free bike valet runs 11:00 a.m. until an hour after the show ends, at 21st and Wawona. A second GA entrance at 23rd Ave and Wawona offers a shorter line if 19th and Sloat has backed up. Pre-show there's coffee, breakfast, and a bar while you wait for the meadow to open.

No ticket: Catch the free livestream at sterngrove.org. The festival notes entry is "subject to venue capacity and safety guidelines" — which leaves a narrow theoretical walk-in possibility if capacity isn't hit — but there is no announced standby line for this show.

If I had two hours and an official ticket, I'd try the 23rd and Wawona entrance, grab a coffee from the pre-show bar, and get on the lawn well before the 1:00 p.m. DJ set.