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SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - San Francisco is bracing for big crowds as the Outside Lands music festival gets underway Friday night.
They're expecting 210,000 people over the course of the three days. About half of those people come from outside the Bay Area, which organizers say means they're pumping money into the local economy.
It's a sellout crowd. In fact, tickets went in under 45 minutes, so if you weren't quick, you were out of luck.
"We were not going to miss it. We were going to do whatever it took to get here," says Esther Vasquez who is attending as part of her bachelorette party.
And with 70,000 people expected each day, physically getting there took some perseverance too.
"It was a pain. It was kinda hard to figure out the BART and Muni system but once we got here that's all that's important. It took two hours, yeah two hours to get here," says Mike Corbin.
But festival-goers say it's worth it.
Headliners include Elton John, Mumford and Sons, The Black Keys, Sam Smith and Kendrick Lamar. And with seven stages, that's just a fraction of the list.
"It's really spread out, I feel like I'm going to get lost. But we've got plenty of hydration," says Tanya Simbra, pointing to her wine.
"I think a big part of this festival is... I think the music is great but I think the atmosphere is just as good too," says Larry Yang.
Alongside the music, you'll find gourmet everything at Choco Lands, Cheese Lands, Beer Lands, Wine Lands and even an area called GastroMagic.
There’s even mini-golf available for concertgoers.
The festival is now using high tech RFID-enabled wristbands instead of paper tickets to reduce counterfeiting. Police say so far, there have only been a handful of reports of people receiving fake bands.
"If there's anyone out here trying to sell you paper tickets, it's absolutely fake. We would also caution you -- anyone who's selling wristbands out here to not purchase them because they can be counterfeit as well," said Officer Grace Gatpandan, spokeswoman for the San Francisco Police Department.
Wristbands can be loaded with money in lieu of cash. "So there's no lines waiting for tickets or a cup or anything like that. So it's made it a faster process," says Peter Eastlake, curator of Wine Lands.
Organizers said Outside Lands brings $80 million to the local economy. And San Francisco Recreation and Park says it gets important revenue from the festival.
Over the years, the event as brought $10.7 million to the department.
"It's about $2 million a year, and it keeps all our programs, recreation programs going, (and) scholarship fund robust. It funds gardeners and custodians," said Phil Ginsburg, General Manager, SF Recreation and Park Department.
"One year the two girls went and told me all about it and I said, ok let's all go together. So this is our fifth year going," says Jill Stephens who is attending with her family.
"I think the best part is that it’s in my home city and I'm with my friends, but obviously the music is amazing too. And there's so many good headliners and sub headliners that I'm really excited to see," says Franny Arnautou.
As of about 9 p.m. Friday police said there had been 1 arrest and 36 citations.
This is the fifth consecutive year Outside Lands has had a sellout crowd.