Kesha surprises fans at Presidio Tunnel Tops, says she is moving to San Francisco

Kesha turned the Presidio’s East Meadow into an unexpected pop stage Friday night, drawing several hundred fans to Tunnel Tops for a short DJ-driven set and telling the crowd she is moving to San Francisco.

The performance, tied to Live Nation’s Summer of Live promotion, landed with the force of a city in on the joke and in on the moment. Live Nation teased the event only a day earlier, and the surprise helped pack the foggy, blustery waterfront park with fans who came for a rare intimate appearance from a major star.

Kesha mixed remixed versions of her hits with new material, including a debut of a song called “Origami.” She also altered the opening line of “TiKToK” during the set and performed alongside Bay Area act MGNA CRRRTA and drag performers. Live Nation streamed the show on YouTube, widening a scene that felt local even as it reached far beyond San Francisco.

The setting mattered as much as the music. Presidio Tunnel Tops opened to the public on July 17, 2022, after a 20-year transformation of the Presidio’s waterfront, adding 14 acres to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The project raised more than $98 million and was designed as a place where visitors could escape urban stress without leaving the city, with overlooks, gardens, picnic areas, paths, a campfire circle and a playscape.

That made Kesha’s appearance feel like more than a promo stop. It put a downtown-caliber spectacle in a place built for families, walkers and visitors under the Golden Gate Bridge, and it reinforced how the Presidio has become one of San Francisco’s clearest symbols of civic reinvention. The opening-season programming was co-curated by the Presidio Activator Council, bringing together the Presidio Trust, National Park Service and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy to shape what the space could be beyond a scenic overlook.

Kesha’s Presidio stop also arrived just ahead of her 2026 Freedom Tour, which begins May 23 and includes a Bay Area date at Toyota Pavilion at Concord on May 27. For fans who caught the Tunnel Tops set, the surprise served as both a preview and a declaration that San Francisco may be getting a new celebrity neighbor.