Kesha surprises fans with secret Presidio Tunnel Tops pop-up set

Fog, the Golden Gate Bridge and a few hundred tightly packed fans turned Presidio Tunnel Tops into something closer to a private club than a public park when Kesha staged a surprise set in the East Meadow last Friday night.

The pop-up arrived after Live Nation teased a secret show through Instagram and Partiful, then drew several hundred people to the 17,400-square-foot lawn above Crissy Field. Kesha played for about 30 minutes, mixing remixed versions of her hits with live vocals and the debut of a new song, Origami. Drag performers shared the stage, pop-up barricades kept the crowd contained and Kesha worked the decks in a floor-length cow-print fur coat while staying close enough for the audience to feel inside the performance rather than outside it.

What made the night feel unmistakably San Francisco was Kesha’s repeated claim that she was moving to the city, a line that set off cheers and gave the gathering a civic twist rare for a pop event. For a few minutes, a place designed as open public space became the city’s most improbable temporary venue, with the Golden Gate as a backdrop and the East Meadow’s reservable lawn space doing the work of a tiny amphitheater.

That choice of setting mattered. Presidio Tunnel Tops opened to the public on July 17, 2022, after two decades of park-making and waterfront transformation over the former military post. The 14-acre park experience was developed by the Presidio Trust, the National Park Service and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, with opening-season programming co-curated through the Presidio Activator Council. The East Meadow sits beside the Presidio Steps, Cliff Walk and Picnic Place, and the Trust says it can host up to 500 guests, making it one of the few places in San Francisco where a major pop star can stage a “secret” show without turning it into an arena event.

The park has quickly become a major civic landmark rather than a novelty attraction. By the time Outpost Meadow opened in 2025, the Presidio Trust said Tunnel Tops had already logged five million visits, a sign of how fast the site moved into the daily life of San Franciscans and visitors alike. The Presidio itself had served as an army post for three nations for 218 years before its reinvention as parkland.

Kesha’s Presidio stop also fit a larger promotional push. Her official tour page lists a May 27 concert at Toyota Pavilion at Concord with Chromeo and Sizzy Rocket, and Live Nation’s venue listing confirms the date and 7 p.m. start. With ORIGAMI! already appearing as a 2026 release on her official channels, the Tunnel Tops set looked less like a one-off stunt than a carefully timed preview, using one of San Francisco’s most recognizable public spaces to build momentum for the Bay Area run ahead.