Sunday Night Worship at the Afters

Sunday Night Worship at the Afters
Fatboy Slim with Riria
The Midway (888 Garage)
San Francisco
September 27, 2026

As the Portola Festival wound down on Sunday night, ravers flooded the streets headed home, while diehards swam against the tide, packing into the sold-out Fatboy Slim set at The Midway (which was also hosting German DJ and singer-songwriter HorsegiirL in a separate space). Tokyo-born DJ Riria whetted the crowd’s appetite to party on with some London-flavored club grooves. But promptly at 11:30 p.m., Fatboy Slim—who’s been serving up better living through beats since 1995—took the stage to screams and raised hands. Portola gets around 45,000 music fans, whereas the 888 Garage space squeezes in some 1200 people. The vibe was fitting: it felt like Daft Punk playing at your house.

Can’t go to Ibiza? Let Fatboy Slim bring Ibiza to you. Having played a 90-minute Saturday set at Portola’s Crane Stage, he kept the party going late Sunday into early Monday morning. Dressed in a tropical-themed shirt, he kicked things off with his own track, “Praise You,” from his 1998 album, You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby. A Fatboy Slim DJ set is a pastiche of sounds, and it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Waving his hands at the crowd, jumping barefoot on a platform and striking poses, mouthing along to his own samples—he threw in everything from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Jaydee to a hundred other bits and bobs. The crowd ate it up for a praiseworthy 2-hour-plus set. Trailing out of the warehouse at 2 a.m., gearing up for a harsh Monday morning, the vibe was a satisfying comedown from a weekend of Eat, sleep, rave, repeat.

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