Although this weekend is dominated by Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (FREE FREE FREE), there are a ton of other great options (musical and otherwise) if kicking it in the park with thousands of your closest friends isn’t you’re thing.

Thursday
Ry Cooder and co (remember him?!) will be at the Great American Music Hall for a couple of days.

Friday
Icelandic invasion! If you couldn’t get enough of Ómar Ragnarsson winning the Seacology Prize on Thursday, don’t worry—everyone’s favorite Icelandic act since Bjork is back. Sigur Ros brings their brand of dreamy rock to the Greek theater in Berkeley.

Festival wise, HSB kicks off with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss and more

Saturday
Bluegrass gets going in the a.m. You'll need sunscreen or umbrellas, and maybe both. Make sure to check out the JayHawks, the Gourds, Three Girls & Their Buddy (Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin & Buddy Miller), Dave Alvin, and many, many more.

Since the festival shows ends early you have plenty of time to check out the West, Wester, Westest opening at the Fecal Face Gallery, before hitting the dance floor to see locals Tussle shake it at Million Fishes (do not be put off by their description as a "Hyphy/ minimalist Jam Band", we’re not even totally sure what that means, but basically they are good and super danceable (listen here). Or you can wear your SF indie pride (musical) on your sleeve and check out local darlings Deerhof.

Sunday
Bectha thought we were going to say Bluegrass? Fine, there it is. Noteworthy acts today include Iron and Wine, Ben Kweller, Elvis Costello, Iris Dement, and well, a gazillion others.
If you’ve got a little life in you yet, Cut Copy (so good, so good) will coax the very last ounce of dancing out.

Or, if you are needing to um, recover, from the festival, Iron and Wine is playing a solo set at Bimbo’s

Monday
Yes, we do believe in five day weekends. It's just the way this city rolls. Stars are at the Fillmore.