Stern Grove Festival Partners with Punchup Technologies Launching a Seamless Summer 2025 Ticketing Experience
(San Francisco, CA) — Stern Grove Festival is proud to publicly debut its new partnership with Punchup Technologies, whose innovative ticketing platform, Tixologi, successfully powered the launch of the Festival’s Summer 2025 season.
This year, Stern Grove made a pivotal shift in how tickets are requested, claimed, and distributed, adopting Tixologi’s lottery-based ticketing system designed to promote fairness, accessibility, and transparency. The result: a dramatically smoother and more equitable experience for music lovers across the Bay Area and beyond.
In the lottery’s first weekend the platform handled over 55,000 ticket requests—all without a single disruption. This milestone underscores the power and resilience of Tixologi’s infrastructure in meeting high demand without compromising user experience.
“Our goal has always been to make amazing musical performances available to the public for free,” says Bob Fiedler, Executive Director of Stern Grove Festival. “By partnering with Punchup Technologies and using Tixologi, we’ve taken a major leap forward in ensuring everyone has an equal opportunity to attend, without the frustration of crashing websites or competing with bots.”
Tixologi’s proprietary technology not only supports high-demand onsales without the infrastructure failures of prior years but also features advanced fraud prevention tools that detect and block bots and scalpers—ensuring tickets reach genuine fans.
“Our platform was built to restore trust in the ticketing process,” says Danny Frenkel, Punchup’s CEO. “Stern Grove’s mission aligns perfectly with ours, and we’re honored to support their incredible summer lineup with a system that puts the audience first.”
From June 15 through August 17, music lovers of all ages are invited to enjoy Stern Grove Festival’s ten-week summer concert series, featuring a lineup as diverse and dynamic as San Francisco itself. Concerts take place on nine consecutive Sunday afternoons, culminating in The Big Picnic Weekend on August 16 and 17, which features back-to-back performances on both Saturday and Sunday. As a beloved institution in San Francisco’s cultural landscape, Stern Grove continues to innovate in how it serves the community. This partnership with Punchup Technologies and the deployment of Tixologi is the latest example of its commitment to delivering unforgettable experiences to all.
STERN GROVE FESTIVAL - 2025 LINEUP
- June 15: The California Honeydrops + The Dip
- June 22: Channel Tres + ASTU
- June 29: Sleater-Kinney + Destroy Boys
- July 6: San Francisco Symphony with Special Guest Taimane
- July 13: Phantogram + Ha Vay
- July 20: Girl Talk + Chromeo
- July 27: Orville Peck + Jaime Wyatt
- August 3: Michael Franti & Spearhead + Black London
- August 10: The Pointer Sisters + Lyrics Born
- August 16: Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley & Stephen Marley (Big Picnic Weekend Day 1)
- August 17: Diana Ross (Big Picnic Weekend Day 2)
For more information and lottery info, visit https://www.sterngrove.org/lineup
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Stern Grove Festival is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to making live music accessible to all. A beloved San Francisco tradition for 88 years, the festival has welcomed over five million guests to experience world-class performances in a breathtaking outdoor setting—completely free of charge. Each summer, Stern Grove Festival presents an eclectic lineup of Grammy winners, Rock & Roll Hall of Famers, and rising stars, with past artists including Chaka Khan, Herbie Hancock, The Flaming Lips, The Isley Brothers, Smokey Robinson, Janelle Monáe, Masego, Kool & The Gang, Lyle Lovett, Ziggy Marley, Fitz and The Tantrums, and many more. Committed to accessibility, artistic excellence, and community, Stern Grove Festival continues to unite generations through the power of live music.
Media Contact:
Molly Fremgen
Marketing Director
mfremgen@sterngrove.org
Punchup Live is the premier digital destination for live comedy, offering audiences a vibrant mix of stand‑up, improv, musical comedy and specials alongside exclusive content from today’s top performers. With powerful show discovery tools and seamless ticket purchasing built right into the platform, Punchup Live makes discovering and attending live shows easier than ever.
Founded by former Meta executive Danny Frenkel and Meta/Apple Software Engineer Alex Dajani, Punchup Live is transforming the comedy ecosystem—connecting comedians directly with their fans, empowering artists to navigate their careers independently with minimal censorship, and providing in‑depth analytics to help them share their voice or increase their audience. By uniting creators and audiences in one dynamic space, Punchup Live is redefining how live entertainment is experienced in the digital age.
Tixologi, acquired by Punchup, is a standalone, fully customizable ticketing platform that event producers can deploy for any ticketed experience. Whether you’re hosting comedy, concerts, conferences or community meet‑ups, Tixologi lets you build your brand and grow your community—while putting you in complete control to sell more tickets.
MJ Brackin
