Olivia Rodrigo is turning a long-held idea into Daisy Chain Fields, a new one-day music festival she is launching at Great Park in Irvine, California, on August 29. The lineup is built entirely from female artists and female-fronted bands, and tickets go on presale Wednesday, June 24 at 1 p.m. EST.
Rodrigo revealed the plan in Pitchfork's latest zine and said she had wanted to do this for a really long time. She told Shaad D’Souza that it felt like her calling in some weird way, language that fits the way she has been talking about the event: not as a side project, but as something she has wanted to make real for years.
The appeal for fans is obvious. The inaugural lineup folds together Chappell Roan, Bikini Kill, Doechii, Mitski, the Breeders, Garbage, Katseye, Santigold and Rachel Chinouriri, with Not for Radio, Die Spitz, Quiet Light and Eli also on the bill. Stevie Nicks, Karen O and Sarah McLachlan are listed as special guests, giving the first edition of Daisy Chain Fields the kind of range that makes a new festival feel established before it has even happened.
The event is also carrying a clear purpose beyond the music. Rodrigo said she feels deeply connected to the young girls who come to her concerts and wants them to see other women supporting one another in something joyful, musical and community-oriented. Net profits from ticket sales will go to nonprofit organizations advancing and advocating for women and girls, but the artists have agreed not to take a profit from their performances, a reminder that the benefit is being routed through the tickets rather than the stage.
The festival draws direct inspiration from Lilith Fair, which puts Daisy Chain Fields in a familiar lineage while still making it Rodrigo's own. The unanswered piece now is how quickly demand will show up when presales open Wednesday; the lineup is public, the date is fixed and the charitable frame is set, so the first real test is whether fans treat this as a debut curiosity or the start of something larger.
