Olivia Rodrigo turned a private idea into a public debut on Aug. 29, launching Daisy Chain Fields at Great Park in Irvine, California, and drawing 45,000 fans to an all-women festival built in Sarah McLachlan's image. McLachlan, who created Lilith Fair as a traveling festival for women in the late 1990s, gave Rodrigo her immediate blessing for the new event.
The scale gave the launch its weight. Rodrigo headlined a lineup that included Chappell Roan, Doechii, Bikini Kill, Garbage, the Breeders, Mitski and Not for Radio, then brought Alanis Morissette out for Ironic, Stevie Nicks out for Landslide and McLachlan herself onstage, turning the night into a generational handoff as much as a concert. For Rodrigo, it was also a rare opening for a festival with a purpose: it raised $10 million for nonprofit organizations benefiting women and girls, and Melinda French Gates doubled that sum to $20 million.
That matters because McLachlan had spent nearly 30 years telling fans Lilith Fair was over. She said last year that she was too old for it and that, if it ever happened again, it should come from someone young enough to make it something different. Rodrigo said she had wanted to do the festival for a few years, and when she nervously called McLachlan while, as she put it, huddling by her fireplace and feeling really cold, she was met not with hesitation but with joy and elation in an instant.
Rodrigo later said she was over the moon to receive McLachlan's support, and McLachlan said, Hallelujah! Someone is finally taking the torch and carrying it forward. The unanswered part is how far Rodrigo plans to push that torch now that Daisy Chain Fields has already proved there is still room for an all-women festival that can fill a field, bridge generations and move real money to the groups it names.
