When I first saw the poster for Olivia Rodrigo’s inaugural Daisy Chain Fields festival in June, I assumed it was AI. Chappell Roan, Doechii, Mitski, the Breeders, Bikini Kill and Garbage, all arranged in a neat line – and this was before I got to the words “special guests”. Karen O, Sarah McLachlan.
And, to top it all off, Stevie Nicks? I saw the post confirmed on Rodrigo’s Instagram, and thought: how? According to Shirley Manson, the Garbage singer, Rodrigo called up every act one by one.
Rodrigo has earned the regard of some of the world’s most respected musicians partly for this reason: she had a feature with Robert Smith on her latest album You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love and has dueted with The Smashing Pumpkins and Sheryl Crow. Which brings us to the lineup of the summer: a string of major coups assembled for Rodrigo’s intergenerational celebration and first festival, Daisy Chain Fields. The one-day event will take place on 29 August at the Great Park in Irvine, California, bringing together an unusually broad assembly of women spanning Rodrigo’s influences, both new and lifelong.
There is no competitive element or hierarchy among the acts: no two sets will overlap, and on the poster, every name appears in the same typeface and font size, no matter how established or fresh the act. Eli is one of the festival’s most obviously new-generation additions, her name listed on the poster between Doechii and Garbage. Daisy Chain Fields is her first festival.
Eli had no idea Rodrigo was a fan until Rodrigo called her herself on a video call. She was driving home from a writing session when Rodrigo FaceTimed her, forcing her to pull over. On an equally sincere note, Eli said she was “completely blown away by the heart of her efforts and inspired by the depths of her intentions to stand for something: women’s rights and peace on Mother Nature’s globe”.
One hundred per cent of Daisy Chain Fields’ net proceeds will be distributed among organizations including Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights, while reproductive-rights education and non-profit activations will be spotted throughout the festival site. Daisy Chain Fields belongs to a lineage of female-led music festivals that have tried to raise money for female-focused causes while correcting a stubborn gender imbalance across festival lineups – one that has always existed, and still does. (A 2025 report from Book More Women found that women accounted for just 21.6% of headliners across nine major music festivals.) In 1976, second-wave feminists and lesbian separatists founded The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, which combined an all-women lineup with educational workshops and health services. But Rodrigo’s most direct model for Daisy Chain is Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair, the hugely successful touring festival McLachlan launched in 1997 as a showcase for women in music.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
