In babydoll dresses and bloomers, wearing flower crowns and carrying handheld fans, mother-daughter duos traipsed from one’s favorite band to the other’s. As Bikini Kill called for a revolution and Doechii sampled Beyoncé, they tied hopes and dreams to Yoko Ono’s Wish Tree and snapped photos in front of a hot-pink Jenny Holzer truism in a vision of Lilith Fair resurrected. As 14 all-women acts performed across two stages in Irvine, California’s Great Park, a smattering of larger-than-life, Seventies-style buttons pinned above them declared with urgency:
“Bans off our bodies.”
“Reproductive rights are human rights.”
“I was there: Daisy Chain Fields Music Festival, Irvine, CA, 2026.”
“I was there” doesn’t oversell the weight of the festival, which buzzed all day with the energy of a crowd who knew they were witnessing something historic. “Today is such a beautiful example of what it looks like when we come together in community and with care,” Ai-jen Poo, president and co-founder of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, told the audience shortly before Die Spitz took the stage. Alongside esoteric singer-songwriter Quiet Light, the punk-metal quartet was one of two Austin-based acts hand-picked by 23-year-old pop superstar Olivia Rodrigo to perform at the event, whose net proceeds benefited 10 nonprofit organizations supporting women and girls.
As the quartet raged through 2024 single “I hate when GIRLS die,” 2025 ignore-the-haters anthem “RIDING WITH MY GIRLS,” and other raucous, self-possessed tracks, twin mosh pits swirled into being on either side of the stage. Once notoriously male-dominated spaces where rock & roll’s gendered treatment was exemplified, Saturday’s circles churned with a generation of young women raised after Kathleen Hanna’s “girls to the front” mandate reshaped punk conventions.
The opening to Bikini Kill’s “Double Dare Ya” – “We want revolution, girl style, now” – blared through Great Park’s speakers throughout the sweltering Saturday, and the Riot Grrrl pioneers aptly began their midday set with the manifesto. Reunited with drummer Tobi Vail and bassist Kathi Wilcox, Hanna, now 57, remained an enrapturing onstage presence, shimmying and stomping in an extra-short T-shirt dress and throwing her voice from her classic girlish holler into a guttural, intentionally ugly growl. Forever committed to platforming their lesser-known contemporaries, the band tapped fellow Nineties Kill Rock Stars signees Emily’s Sassy Lime – an Asian American trio local to Southern California – for closer “Rebel Girl.”
Bikini Kill launched a block of indelible alt-rock icons on the Marigold stage, whose influence on the day’s contemporary alt-pop experimenters reverberated across the lineup. The Breeders, who opened for Rodrigo on a run of tour dates in 2024, sailed coolly through staples from Pod and Last Splash before ending on new, unreleased tracks that fit smoothly into their ever-experimenting catalog.
“Thank you for coming over to this stage and catching this OG band,” Shirley Manson said next, as Garbage traversed three decades’ worth of polished electro-grunge. “We’ve been around since before most of you were born. So to be included in this festival lineup is an immense privilege, and it’s not one we take lightly.”
When the technical issues that ate the first six minutes of Die Spitz’s half-hour set also dropped out Garbage’s guitars, the outspoken Scot – who proudly proclaimed that she just turned 60 – made the most of it, dedicating 2001 trans rights anthem “Cherry Lips” to Garbage’s LGBTQIA fans and commending Rodrigo for “galvanizing an entire generation of women to stand up for ourselves, to believe in ourselves, to not accept the status quo.” Rather than a requisite nod on a festival bill catering to a nostalgic audience sector, these three performances felt urgent and celebratory, an essential part of Rodrigo’s intentionally crafted lineup.
Along with the softer songwriter stylings of Mitski and Marías singer María Zardoya’s solo project, Not for Radio, pop experimentation took many forms Saturday. Combining that lyrical ethos with atmospheric production, Quiet Light, the project of UT-Austin grad (and sometime-Austinite) Riya Mahesh, opened the event. Having honed a vocabulary of diaristic songwriting, her recent release of form-defying electronica, Blue Angel Sparkling Silver 2, has caught the attention of NME, Pitchfork, and now Rodrigo. Graduating from her solo club stage setup, Mahesh expanded her footprint to include a synth/guitar player and two dancers. Even on a bigger stage, the intimacy of her trancelike compositions captivated noontime audiences.
Other emerging performers acknowledged the potential power of the pop star’s signoff. “I feel like I’m dreaming,” 25-year-old Devon Again gushed. The dip-dyed tattoo-pop singer, who replaced K-pop-styled girl group KATSEYE on the bill after an injury, seemed particularly grateful to be on the Dandelion stage, though fans singing along to 2025 hit “skittles” reminded us of her TikTok virality. Another internet-born rising star, Y2K-inspired Eli, expressed similar gratitude in spirited monologues while praising the political poignancy of the event. After Garbage wrapped on the Marigold stage, it seemed as if all 45,000 in attendance ran to the Dandelion to catch Chappell Roan, whose days as a little-known opener for Rodrigo have long been eclipsed by her catchy, proudly sapphic sing-alongs.
All day long, campy pop stars played alongside no-frills post-punks, and hip-hop artists toyed with folk riffs and New Wave synths. Santigold’s rap verses, blended with elements of dub and indie rock, coaxed dance moves out of all in attendance, including a select handful of festivalgoers who joined her onstage. Painted pink and ever-theatrical, Doechii’s later sample-heavy performance bore whispers of her forebearer, though her house-influenced, philosophic rap writing felt unmistakably of-the-moment. That three, stylistically unique Black women – Rachel Chinouriri delivered disco-inflected alt-pop earlier in the day – dotted the overwhelmingly queer lineup placed this first-year festival leagues above other big-tent events in terms of non-tokenizing diversity.
Organized by C3 Presents, the Austin-launched, Live Nation-owned production company behind Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits Fest, Daisy Chain proved, for the most part, impressively organized. Extensive signage, dedicated cooling and sitting areas, and coordinated decoration transformed the park into an immersive playground, complete with interactive art installations and pop-up tables from the nonprofits the festival benefited, including Planned Parenthood, Baby2Baby, and Black Mamas Matter Alliance.
Still, long lines plagued food vendors (and a Taco Bell pop-up), two hydration stations failed to combat Irvine’s relentless 90-degree heat, and online, festivalgoers complained of a “traffic nightmare” and considerable wait times once the first round of shuttles, which cost about $70 after fees, began busing people home. In an interview with nonprofit newsroom Voice of OC, Melissa Haley, director of communications and engagement for Irvine, pointed out that such experiences are typical of any major event.
A performance schedule featuring no overlapping sets initially read as a refreshing, fan-first approach, but in reality it was impossible to catch all 14 artists, grab a bite to eat, absorb the art, and read up on Daisy Chain’s nonprofit partners with only 5 to 10 minutes between acts. If Rodrigo brings back the festival in 2027 – and a “see you next year” at her set’s end implied she will – she might consider splitting its robust offerings between two days, or limiting its capacity.
First-time events have never been perfect, but performers repeatedly told interviewers backstage they appreciated Rodrigo’s personal touch in the organization process. Mitski and Manson both made note of personal phone calls from the singer inviting them to perform, cherishing her commitment to curating the festival’s acts.
On top of organizing the fest, Rodrigo also performed its longest set. After announcing a matching donation from Melinda French Gates that raised its impact to $20 million, the songwriter thanked her peers for supporting “the essential, inspiring work” of the beneficiary nonprofits.
“I really believe that giving women the tools to decide their own futures and live healthy lives, free of violence and discrimination … is the most effective tool we have for changing the world for the better,” she said.
Only the voices screaming along to the infectious pop-rock that followed outperformed the cheers at her opening remarks. Speeding through her three-album catalog – the chamber pop of “drop dead,” the buzzy, irreverent “bad idea right?”, the piano ballad “drivers license” that started it all – 45,000 voices joined Rodrigo’s in a sweet, sleepover-esque chorus of hairbrush-as-microphone catharsis.
In addition to well-loved tracks from her discography, the pop star gave a live debut performance of “serena joy,” released August 24. Named after a Handmaid’s Tale character, the single is a meditation on rejecting complacency and relative privilege in a patriarchal society – the artist’s biggest foray into political songwriting to date and the most dour of her recent New Wave-inspired tracks. Fittingly, a portion of its proceeds benefits the Daisy Chain Fields Fund.
After “stupid song,” the singer acknowledged that her benefit show couldn’t exist without the all-women touring festival Sarah McLachlan launched in the late Nineties. “Sarah created Lilith Fair at a time when people said that two women couldn’t be headliners on the same festival bill, and two women couldn’t be played back-to-back on the same radio station,” Rodrigo said. “She created the first all-women festival and shattered everyone’s expectations.”
McLachlan then joined Rodrigo onstage for a duet of “Building a Mystery” and “Angel,” which the latter songwriter dedicated to the recently passed Dolly Parton. Soon after, a meeting of the angst-loving minds ensued when Rodrigo, announcing that the previously scheduled Karen O couldn’t make it due to a family emergency, brought out Alanis Morissette for a surprise duet of “Ironic.”
“expectations” and “all-american bitch” kept the crowd’s energy star-high before a quiet-loud “deja vu” put things on simmer. For the evening’s stirring final performance, Stevie Nicks joined Rodrigo to sing her timeless ballad to change, “Landslide.” Hand in hand, they swayed together in the song’s instrumental break before their voices met in a honeyed, cross-generational harmony.
Rodrigo said goodnight after that, but the house lights quickly flashed back on. Nicks had a final thought.
“You have no idea: putting something together with all these people,” the 78-year-old told the sold-out crowd. “And she’s done it with this grace and this crazy, crazy energy that she has.”
She wasn’t the first titan of feminist rock to sign off on the Disney star-turned-pop philanthropist that day, but Rodrigo beamed brightest when Nicks concluded:
“Take her to your heart. I have.”
Daisy Chain Fields
August 29
Great Park
This article appears in September 4 • 2026.
