Olivia Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields Festival Debuts With Stevie Nicks, Sarah McLachlan

IRVINE, Calif. — Olivia Rodrigo headlined the inaugural Daisy Chain Fields festival on Saturday night, bringing Stevie Nicks, Sarah McLachlan and Alanis Morissette onstage for duets before a crowd of about 45,000 at Great Park Live in Irvine.

The 23-year-old pop star’s festival featured 10 hours of music performed entirely by women-led acts, including Chappell Roan, Doechii, Bikini Kill, Garbage, the Breeders and Mitski.

Duets With Her Idols

Rodrigo performed “Building a Mystery” and “Angel” with McLachlan, whose late-1990s Lilith Fair tour served as a template for the festival. The two dedicated “Angel” to Dolly Parton, who died on Tuesday at age 80.

Morissette, who stepped in after Karen O withdrew because of a family emergency, joined Rodrigo for her mid-1990s hit “Ironic.” Nicks closed the show with a duet of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide,” prompting a mass singalong.

Afterward, Nicks delivered what appeared to be an impromptu tribute to Rodrigo, saying she was somewhat awestruck that the younger artist could organize such an event with grace and energy, and urging the audience to take Rodrigo to heart, according to the Los Angeles Times.

$10 Million Pledge, Then Doubled

On Friday, Rodrigo announced that the festival would donate $10 million to organizations working on women’s rights and reproductive justice. As her set began on Saturday, philanthropist Melinda French Gates came onstage to announce she had agreed to double that amount.

Rodrigo has been an outspoken advocate on reproductive rights in recent years, and the festival’s charitable component was central to its identity.

A Generational Bridge

The festival arrived a few months after the release of Rodrigo’s third studio album, “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love.” Its lineup spanned decades, pairing contemporary stars with influential acts from the punk, alternative and singer-songwriter traditions of the 1990s.

The Times described the duets as demonstrating the enduring value of sharp songwriting about women’s emotional lives, linking Rodrigo’s generation of fans with artists who inspired her.

Festival Landscape

Daisy Chain Fields joins a crowded summer festival circuit but distinguished itself with an all-women lineup, an approach that recalls Lilith Fair, which drew large audiences in the late 1990s and was credited with challenging industry assumptions about women performers’ commercial appeal.

For Rodrigo, the event represented a step beyond touring into curating and organizing a large-scale event, with a charitable mission and a lineup built around artists she has cited as influences. The festival’s success, measured by attendance and the size of its charitable commitment, is likely to draw attention from promoters seeking new formats in a competitive live music market.