IRVINE, Calif. − For a girl who has never hosted a festival before, Olivia Rodrigo seems pretty unshakeable.
Closing out her inaugural Daisy Chain Fields music festival in Southern California, the 23-year-old singer-songwriter united and amplified an audience of tens of thousands. She brought top-tier talent to her closing set, which featured songs off her June album "You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love" as well as the hits that thrust her into stardom,
She first welcomed Sarah McLachlan, whose founding of Lilith Fair in 1997 inspired the "Deja Vu" singer to launch her own all-women festival lineup. The two dueted on McLachlan's "Angel" as a tribute to Dolly Parton, who died on Aug. 25 at age 80, swelling hearts and lighting up the crowd
with swaying cellphone flashes. "We Will Always Love You, Dolly" was displayed on the stage screens, along with a photo of the country music legend.
The pop star then prepared the crowd for bad news: Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer Karen O was not going to join her as planned, as she attended to a personal matter.
"Let's send her a bunch of love," she told the crowd at Great Park before getting to the good news. "I've been keeping a secret from you guys, and there's somebody special here to surprise you. Will you please give it up for Alanis Morissette."
Together they sang Morissette's 1995 track "Ironic" in a multigenerational grunge duet that bridged rock eras.
Olivia Rodrigo, Stevie Nicks confirm Daisy Chain Fields festival will be back
Rodrigo saved Stevie Nicks for the end of her nearly hour-and-a-half set, bringing her out for a duet of Fleetwood Mac's 1975 classic "Landslide."
Bringing the performance and the one-day festival to a close, Rodrigo confirmed this is not the end of Daisy Chain Fields.
"Thanks so much, goodnight and I will see you next year!" Rodrigo yelled before blowing her fans a kiss goodbye.
Nicks, however, wasn't ready to let the crowd leave without giving Rodrigo her flowers, praising the young Grammy-winning star for pulling the festival together "pretty much all by herself."
"She reminds me a lot of me when I was her age a hundred years ago, and I'm somewhat awe-struck that she could do all this because it's so hard," Nicks said. "She's done it with this grace and this crazy, crazy energy that she has."
The Fleetwood Mac vocalist shared that she told Rodrigo never to change and urged everyone to keep supporting her efforts. "She's very special. Take her to your heart; I have."
Melinda Gates doubles Olivia Rodrigo's Daisy Chain Fields donation total
Iconic musicians weren't the only women joining Rodrigo during her set.
Billionaire philanthropist Melinda French Gates appeared on stage to announce that she would donate $10 million to the non-profit partners of the festival through Pivotal, bringing the total to $20 million.
"When girls come together to dream and to lead, we change the world," Gates said. "Long after the lights go down from this festival, the organizations doing this work will keep doing it because you all are here. So thank you for being here and thank you, Olivia."
At a news conference a day earlier, Rodrigo revealed a $10 million donation toward the 10 organizations the festival has partnered with, from Planned Parenthood and the National Institute for Reproductive Health to the National Women's Law Center and the Black Mamas Matter Alliance.
The "Drop Dead" singer has not shied away from speaking out on issues that she cares about in recent years. Shortly before Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, the then-19-year-old paused her show in Washington, D.C., to condemn a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion suggesting the justices might overturn the 1973 decision.
She echoed those sentiments the day after the ruling at England's Glastonbury Festival, saying, "I'm devastated and terrified that so many women and so many girls are going to die because of this."
In 2024, she launched a global initiative called Fund 4 Good dedicated to building an "equitable and just future for all women, girls and people seeking reproductive health freedom." She also donated a portion of her ticket sales from her Guts World Tour to local abortion funds.
What is the Daisy Chain Fields music festival?
For the first time, Rodrigo hosted her own festival, featuring a packed lineup of women including Chappell Roan, Doechii, Garbage and Mitski. Grammy-nominated girl group Katseye was initially scheduled to perform but had to withdraw after member Megan Skiendiel sprained her ankle.
All of the festival's net proceeds will go toward 10 non-profit organizations dedicated to supporting women and girls.
Rodrigo explained that she took inspiration from the all-women Lilith Fair festival, which McLachlan helmed from 1997 to 1999.
"At the time of Lilith Fair festival, women were told that they couldn't lead a festival, that no one would come and they couldn't get sponsors. And those women proved everyone wrong," she told reporters. "Thanks to those trailblazers, we are obviously in a very different situation now. Today, so many of the top artists who are headlining festivals and selling out arenas are women."
She added: "That's actually how I fell in love with the name Daisy Chain. It served as a reminder that individual parts can come together to create something strong and unbreakable."
The groups benefiting from the festival include:
- Baby2Baby
- Black Mamas Matter Alliance
- Center for Reproductive Rights
- FreeFrom
- Jhpiego
- The Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health
- National Domestic Workers Alliance
- National Institute for Reproductive Health
- National Women's Law Center
- Planned Parenthood
Contributing: KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: All the surprises from Olivia Rodrigo's Daisy Chain Fields festival set
