Inaugural Daisy Chain Fields Festival Draws Massive Crowd: Highlights

The sweltering Southern California heat couldn’t stop the swarm of music-loving fans from descending upon Irvine’s Great Park Saturday for the inaugural Daisy Chain Fields music festival.

The Olivia Rodrigo-created all-women festival brought in 45,000 people, according to the singer before her headlining set. Proceeds from the event went towards women- and girls-centric organizations. The festival was spread across the sports complex.

Rows of food stalls and trucks filled the field, along with pop-up activations from brands and sponsors. The park’s balloon was decked out for Daisy Chain Fields and the carousel was running throughout the day. Booths and stalls had special flower key symbols for any women-owned businesses — of which there were many. Flowers were everywhere on the festival grounds.

Attendees likely wouldn’t be able to tell, minus a hiccup here or there, that it was the singer’s first edition of the festival, as logistics were relatively smooth. The heat, sitting in the 90s range, was at times brutal with little respite, but the festival provided hydration stations throughout the festival grounds. Fans of all ages were in attendance, with women and girls being the most prominent, but there were plenty of men in the crowd as well.

Daisy Chain Fields featured an all-women lineup of 14 artists across two stages. Quiet Light, Rachel Chinouriri, Die Spitz, Bikini Kill, The Breeders, Garbage and Not for Radio played the Marigold stage, while Eli, Santigold, Devon Again, Mitski, Doechii, Chappell Roan and Rodrigo, along with special guests, played the Dandelion main stage. Girl group KATSEYE was slated to perform, but they had to pull out earlier in the week due to one of the members, Megan, injuring her ankle. Three members of the group, Megan, Lara and Yoonchae, still made a brief appearance onstage Saturday.

Doechii, decked out in pink body paint, drew a massive crowd for her early evening set, setting the tone for the rest of the evening at the main stage. Her 40-minute set began with “XL,” her collaboration with Blackpink’s Jennie and ended with her hit “Denial is a River.” As she wrapped up her time onstage, she thanked Rodrigo and said, “We do it for the women. We do it for the gays. We do it for the trans women,” receiving a big cheer from the crowd.

Roan later took to the stage in a purple miniskirt ensemble, rocking a bob. She joked midway into her 40-minute set that she was only playing the hits. She opened with the catchy “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl,” which had the crowd instantly dancing and singing. “Hot To Go,” a signature song for the Midwest native, was a hit, as it always is. The packed crowd danced in unison with the song’s signature moves. The pop singer, clearly trying to make the most of her time, didn’t speak too much throughout the set. She ended her set with her hit “Pink Pony Club.”

Rodrigo took the stage moments before her 8:40 p.m. start time to speak with attendees and share that $10 million would be donated from the festival, a figure she shared the day prior at a press conference. But the pop star had some big news for the crowd, bringing out Melinda French Gates to announce that Gates would be doubling the amount, bringing the evening’s charitable donation total up to $20 million.

Festivalgoers were able to learn about and support several organizations working across reproductive rights, maternal health, economic empowerment, domestic violence prevention and gender equity at the Daisy Chain Reaction philanthropy village. The organizations present were Baby2Baby, Black Mamas Matter Alliance, Center for Reproductive Rights, FreeFrom, Jhpiego, Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Institute for Reproductive Health, National Women’s Law Center and Planned Parenthood, who will be the recipients of the donation.

The pop star kicked off the music portion of her hour-and-twenty-minute headlining set with her recent hit “Drop Dead.” Throughout her time onstage, Rodrigo continuously thanked the crowd and expressed her excitement.

She brought out three guests throughout the set, the first being the all-women festival pioneer herself, Sarah McLachlan. Rodrigo told the crowd there wouldn’t be a Daisy Chain Fields without McLachlan’s game-changing 90s music festival, Lilith Fair. The pair played McLachlan songs, “Building a Mystery” and “Angel,” dedicated to Dolly Parton, who died at age 80 earlier in the week. A picture of the country music icon was projected onto the screens after the song.

Later in the set, which featured a mix of older Rodrigo songs and tracks off her recently released album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl so in Love, the pop star brought out Alanis Morissette, who replaced Yeah Yeah Yeah’s singer Karen O, who had to drop out last minute due to a family emergency. Morissette and Rodrigo performed a duet of the Canadian singer’s iconic “Ironic.”

The highlight of Rodrigo’s set came at the end, when the festival creator was joined by the legendary Stevie Nicks for a performance of her Fleetwood Mac hit “Landslide.” Nicks wouldn’t let the crowd leave before she could gush about Rodrigo, stating how proud she was of the singer and that she’s encouraged her to not let anyone change her as a performer.

“Support her. Come and be a part of her women’s rights things; we all will,” Nicks told the crowd. “She’s very special. Take her to your heart. I have.”

Throughout the day, many acts and fans were keen to express their hopes for Daisy Chain Fields to be a yearly event. Mitski told her main stage crowd just as much, adding, “No pressure to Olivia.” While it’s unclear whether or not that’ll be the case, Rodrigo seems optimistic, telling the crowd as she left the stage that she’d see them next year.

More photos from Daisy Chain Fields can be found below.