If you’ve been living under a rock (or are off social media, in which case I congratulate you), you may not have heard that 23 year old superstar Olivia Rodrigo has started her own all-female music festival to take place in California at the end of August.
Rodrigo announced the festival over on her Instagram, stating that: “the lineup is truly insane and full of my heroes and friends. I firmly believe that joy, community, and music can be the drivers of meaningful change and I’m hopeful this festival will be just that.”
An all female festival isn’t a new concept, Sarah McLauchlan’s Lilith Fair was a touring festival in the nineties and noughties which featured notable names including Fiona Apple, Tracy Chapman and Sheryl Crow, but it is something that feels relevant in 2026 due to reignited conversations around misogyny and gender.
In 2024, the Women Musicians Insight Report found that 51% of women in music had been discriminated against because of their gender, with ⅓ having been sexually harassed. Creating events where women can both feel represented but also safe is vital to creating an equal industry. It’s worth noting that Daisy Chain Fields will also be donating 100% of net proceeds to women’s advocacy charities, causing a direct positive impact.
There’s a similar demand in the UK for these women heavy lineups. Lorde’s edition of All Points East this year features mainly women, with 24 out of 26 either being or including women, and is the only one of the six APE days currently sold out.
This is despite the fact that in 2022, it was concluded that only 13% of UK festival headliners were female. When talking to The Guardian, founder of The F List Vic Bain explained why this disparity can occur: “Women are far less likely to be picked up by an A&R, far less likely to be invested in, far less likely to get a manager or an agent, and all of these things mean you’re less likely to be chosen to play on festival stages.”
We’d love to see more of this sentiment cross the pond and find its way into the UK festival scene. Our 2025 stage at The Great Escape featured exclusively female and non-binary artists and managed to reach capacity so we’ve seen the demand first hand. The festival industry is struggling, so rather than resorting to tacky gimmicks like recruiting cancelled stars to headline major stages (see Wireless for the last two years), why not try something that actually benefits the world?
