On one of the hottest days Orange County has experienced this summer, 45,000 fans gathered at the Great Park in Irvine for the inaugural Daisy Chain Fields festival on Aug. 29, an event that not only thrilled the crowd but brought noteworthy benefits to the surrounding community.
“This is what we have been working toward at the Great Park, creating a destination where people can come together for meaningful, culturally relevant, and special experiences. Seeing that vision come to life at this size and scale, in the festival’s first year, was extraordinary,” said Melissa Haley, director of communications for the city of Irvine.
Founded by pop/rock singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo, produced by C3 Presents and deeply inspired by the Lilith Fair, the all female, single-day music festival featured two stages and a roster of multi-generational female artists. Bikini Kill, Chappell Roan, Die Spitz, Doechii, Eli, Garbage, Mitski, Not for Radio, Quiet Light, Rachel Chinourir, Santigold and the Breeders all played sets on Saturday.
Special guests Sarah McLachlan and Stevie Nicks joined Rodrigo on stage, along with a third surprise guest, Alanis Morissette.
The festival also benefited a collection of non-profit partners whose work is focused on advocating for women and girls, including Baby2Baby, Jhpiego, the National Institute for Reproductive Health, Black Mamas Matter Alliance, Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, the National Women’s Law Center, the Center for Reproductive Rights, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, FreeFrom and Planned Parenthood.
Olivia Rodrigo and Melinda French Gates attend the Daisy Chain Fields festival.
(Kevin Mazur/Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
Before the gates even opened at 10:30 a.m., the festival was already deemed a success. In a press conference ahead of the festival, Rodrigo announced Daisy Chain Fields had raised $10 million for its chosen charities.
When Rodrigo hit the stage as the last act on the estrogen-fueled bill, she had even more good news to share. She was joined by philanthropist Melinda French Gates, who pledged to double the $10 million being donated, bringing the total to $20 million.
“I feel like I am dreaming. This is the best day of my f— life!” Rodrigo declared to thousands of screaming fans.
The weather was uncomfortably hot, with the mercury hitting 96 degrees. And, after the festival was over, leaving the Wild Rivers parking took over two hours. Getting home took even longer for those depending on ride share apps, due to the lack of cellphone service in the area. But for members of the local community, Orange County business owners, vendors, musicians and fans, braving the heat and later the parking, all felt worth it.
The Great Park hot air balloon was dressed in a daisy for Daisy Chain Fields festival on Aug. 29.
(Sarah Mosqueda)
“Participating in Daisy Chain was a fever dream,” said Asha Starks, founder of Hot Grease, a social justice-minded fish fry pop-up and one of the “proudly female owned” food vendors at Daisy Chain.
Starks has a background in public health and community organizing and Hot Grease operates a mutual aid fund called the Potlikker Line, with 3% of sales going into a reproductive justice mutual aid fund.
“I did get to sneak away early in the day to go check in on the nonprofits and it was really cool to see organizations that I’ve organized alongside in the past, like National Domestic Workers Assn., Planned Parenthood, NIRH, which was NARAL when I organized alongside them in Georgia,” she said, “and Black Mamas Matter Alliance, which has a really warm place in my heart for their reproductive justice impact on, specifically, Black parents.”
Starks also distributed Hot Grease Zines, which share reproductive justice resources.
“I’m preaching to the choir, but there’s just something about letting my consumers know that we align,” Starks said.
Irvine-based Taco Bell handed out free drinks called “You Seem Pretty Pink for a Baja Blast” at their a pink dollhouse-inspired Live Más Café activation. Salt & Straw ice cream, which operates multiple locations throughout Orange County, served an exclusive marigold crown sundae and a special Daisy Chain Fields sugar cookie ice cream flavor, with 100% of proceeds going to the Daisy Chain non-profit partners.
Irvine-based Taco Bell Live Más Café handed out free drinks with a pink twist with “You Seem Pretty Pink for a Baja Blast” at Daisy Chain Fields festival.
(Sarah Mosqueda)
Even outside the festival, Orange County businesses were linked into the Daisy Chain. Ahead of the show, Analog Record Shop in Tustin debuted the physical CD of Olivia Rodrigo’s “serena joy” single. The exclusive release made the CD available to the Orange County community first.
“Olivia’s team at Interscope surprised us with a call that week. We were told that we’re Olivia’s favorite record shop, so of course we’re choosing to believe that,” said Alex Forsythe, owner of Analog Record Shop. “We also happen to be the local record shop closest to the festival grounds, and I think her team was excited to give the surrounding community something special to experience in the days leading up to the festival.”
Forsythe said the special release brought many new “Livies” into the shop.
“Everyone who came in was genuinely excited that something this special was happening in their own community,” said Forsythe. “Cities like Los Angeles, New York and London get major events on a regular basis, but having an artist as big as Olivia choose Tustin and Irvine to make this kind of impact felt incredibly meaningful.”
For festival goers and founders of punk band Emily’s Sassy Lime, Emily Ryan and sisters Wendy and Amy Yao, the day felt like a full circle moment. The women started their band in the early 1990s when the girls met as teens in Irvine.
“Back in the ’90s, we were Asian American teens just trying to navigate this really hostile, right-wing environment,” said Ryan. “And the way we built our world was trading cassettes, photocopying zines, mailing letters back and forth. That was the whole network.”
The three women met defining third-wave feminist riot grrrl band Bikini Kill when the band played a show at Pietro’s Pub at UC Irvine in the ’90s and became friends.
“Wild to think how few people showed up to that show which cost only $5,” Amy Yao said.
Bikini Kill invited Emily’s Sassy Lime on stage at Daisy Chain Fields for their final song, “Rebel Girl.” Front woman Kathleen Hanna introduced the trio as “the best band to ever come out of Irvine, CA.”
“I got goosebumps watching Bikini Kill and the Breeders play because I listened to those two bands on repeat in my bedroom when I was a 14-year-old living in Irvine in 1993,” Wendy Yao said.
Defining, third-wave feminist, riot grrrl band, Bikini Kill
performs at Daisy Chain Fields on Aug. 29 in Irvine.
(Cynthia Parkhurst)
Ryan said she also appreciated the festival’s art installation from like-minded female artists.
“One of my favorite parts of the day was that gallery Astria curated: Grrrl Germs. Nearby were Yoko Ono’s Wish Tree and the Guerilla Girls chalkboard complaints, and then you walk in and it’s zines, it’s DIY resistance, this whole other underground history,” Ryan said. “It’s so connected.”
At the Etsy Creative Village, guests shopped Olivia Rodrigo’s official Daisy Chain Fields Collection and meet the Etsy makers behind it. Artist Ilse Valfré debuted an original artwork created exclusively for Daisy Chain Fields at the Lego Editions: Artist Garden. The mystery mural was built entirely from Lego bricks, with help from festival attendees.
Fans visit the Etsy Creative Village at Daisy Chain Fields in Irvine.
(Travis Laubacher)
Erin Brown, a Costa Mesa native who attended the festival with her 12-year-old daughter, expressed appreciation for the multi-generational music acts.
“I think they did a really good job of curating artists for the parents too,” said Brown. “I think Olivia has a real gift for shouting out the people she was influenced by who came before her.”
While Brown was looking forward to seeing bands like Garbage, her daughter was hyped for Rodrigo, Chappell Roan and Mitski.
The mixed lineup not only introduced the younger generation to artists that influenced Rodrigo, but it introduced Gen X attendees and older millennials to the next generation of strong female performers.
“I loved seeing all the very young kids crying, sharing and singing to Doechi, Santigold, Chapell and Olivia. It made me want to listen to that music,” Amy Yao said.
The mutual respect was also felt among the artists. When Sarah McLachlan took to the piano to play her hit song “Angel” she dedicated it to the recently departed Dolly Parton.
“My favorite moment was being in the crowd distributing boiled peanuts while Doechii was performing ‘Boiled Peanuts,’ ” said Starks. “It was super cutesy and lovey dovey. I love that dope Black women were considered to partake.”
Daisy Chain Fields, an all-women music festival brought in 45,000 people to the Great Park in Irvine.
(Sarah Mosqueda)
Bringing Daisy Chain Fields to Orange County gave the local community a chance to celebrate each other and even feel hopeful about the future.
“I think it says a lot about the direction younger generations are moving in. They seem increasingly interested in building community, helping their neighbors and creating opportunities that lift everyone up, rather than focusing solely on themselves,” Forsythe said.
For Ryan, the festival made it clear the feminist message of the riot grrrl movement she resonated with as teen is still relevant today.
“Being at Daisy Chain Fields, seeing that same energy alive in the pit, families hugging, people slam dancing, friends crying, but all of it with this total mutual respect, that got me,” Ryan said. “Thirty years later, and I get to watch this urgent signal still being passed to younger generations. That felt like transmission.”
Rodrigo ended the show by shouting, “See you next year” and Daisy Chain Fields may return to Irvine next year. Haley said the city is discussions with the team for 2027 but nothing is confirmed yet.
It’s a possibility that many local music fans welcome.
“It’s interesting how much music and alternative culture comes from Orange County. In my era, I got to see Sublime and No Doubt in high school,” said Brown. “I think it’s nice to give some of that positive reputation back to Orange County.”