The Dream Of The ‘90s Is Alive In Irvine: Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Daisy Chain Fields’ Looks Back To Move Forward

Olivia Rodrigo herself is not a product of the 1990s — she was born in 2003 — but it’s apparent she draws plenty of inspiration from the 20th century’s fin de siècle.

Musically, there are obvious elements of both Riot Grrl and the singer-songwriter tradition of 30 years ago in her songs and she’s honored those inspirations materially plenty of times, including by having The Breeders open dates on “Guts World Tour.”

Rodrigo’s latest project — in addition to her third album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, which, for what it’s worth, is much more ’80s-coded sonically — also pays tribute to another cultural touchstone of the 1990s.

The Daisy Chain Fields festival, set for Aug. 29 at Great Park in Irvine, California, was, in Rodrigo’s own words, explicitly inspired by Lilith Fair, Sarah McLachlan’s nose-thumbing all-woman festival roadshow that crisscrossed the world between 1997 and 1999 (an ill-fated version returned in 2010). Having been told that a festival with more than one woman headlining would never sell, the Canadian songstress said “Watch this” and Lilith Fair grossed $16 million in its first year (more than $33 million in today’s dollars).

Whether Lilith Fair made much difference on festival booking long-term is, nearly 30 years later, still an open question. Multiple female festival headliners are fairly common (and, in addition to Daisy Chain, All Things Go’s New York stop is also all-women) but full lineup equality is a long way off, with Book More Women’s study of 2025’s major festivals showing women accounted for 21.7% of festival performances.

In addition to the demographic solidity, Rodrigo is also honoring Lilith’s evolution. By 1999, the festival had expanded far beyond its singer-songwriter roots with hip-hop and R&B headliners (some of Missy Elliott’s earliest live performances came at the festival) and, in 1999, a young soon-to-be pop idol named Christina Aguilera was playing Lilith’s tertiary stage. Rodrigo’s booking decisions are similarly ecumenical. In addition to obvious Rodrigoverse figures like Chappell Roan, she’s got hip-hop (Doechii), pop (KATSEYE), rock (Garbage), punks (Die Spitz and Bikini Kill) and indie (The Breeders are back, along with Mitski and others). Karen O, Sarah McLachlan and Stevie Nicks are all listed as “special guests.”

And not one of them will be getting a check. Remarkably, Rodrigo said on “Good Morning America,” everyone is playing for free. In another show of egalitarianism, the lineup is listed alphabetically, which puts Rodrigo on the third line of her own event, and echoing the righteous feminist activism that inspired and animated Lilith, net proceeds are going to a host of woman-focused nonprofits.

Powered by Rodrigo’s own stardom and a killer bill, the festival sold out in minutes, which raises questions about if the 2020s re-imagining of Lilith Fair could do what its predecessor did and become an annual event (or a touring one). The model would obviously have to change — people will want to get paid at some point — but the girlhood-for-good attitude that Rodrigo advocates for in opposition to the mean-girl-competition vibe is already proving to be good business.