Bourbon & Beyond Topped By Phish, Noah Kahan, Lumineers, Jack White Sept. 11-14 In Louisville

After last year’s highest-attended festival yet, Danny Wimmer Presents’ Bourbon & Beyond looks to continue trending up, with a stacked lineup that runs the gamut from classics to cutting edge and everything in between, taking place Sept. 11-14 at the Highland Festival Grounds at Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville.

The lineup of more than 120 artists who will play four main stages includes Phish, Noah Kahan, Sturgill Simpson, The Lumineers and Jack White on the top line of the poster, followed by red-hot Benson Boone, an Alabama Shakes reunion, Cage The Elephant, Khruangbin, Megan Moroney, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Rilo Kiley, Goo Goo Dolls, Vance Joy, Third Eye Blind and many others, such as Ringo Starr, Iron & Wine, Bonnie Light Horseman, Pixies, Julien Baker & Torres, Marcy Playground, and still many others.

The event, now in its seventh instalment, follows up on last year’s record-breaker, which was hailed as the largest Danny Wimmer Presents event yet and the largest music festival to take place in Kentucky, with more than 60,000 in attendance on Saturday night.

With last year’s headliners Sting, Tyler Childers, Dave Matthews Band and Zach Bryan joined by notable country and Americana-leaning artists like Cody Jinks and Whiskey Myers, it’s notable this year’s event did not lean heavier into those genres.

“Last year’s show was incredibly popular and was a massive success, and in terms of popularity and ticket sales and social footprint, you could argue that this show is even bigger,” says Del Williams, DWP’s head of global talent, who oversees talent buying at the company.

Also notable is the lack of jam-leaning artists to go along with Phish, a huge draw and billed as a 2025 festival exclusive. Williams says keeping the lineup eclectic and varied is important and intentional.

“It’s really important to not be pigeonholed,” Williams added, with the festival’s concept retaining its core mix of genres leaning rock, roots, Americana, soul and blues. “Last year, some people said, ‘Don’t go country, we don’t want to see the festival evolve that way.’ So as I look over the lineup again, there are some elements definitely down the line, but there was a lot of variety last year and even more so this year.”

With some classic legacy artists like Ringo Starr, Foreigner and Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo bringing hits in the twilight of their careers, this year’s lineup includes up and comers like Benson Boone and Myles Smith, and critics darlings Waxahatchee and the Julien Baker & Torres collaboration that will be on tour this spring.

“There are such big offers out for Benson Boone in ’26, and Bourbon will be his last date in North America after his new album is released in August,” Williams said, ahead of the star’s high-profile Grammys performance on Sunday. “So that’s going to be a coup, and Megan Moroney is really taking off. She’s headed to the next level.”

The event, which pairs elevated food and beverage with the large-scale music festival experience, including camping, may have found a good fit from millennial hit-makers as well, with Third Eye Blind’s 2024 tour being its biggest yet. Nineties kids will surely be pleased to see bookings of Collective Soul, Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors, 10,000 Maniacs, Pixies and Goo Goo Dolls.

With music programming starting at high noon and constant activations, workshops and demonstrations taking place over all four days, Williams says Bourbon & Beyond looks to offer pure value for fans, starting with ticket price.

“It’s overall just an incredible value for the entertainment there,” said Williams. “We work very closely with these cities, with the hotels and local businesses, the chamber of commerce city government, across the board.” The event is to be followed by the rock and metal-leaning Louder Than Life festival, which takes place the following weekend.

Four-day general admission passes start at $329.99 plus fees, with single-day tickets starting at $124.99 plus fees. Discounts are available for folks who purchase the 4-Day GA 4-Pack, as well as exclusively priced GOVX passes for eligible military, nurse, firefighter and police personnel. Passes are available starting at just $1 down. A post on the festival’s website notes that fans should “buy early to lock in the lowest price level available before they go up.” VIP passes and add-ons are also available.

Bourbon & Beyond is nominated for a Pollstar Award for Music Festival of the Year for a second year in a row.

Passes are on sale now. Visit https://bourbonandbeyond.com/ for more information.