Dear listeners,
Greetings from Irvine, Calif., where I am still recovering from the inaugural Daisy Chain Fields, a new female-centric music festival organized and headlined by the pop star Olivia Rodrigo. (You can read my report here.) The sun was hot, the vibes were good, and the grounds of Great Park were packed with 45,000 people who had come to hear music from artists including Chappell Roan, Bikini Kill, Doechii and Mitski, all of whom agreed to play for free so that the net proceeds of the festival could be donated to charities that benefit women and girls.
I went in with a healthy amount of skepticism about whether a huge, corporate-branded festival — even one that was giving millions to nonprofits doing important work — could inspire any authentic solidarity and political change. But I was heartened by the way Daisy Chain centered the voices of organizers, not to mention the genuine sense of intergenerational camaraderie I experienced in the crowds and witnessed onstage. Plenty of young festivalgoers responded exuberantly to the riot grrrl band Bikini Kill, and plenty of parents sang their hearts out to recent tunes by Gen Z upstarts like Roan and Rodrigo, whose set featured appearances from her forebears like Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette and, for the night’s grand finale, Stevie Nicks.
If you were not an attendee of the first Daisy Chain (Rodrigo signed off by implying that it would be back next year), today’s playlist from artists who were on the lineup will help you feel like you were there — minus the scorching temperatures and inevitably long lines. Crank it up, press play and be sure to wear flowers in your hair.
It’s a sunny day, the gang’s all here,
Lindsay
Listen along while you read.
1. Olivia Rodrigo: “Drop Dead”
Let’s kick things off just as Olivia Rodrigo did in her headlining set — with the dreamy, chatty single that opens her latest album, “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love.”
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
2. The Breeders: “Cannonball”
“In the shade, in the shade,” sing the Breeders — alt-rock icons who opened for Rodrigo on a few 2024 dates of her Guts tour — on this 1993 hit. That was indeed a coveted commodity when they rocked Daisy Chain’s Marigold Stage in the late afternoon sun.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
3. Mitski: “That White Cat”
Using her expressive face and nimble, bounding body, the indie-pop singer-songwriter Mitski brought a sense of theatricality to her main stage set, which I watched from a line for (delicious) sushi tacos. Her closing number, this track from her latest album, “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me,” was a particular highlight.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
4. Santigold: “L.E.S. Artistes”
Though artists associated with Generations X and Z were well represented at Daisy Chain, Santigold was probably the sole torchbearer of the so-called “indie sleaze” sound beloved by many millennials, especially since the Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O dropped out at the last minute. I am pleased to report that this spirited 2008 banger from Santigold’s self-titled debut album totally holds up.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
5. Devon Again: “Cherry Cola”
The electro-pop artist Devon Again was a very late addition to the Daisy Chain lineup: Two days before the festival, she got a call from Rodrigo — for whom she’ll be opening on several dates of next year’s Unraveled Tour — asking if she would fill in for the girl group Katseye, who pulled out after one member, Megan Skiendiel, sprained her ankle. Devon Again made the most of the opportunity, treating the crowd to sugary melodies and confessional lyrics.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
6. Chappell Roan: “My Kink Is Karma”
Two summers ago, Chappell Roan was the breakout star of festival season, as her immensely well-attended sets at Coachella, Governors Ball and Lollapalooza kept going viral. Her performance at Daisy Chain this weekend — which found her dressed as, of all things, a flight attendant from “The Fifth Element” — proved that she’s now an old pro at rocking a festival stage, with more than enough hits to pack an all-killer, no-filler 40-minute set. This hilariously venomous revenge fantasy from her 2023 album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” hit especially hard live.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
7. Doechii: “Boiled Peanuts”
In the middle of her relentlessly energetic set, during which she somehow did not sweat off her head-to-toe pink body paint, Doechii paid homage to another bold female hip-hop artist, Lil’ Kim, when she rapped this track from the 2024 mixtape “Alligator Bites Never Heal” atop a sample of Kim’s 1997 classic “Crush on You (Remix)” (which itself samples “Rain Dance” by the Jeff Lorber Fusion).
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
8. Sarah McLachlan: “Building a Mystery”
The first special musical guest that Rodrigo brought out during her set was the Canadian folk-rock star Sarah McLachlan, who organized Lilith Fair, the festival that inspired Daisy Chain. McLachlan’s voice sounded as beautiful as it ever had as she and Rodrigo duetted on two songs: this atmospheric hit from McLachlan’s 1997 album “Surfacing,” and the tear-jerking piano ballad “Angel,” which McLachlan dedicated to Dolly Parton.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
9. Die Spitz: “Riding With My Girls”
One artist I discovered at Daisy Chain was Die Spitz, an Austin, Texas, four-piece that plays thrashing, impassioned hard rock. I loved the energy of their set, during which they often switched up instruments. Here’s a thematically appropriate tune from the band’s 2025 album “Something to Consume.”
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
10. Bikini Kill: “Feels Blind”
Though it took place during the most brutal heat of the afternoon, my favorite moment of the whole day was Bikini Kill’s life-affirming set. The vocalist Kathleen Hanna spoke to the young people in the crowd with her typical wit and fiery candor, admitting that even though she had been doing all of this for longer than many of them had been alive, she still had plenty to learn. “I just want to say to all the people younger than me, keep teaching people who are older than you,” she said. She also advised the teens in the crowd to hold onto their old writing, explaining that parts of this corrosive song came from lines she’d written in her journal, recalling a predatory experience with an older man, when she was just 17.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
11. Alanis Morissette: “Ironic”
I’ve long detected a certain spiritual similarity between Olivia Rodrigo and Alanis Morissette: Both became globally famous seemingly overnight with passionate, self-penned pop-rock songs that unapologetically centered their experiences as young women. Rodrigo made that connection even more clear when she announced Morissette as a surprise special guest, and even attempted her best Alanis yodel when they sang this 1996 smash together. (Naturally, everyone in the crowd was also singing along.)
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
12. Fleetwood Mac: “Landslide”
Rodrigo saved the most impressive guest for last, though, when she concluded her set by singing “Landslide” with Stevie Nicks (accompanied by the guitarist and official Daisy Chain ally Waddy Wachtel). “Landslide” is always a crowd-pleaser, but given all the song suggests about the passage of time and the succession of generations, it was an especially poignant choice.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
13. Olivia Rodrigo: “Expectations”
When I first heard “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love,” I knew this song was going to be incredibly fun live, and in her first large-scale performance of it, Rodrigo did not disappoint. Though it is ostensibly a playful song about setting higher standards for romantic partners, in the context of Daisy Chain it took on an even grander scope, as its singalong bridge inspired the girls in the audience to profess aloud, in one unified voice: “I’ve got real big expectations.” As they should.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
The Amplifier Playlist
“A Daisy Chain Fields Soundtrack” track list Track 1: Olivia Rodrigo, “Drop Dead” Track 2: The Breeders, “Cannonball” Track 3: Mitski, “That White Cat” Track 4: Santigold, “L.E.S. Artistes” Track 5: Devon Again, “Cherry Cola” Track 6: Chappell Roan, “My Kink Is Karma” Track 7: Doechii, “Boiled Peanuts” Track 8: Sarah McLachlan, “Building a Mystery” Track 9: Die Spitz, “Riding With My Girls” Track 10: Bikini Kill, “Feels Blind” Track 11: Alanis Morissette, “Ironic” Track 12: Fleetwood Mac, “Landslide” Track 13: Olivia Rodrigo, “Expectations”
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The post A Daisy Chain Fields Soundtrack appeared first on New York Times.
