It’s a conversation that comes around every festival season. Why aren’t there more women on the lineups?
2026 seemed to be the year things could change. Gen Z pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo took things into her own hands and staged the first Daisy Chain Fields Festival in California. The lineup was formed exclusively of female artists, stacked with both industry titans and up-and-coming artists. We’re talking the likes of Chappell Roan, Mitski, Stevie Nicks and Bikini Kill, all performing to an audience made up almost entirely of women and girls. The festival raised a total of $20 million for non-profit partners dedicated to advancing and advocating for women and girls, such as Planned Parenthood and the Black Mamas Matter Alliance.
Olivia said she was inspired by the Lilith Fair, a now-defunct touring festival conceived by Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan in 1996. Like Daisy Chain, the Fair’s slots were reserved for female solo artists and women-led bands only. If this was happening back in the 90s, why does Olivia’s festival feel so revolutionary almost 30 years on?
For Ella McWilliam, Co-Founder of culture comms agency Full Fat, Daisy Chain Fields highlights the power of festivals to do good.
“While global political parties go backwards on girls’ and women’s rights, it’s hugely encouraging that artists like Olivia Rodrigo make deliberate moves to fight for what she and her huge fan base care deeply about.
Her sold-out festival not only raised $20 million for 10 charities supporting girls, it also showed the music industry, obsessed with making money, that it’s possible to sell out and do good at the same time. In fact, it will help you shift those tickets.”
And so we got to thinking. If Olivia’s festival proves that female artists draw huge audiences – and bring in shedloads of money – why are promoters still hesitant to book them?
Just look at London’s 2026 festival season. Granted, there were some strong female-led lineups. All Points East hosted Jorja Smith and Tems for a double header, and then – in one of the most hyped festival days of the summer, on our algorithms at least – Lorde was joined by the likes of Zara Larsson, PinkPantheress and Sienna Spiro.
Darcey Jackson, Director of Talent at AEG Presents, was a major influence behind these women-led bills. “We managed to confirm Zara ahead of our initial announce and then it was just like a rocketship after that. She’s an artist that is so beautifully outspoken, locked in with her fanbase and just seems to be having a fun, silly, glam time along the way. That whole All Points East bill was a dream come true, with PinkPantheress, Sienna Spiro, Rose Gray, Erin Le Count etc. Here’s to 2027.”
But elsewhere on the All Points East lineups, there was still room for improvement. Of the 30 artists across Tyler, the Creator’s two All Points East headline days, just seven were female solo artists or female-led bands. On Deftones’ day, only six of the 16 acts featured a woman. It begs the question: when men are headlining, why can’t women support? There seems to be an all-or-nothing approach, as if the fans of male headliners couldn’t possibly handle more than a couple of women on the lineup.
There was a similar story at BST Hyde Park. Across eight days of performances, only 39% of acts were female. Not a single headliner was a woman. Instead the star slots were given to the likes of Garth Brooks, Maroon 5, Mumford & Sons, Pitbull and Lewis Capaldi.
Darcey explains that often factors outside of promoters control can get in the way of bookings. “Women right now are making some of the best music in the industry – the challenge comes when it’s not the right touring cycle for them, or plans change last minute. Unfortunately, this was the case at BST Hyde Park this year, and I promise you we tried SO hard for everyone you could probably think of; the timing just wasn’t right for them.”
It still feels like a waste of incredible talent. Days like Wolf Alice’s homecoming show in Finsbury Park where they welcomed artists such as The Last Dinner Party, Lykke Li and Rachel Chinouriri prove that we’re not lacking female acts. You only need a quick glance at the charts to see that the women are killing it right now. Olivia Dean dominated another summer, this time with Sam Fender by her side, setting a record number one run, while the likes of Sienna Spiro, Ella Langley and Olivia Rodrigo herself held down the rest of the top 10.
So why can’t festivals book them?
Laura Davidson worked for years as a promoter on the festival scene. She explains that the problems lie off-stage.
“The barriers to securing spots are certainly not for a lack of incredible women artists. I do feel that, unfortunately, a large part of the imbalance comes down to a lack of women within the organisations and teams responsible for booking these events.
I believe real change will come when we have more women in positions of power, which is hopefully not too far off.”
Davidson set up her own live consultancy, Amigas, which brought together leading female voices all pushing to empower women to enter the live music industry. But the music biz continues to be male-dominated, and while it is, she believes that the power to drive real change sits with the big artists.
“A Daisy Chain-style festival is definitely possible,” she says, “Although I think it would most likely come from an artist with the profile and influence to bring people together, like Olivia Rodrigo, and/or a team of women with a shared vision. It would just take people willing to speak out, and use their collective influence to make something this ambitious happen.”
So could we see it happen next summer? Even if there’s not a solely female festival, we still need more women on the bill, full stop. We’re tired of festival heads treating female bookings like a risk. There is more than enough proof that audiences want to see women on stage – from the huge hype around Daisy Chain Fields and All Points East’s female-fronted days to Lilith Fair’s blockbuster success all the way back in 1996. That was 30 years ago, change is long overdue.
We’re shining a light on the issues women continue to face as part of our Year of the Woman campaign. The World Economic Forum has said it could take 123 years to reach global gender parity, meaning several generations may pass without seeing true equality in their lifetimes. We firmly believe that, particularly in the current climate, a level playing field will only be achieved if these issues continue to be highlighted and challenged. Find more Year of the Woman content here.
