‘We’re at a crisis point’: Chappell Roan, Shirley Manson and Eli on playing Olivia Rodrigo’s women-led festival

Ahead of playing Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields, artists explain why female-first festivals are due for a resurgence When I first saw the poster for Olivia Rodrigo’s inaugural Daisy Chain Fields festival in June, I assumed it was AI. Chappell Roan, Doechii, Mitski, the Breeders, Bikini Kill and Garbage, all arranged in a neat line – and this was before I got to the words “special guests”. Karen O, Sarah McLachlan. And, to top it all off, Stevie Nicks? No. I saw the post confirmed on Rodrigo’s Instagram, and thought: how? According to Shirley Manson, the Garbage singer, Rodrigo called up every act one by one. “I told her it was very unusual for an agent not to be doing that.” Rodrigo isn’t shy about her influences, and has gushed about Garbage’s music as an inspiration for her own. “And unlike many artists, she doesn’t say she’s inventing the wheel; she knows she’s just a spoke within it,” said Manson. Rodrigo has earned the regard of some of the world’s most respected musicians partly for this reason: she had a feature with Robert Smith on her latest album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, and has duetted with the Smashing Pumpkins and Sheryl