Olivia Rodrigo promised some special guests for her headlining Daisy Chain Fields set, and she didn’t disappoint. The star recruited her heroes Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morisette, and Stevie Nicks to the stage at Irvine, California’s Great Park on Saturday night.
Rodrigo’s all-women festival — which donated $10 million to nonprofits benefitting women and girls — was inspired by Lilith Fair, the iconic traveling festival from the late Nineties. Lilith Fair was founded by McLachlan, so it only made sense that the trailblazer join Rodrigo onstage. They first duetted on McLachlan’s “Building a Mystery,” followed by her heart-wrenching hit “Angel,” which they dedicated to the late Dolly Parton, who died on Aug. 25 at the age of 80. McLachlan described Parton as “the O.G. matriarch, beautiful goddess” and “the biggest philanthropist” of country music.
Rodrigo then brought out Morissette, who filled in for Karen O after the Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer had to withdraw from the festival. They delivered a scorching “Ironic,” from Morissette’s 1995 masterpiece Jagged Little Pill. The duo first performed together back in May 2022 at the Greek Theatre in L.A., during Rodrigo’s Sour tour, when they sang “You Outta Know.” Tonight, they were beaming with happiness over being back onstage together.
Rodrigo and Morissette first met in 2021, when they both appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone for our annual Musicians on Musicians issue. “I remember having my mind blown when I was 13,” Rodrigo told Morissette in the interview. “I was in the car with my parents listening to Jagged Little Pill. I remember hearing ‘Perfect,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ I told my music teacher a couple days after: ‘You can write songs like that?’ I just looked at music and songwriting in a completely different way.”
Later at Daisy Chain, Rodrigo brought out the Gold Dust Woman herself. Nicks and Rodrigo enchanted the crowd with “Landslide,” trading verses while dancing together. “She reminds me of me, when I was her age a hundred years ago,” Nicks told the crowd of Rodrigo. “And I’m somewhat awestruck that she could do all this. Because it’s so hard, you have no idea, putting this together with all of these people. And she’s done it, with this grace.”
In a recent interview with Good Morning America‘s Diane Sawyer, Rodrigo hinted that “Landslide” might be a possibility at Saturday’s show. But the Fleetwood Mac staple has been on her mind for years: In her October 2023 Rolling Stone cover story, Rodrigo thought about what it would be like to play her breakout hit “Drivers License” decades into her career. “I was thinking about that the other day,” she said. “I saw Stevie Nicks singing ‘Landslide’ to this huge stadium of people. Not that ‘Drivers License’ is ‘Landslide,’ by any means. But I was like, ‘Damn.’ That heartbreak that you feel when you’re young, thinking about singing that song when I’m Stevie Nicks’ age … it’s really powerful.”
Rodrigo tore through several of her own songs as well, including cuts off her new album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, and debuted her recent single “Serena Joy.” She threw in some Sour and Guts classics as well, including “Bad Idea Right?,” “Good 4 U,” and “Drivers License,” the hit that started it all.
“I feel like I’m dreaming,” Rodrigo told the crowd. “This is the best day of my fuckin’” life!”
