festivals
04/15/2025
Whether it was Cardi B spraying Whipshots into the crowd or LISA shutting things down just by showing up, these were our favorite moments in the desert.
04/15/2025
SoCal’s high holiday of music festivals, Coachella, returned to Indio, California, this past weekend, April 10-13. As always, the event offered far more music than one person can possibly consume, with some of the biggest music stars in the world turning up and turning out across the festival’s many stages. As an acutely hot Friday […]
Janelle Monáe, RAYE and The Roots are all headed to Rhode Island this summer, with the musicians set to join dozens of other acts in holding down the 2025 Newport Jazz Festival taking place in the first few days of August.
As announced Tuesday (April 15), this year’s iteration of the iconic jazz music celebration will feature the above artists as well as Jacob Collier, Jorja Smith, Esperanza Spalding, Willow, Thee Sacred Souls, De La Soul, The Yussef Dayes Experience, Rachael & Vilray, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Dianne Reeves and Sofi Tukker. The Christian McBride Big Band, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Knower, Samm Henshaw, Cymande, Hiromi’s Sonicwonder, Kenny Garrett, Carrtoons and many more are also on the billing.
Taking place on three back-to-back days Aug. 1-3 at Fort Adams State Park, this year’s iteration of the festival will mark its 71st edition. Specially priced three-day passes became available for online purchase on a first come, first serve basis Tuesday, and on Thursday (April 17), more ticket packages will go on sale at 1 p.m. ET via DICE.
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Run by the Newport Festivals Foundation — which, in addition to running its iconic annual jazz and folk offerings, is dedicated to supporting music education and artist relief programs — Newport Jazz is one of the world’s longest running music festivals. Last year, the lineup featured André 3000, Laufey, Cory Wong, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Kamasi Washington, Elvis Costello, Brittany Howard, Robert Glasper, Thievery Corporation, Samara Joy, Noname, PJ Morton and more.
See the Newport Jazz Festival announcement and lineup below.
The MATI Festival and Conference is returning for its fifth edition in St. Louis, Missouri later this year, organizers announced on Tuesday (April 15). Taking place Sept. 12-14 in the Grand Center Arts District, the festival — which is leaning into the acronym for Music at the Intersection — will feature over 100 performances and presentations across three main stages and several nearby venues.
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This year’s headliners include rapper-actor Common with Pete Rock, R&B icon Patti LaBelle, hip-hop influencers De La Soul, jazz composer Branford Marsalis, recent Grammy winner Lucky Daye and neo-soul singer-songwriter Leon Thomas. Local trumpeter Keyon Harrold returns as MATI’s artist-in-residence, while Pedrito Martinez joins as the artist-at-large, performing across multiple sets.
With a new format and identity focused on celebrating “St. Louis Made” music, MATI honors the city’s heritage rooted in blues (the National Blues Museum is down the street), jazz, soul, R&B and more, alongside artists from culturally connected regions like the Caribbean and Mississippi Delta. Local artists such as Ryan Trey, The Baylor Project, Marquise Knox and Weedie Braimah will feature prominently.
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MATI’s footprint has also been tinkered with to provide a barrier-free experience, replacing a stage on Washington Avenue with food trucks, street performers and other family-friendly activities. Three main stages—The Big Top, Field Stage and The Sovereign —will host the headliners, while a new “MATI Places” initiative will activate adjecent indoor venues with acts, DJ sets, poetry slams, workshops, panels and keynotes, with the conference portion now spanning the full weekend.
Passes go on sale April 18 here, with weekend passes priced at $150. Special MATI Places-specific day passes will be available this summer.
Presented by the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, MATI is supported by the Steward Family Foundation and Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis.
“If you’ve been to MATI, you can feel that it’s special,” said Chris Hansen, executive director of Kranzberg Arts Foundation. “It’s a microcosm of the city: all ages, races, ethnicities. No neighborhood divides. People who can afford tickets and people who can’t. All joyous. All together in the streets of Grand Center. We want to keep MATI a true, representative community experience.”
The lineup includes Common & Pete Rock, Patti LaBelle, Lucky Daye, Leon Thomas, De La Soul, Branford Marsalis, John Medeski’s Mad Skillet, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, The S.O.S. Band, The Budos Band, Leela James, Arooj Aftab, The Baylor Project, The Womack Sisters, Coco & Breezy, Pedrito Martinez, Keyon Harrold, Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, Pirulo Y La Tribu, Butcher Brown, Marquise Knox with Funky Brass Band, Brothers Lazaroff Super Friends, Weedie Braimah & The Hands of Time and more.
Just weeks after being named Billboard‘s 2025 Woman of the Year, Doechii is heading to the Create & Cultivate Festival to inspire women in business as the event’s headlining performer.
As announced exclusively by Billboard on Tuesday (April 13), the Swamp Princess will take the stage at Rolling Greens DTLA in Los Angeles in front of an audience of female executives, innovators and entrepreneurs on July 19. Billed as the “largest event for women in business,” the two-day festival will also feature speeches from Olympic gold medalist Jordan Chiles, Proper founder Amanda Kloots, TV personality Paige DeSorbo and more, as well as a keynote address from Ciara.
According to the event’s online schedule, attendees will experience back-to-back days filled with workshops, networking opportunities, start-up pitch competitions, live podcast recordings, investor meetings and more. Doechii will perform at the end of Day 1 on the Main Stage.
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“We’re pioneering a new type of event to better serve the needs of modern businesswomen said Create & Cultivate CEO Marina Middleton in a statement. “Most women-focused event experiences focus exclusively on empowerment or are reserved for side events of large industry-specific conferences built only for industry optics. The Create & Cultivate Festival will break down industry barriers to unite a newly formed community of ambitious women across business, tech, sports, entertainment, hospitality, finance and culture.”
For a festival about empowering women, it’s hard to think of a performer who’s better suited than the “Denial Is a River” rapper. In February, she became only the third woman to ever win the best rap album category at the Grammys thanks to her hit mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal, and in March, Billboard gave her top honors at the 2025 Women in Music Awards.
“I stand here as a fierce ally,” the Florida native said during her acceptance speech at the latter event. “This event was created out of a necessity. That word, necessity, is important. My mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal, was a space I created out of necessity. A space where I could feel seen, heard and connect with other people through experiences.”
“This is our motherf–king night to rightfully come together to acknowledge each other, support each other and to celebrate,” she added at the time. “We are the creators, we are the executives, we are the innovators who are just as central to this industry as the men. Clock it.”
All Things Go festival will return to the Washington, D.C. area this fall with headliners Noah Kahan, Lucy Dacus and Doechii, who will be performing her first-ever festival headlining slot. The three-day festival will also feature performances from Clairo, Kesha, The Marías, MARINA, DJO, Julien Baker & Torres, and Lola Young.
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Set for Sept. 26-28, the festival returns to its iconic venue Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md. The 11th edition of the festival promises another year of incredible performances from established and emerging artists across a myriad of genres, with the majority of artists identifying as women or non-binary. With a welcoming and diverse environment, the festival has been dubbed “Gay-chella,” “All Things Gay” and “Lesbopalooza” over the years.
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Additional performers include The Last Dinner Party, Faye Webster, Role Model, Wallows, Griff, Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, Lucius, The Beaches, Joy Oladokun, G Flip, The Backseat Lovers, Hippo Campus, Orion Sun, Bartees Strange, Gigi Perez, Ashe, Rachel Chinouriri, MICHELLE and Molly Grace.
In 2023, the festival expanded from one to two days with performances from Lana Del Rey, Maggie Rogers, boygenius and Carly Rae Jepsen. In 2024, All Things Go added a simultaneous weekend in New York. The lineup announcement for ATG Festival 2025 in New York at Forest Hills Stadium will be announced soon.
Tickets for the Merriweather Post Pavilion edition of the festival will go on sale Thursday at 10am ET. Public on sale will begin on Friday. Head here for tickets and the full DC-area lineup.
Sen. Bernie Sanders made an unexpected appearance at Coachella 2025.
The 83-year-old Vermont independent took the stage at the Indio, California, festival on Saturday (April 12) to introduce Clairo and deliver a politically charged message.
“This country faces some very difficult challenges, and the future of what happens to America is dependent upon your generation,” Sanders told the crowd, according to Time. “Now you can turn away and ignore what goes on, but if you do that, you do so at your own peril. We need you to stand up and fight for justice, to fight for economic justice, social justice, and racial justice.”
At one point, after referencing the “President of the United States,” the audience responded with boos. “I agree,” he replied.
The longtime politician went on to criticize President Donald Trump’s stance on climate change. “[Trump] thinks that climate change is a hoax. He’s dangerously wrong,” the senator said. “And you and I are going to have to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and tell them to stop destroying this planet.”
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Sanders also addressed wealth inequality and corporate power. “We have an economy today that is working very well for the billionaire class, but not for working families,” he said, calling for action against insurance and pharmaceutical companies. “Healthcare is a human right,” he added.
The senator praised Clairo for using her platform to advocate for critical issues. “I’m here because Clairo has used her prominence to fight for women’s rights, to try to end the terrible, brutal war in Gaza, where thousands of women and children are being killed,” he said.
Later that evening, Sanders reflected on his appearance through X, posting a photo from the stage. “Thank you, Coachella. I enjoyed introducing the great @clairo tonight,” he wrote. “These are tough times. The younger generation has to help lead in the fight to combat climate change, protect women’s rights, and build an economy that works for all, not just the few.”
Earlier in the day, Sanders appeared at Los Angeles’s Gloria Molina Grand Park as part of his ongoing “Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here” tour alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The event also featured including Neil Young, Joan Baez and Maggie Rogers.
The Sanders-AOC tour has drawn thousands at rallies across Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Utah. At a March 7 stop in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Sanders invited musician Laura Jane Grace to the stage to perform a provocative new song titled “Your God (God’s D—),” which sparked controversy online for its profane lyrics and religious themes.
Cactus Jack was always meant for the desert. Travis Scott told Complex he always wanted to headline Coachella — he even rapped about the decorated festival on ASTROWORLD’s “SKELETONS” and he took full advantage of the spotlight on Saturday night (April 12).
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La Flame was tasked with designing the desert, and he continued to push the envelope with his innovative world-building when it comes to his performances, which are simply unmatched in hip-hop at the moment.
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A 60-plus person marching band combining brass members from Jackson State’s Sonic Boom and Florida A&M University’s Marching 100 gave Scott’s “4×4” and anthems like “SICKO MODE” and “FE!N” a renewed texture and shelf life.
Scott had wrung about as much as he could out of the UTOPIA era and delivered on his promise of Coachella marking a “new chapter” for the Houston rapper.
La Flame previewed a pair of unreleased songs with the first being a lucid track that’s tentatively titled “She Goin Dumb.” “You getting wasted, just don’t waste mine,” he sings on the chorus. While the second finds Scott in a fun pocket on the smokey tune seemingly titled “On Jacques.” “We brought magic to the stu because it get tricky,” Trav raps.
It’s unclear if they’re intended to kick off Scott’s next solo effort or will end up on the JACKBOYS 2 compilation project, but it’s a welcome sign for where La Flame is headed sonically.
Scott is always looking for new ways to test the limits of what’s possible with his shows. He had dancers suspended in mid-air like the cover of NSYNC’s No Strings Attached album. They were flipped upside down like a pack of bats in the midst of the ethereal “Stargazing.” Tate McRae, a potent dancer in her own right, appreciated the theatrics and lent her stamp of approval on her IG Story from the crowd.
In a shoulder pad vest equipped with sunglasses and a Nike headband, Scott himself got in on the action to scale the stage’s stanchion wall while rappelling down and performing “Skyfall.”
The 33-year-old isn’t shy about how much Kanye West has meant to his career. Being a branch on the West artistic family tree, Scott having a model strut down the catwalk as the muse for “90210″ felt like something out of Ye’s “Runaway” playbook.
An interesting moment and perhaps olive branch to mend the fences with Drake came when Scott performed a mash-up of “Modern Jam” and Drizzy’s “NOKIA,” which comes on the heels of a “Modern Jam” and “NOKIA” blend that went viral on X from user Spectre earlier this year. It seemed to make it onto La Flame’s radar and he messed with it so much, it made the cut for his Coachella set.
The HBCU-led marching band gave Scott another avenue of creativity to explore as an orchestrator and made his performance art feel that much richer. Catalog anthems like “SICKO MODE” and “FE!N” felt like they received a fresh coat of paint with the brass band’s involvement in the arrangement meshing with Scott’s AutoTune-laced vocals. Of course, in typical Trav and DJ Chase B fashion, they had to run back the chaos of “FE!N” a few times.
The thrilling 70-minute solo set took fans on a rollercoaster ride through Scott’s career from when he was couchsurfing in the early 2010s looking for his break to becoming one of the most lucrative brands in all of music. Whether it was “Mamacita,” “Goosebumps,” the dreamy “My Eyes,” or his verses on Playboi Carti’s MUSIC, there was something representing every era of La Flame.
“That was a great set,” a fan was heard saying as “TELEKINESIS” and a firework show ended the night, while another attendee looked visibly emotional when the lights came on.
And perhaps the best part after everything? He’s still not satisfied, as the hunger for greatness remains. A photo emerged on social media shortly after Scott’s set of the Cactus Jack honcho back in the studio, tweaking tracks with the Coachella euphoria fueling him.
While Scott’s called arenas home for the majority of his past two U.S. treks, La Flame’s creativity thrives when the stakes are highest and venues are biggest. Buckle up, the next chapter is here.
Benson Boone made a memorable Coachella debut on Friday (April 11), lighting up the main stage with surprise guest Brian May for a powerful rendition of Queen’s iconic 1975 hit “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Wearing a white-and-blue outfit reminiscent of Freddie Mercury’s classic look, the 22-year-old singer delivered a high-energy set complete with his signature backflips. Midway through the performance, Boone sat at the piano to begin “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and moments later, May emerged dramatically from the top of the stage, guitar in hand, to join him.
The legendary Queen guitarist stuck around for Boone’s final song, “Beautiful Things,” adding signature Queen-style riffs to the emotional track, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2024.
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“It has changed my life this year and I hope you enjoy it,” Boon said prior to hit set, which was filled with fireworks and pyrotechnics.
May had teased the surprise appearance by posting a photo of himself and Boone on a plane headed to Palm Springs. “Look who I bumped into – on the way to the fabled Palm Springs,” May wrote on Instagram. “Maybe something will happen ?!”
Boone replied with a playful comment: “What are you doing with Pedro Pascal.” P!nk also joined in, commenting, “Perfect combo right here.”
During his set, Boone also announced that his second album, American Heart, is dropping on June 20. He premiered the title track and revealed the cover art, which shows him standing in front of an American flag.
Coachella’s opening day was packed with standout moments, including sets from Lady Gaga, Tyla, LISA, Mustard, and more. Catch Billboard’s full recap of day one here.
Coachella 2025 got off to both a literal and figurative hot start on Friday (April 11), with daytime temperatures in the desert hitting 100-degrees and a cavalcade of stars gracing the festival’s many stages. Among them were hip-hop legend Missy Elliott, South African star Tyla, pop queen LISA, rapper GloRilla and many others including Lady […]