Overview
- Hayley Williams's billed 'Hayley Williams & Friends' set featured Lucy Dacus, Joy Oladokun, Remi Wolf, and Jack Antonoff and energized the main stage on Friday.
- Ms. Lauryn Hill arrived late for her scheduled hour and delivered a brief acoustic set of songs from her 2002 'MTV Unplugged No. 2.0' album after a DJ filled time.
- Susan Tedeschi's Tedeschi Trucks Band withdrew because of an unexpected appendectomy and Father John Misty was announced as a last-minute replacement.
- The festival mixed first-time and legacy appearances, including Hot Tuna's Newport debut, and foregrounded sustainability and community features such as the solar-powered Bike Stage with early sets by Lily Fitts and a HeadCount voter-registration presence.
- Local outlets ran live updates and photo galleries that captured sold-out crowds, frequent guest collaborations and cover songs, and uneven set timing that shaped the audience experience.