Newport Folk Festival 2025 is in the books!

A recap and some highlights from a whirlwind weekend   

Photos by Emilee Angell

Another Newport Folk Festival has come and gone, and with it the annual message of community, collaboration, and commitment to making the world a better place—a place the embodies the spirit of the fest, where attendees are asked to be kind, present, open, and together.  

The closing set Sunday night, billed as “Songs for the People,” took this message further with a not-so-subtle string of covers ranging from “America” to “Talking ’bout a Revolution,” along with “Hallelujah,” “Waiting for a Superman,” “Eyes on the World,” as well as “Deportees,” “Friendship,” “All You Fascists Bound to Lose,” followed by “My Generation” and the closing number, “Goodnight Irene,” which saw a few dozen artists gather on stage, arm in arm. 

It was a closing that has come to be familiar at the festival, which this year spanned July 25-27 at Fort Adams State Park in Newport; sold-out since the spring, the event hosts 10,000 people a day and musicians across five stages.  

John C. Reilly served as closing emcee, a full circle task given he commenced festivities on Thursday evening in his role as announcer during the inaugural All-Star ballgame at Cardines Field, where musicians formed two teams and played seven innings in a game that was as entertaining as it was wholesome.  

“Tonight, we’re going to give some songs back to you,” he said from the stage Sunday evening. “Songs exist in the world already, kind of like seashells – they belong to all of us… Thank you so much for being part of what makes Newport special.” The response was a few thousand people cheering in anticipation.  

When Nathaniel Rateliff came out for “Hallelujah,” he told those gathered: “We’re 10,000 strong… we’re all here in defiance of fear. We have the opportunity to leave here in unity.” And that, he said, carries with it the possibility of creating change.  

There was a lot of talk of revolution and falling empires throughout the weekend, with some of the commentary explicit and some more quietly folded into the songs being sung even if the songs themselves were loud.  

But perhaps the most revolutionary element of the Newport Folk Festival is its ability to foster connections and collaborations—and its hope that festivalgoers leave inspired to connect, collaborate, and create ripples of change in their own communities, in ways big and small.  

This was seen and felt all weekend, on and off stage. From members of the greater Newport community running into each other despite the crowds, to artists bringing out friends and idols to share a song.  

Sammy Rae of Sammy Rae & The Friends said it best during their Sunday set on the Quad Stage, where she commented on how the festival embodies an ethos central to their band: collaboration. “Imagine if this was a picture of the world at large,” Rae said to the crowd. “Can you imagine? Why can’t it always be like Newport Folk?”  

Towards the end of their set, she told everyone: “I want you to go out there and put a smile on someone’s face… I want you go out there and tell somebody they got a place in this world… Go tell somebody you want to be friends with them. Can you do that?!” The crowd cheered.  

Later in the day, on the same stage, Mitch Cutts and his group Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners brought out one of their idols, Matt Quinn from Mt. Joy—who later played the main stage, where he brought out one of his heroes, Nathaniel Rateliff.   

“This is a special festival in that we’ve been able to see a lot of friends,” Cutts said, noting that on tour, you don’t get “to hug a buddy” very often. He went on to tell all the musicians in the audience to “get that song out there!” because you never know what will happen. He did that, despite the odds, and now “gets to share the stage with one of my favorite musicians in the world.” Together, he and Quinn sang “Lake Missoula,” a song about making music and putting it out there.  

That all of these musicians get to play together—and meet each other, which on more than one occasion has led to future music collaborations—is central to the festival’s core, and what so many of the artists comment on from stage, where nearly all express their thanks and gratitude for being invited to the legendary Newport Folk Festival, a place increasingly known for its community as much as its history.  

Even a thunderstorm and shelter-in-place notice on Friday couldn’t stop the music—or enthusiasm—for very long. An hourlong pause saw very few people leave, and had festivalgoers gathered back around stages as soon as they could, all united in a sweaty sheen and appetite for more magic moments.  

Rateliff may have been the man of the hour, popping up on stages (and ball fields!) throughout the weekend, including with members of the Newport Festivals Music Lab during their Saturday set on the Foundation Stage, but Lukas Nelson stole the show.  

Between Nelson’s set on Saturday, where his “Find Yourself” had some audience members swooning and thousands crooning “I hope you find yourself / Before I find somebody else to be my love,” to pop-ups with Jesse Welles, Margo Price, and Stephen Wilson Jr., to the closing set where he and Maren Morris sang an electrified cover of “Me & Bobby McGee” (which John C. Reilly declared “sexy as hell”) to an energized “Rockin’ in the Free World,” which brought the finale to another level entirely.   

Sunday also saw the appearance of music legend Mavis Staples, who Reilly dubbed the “Mother of Newport.” Moments after appearing on stage for the final set—assisted by the festival’s Executive Director Jay Sweet himself—the crowd of nearly 10,000 started singing “Happy Birthday,” to the surprise and delight of Staples.  

Flava Flav, who performed Saturday with Public Enemy, said it best in a video post he shared of a backstage exchange: “Public Enemy giving proper respect to music royalty Mavis Staples,” reads the text over the video, where Public Enemy is seen bowing before her. The caption declares: “Mavis Staples!! And the magic of The Newport Folk Fest.” 

This & that   

No two people can experience Newport Folk in the same way—there is simply too much to see and take in, from overlapping sets to vendors to spontaneous encounters, plus the fact that each artist resonates differently with different people. Inevitably, most festivalgoers have a set they wished they’d seen and a set they weren’t planning on that blew their mind. In that vein, here are some highlights, too good not to share: 

• The festival kicked off Friday morning with a last-minute early set at 10:30 a.m. featuring Nathaniel Rateliff. Jay Sweet was there to welcome the sizeable crowd given gates had only happened at 10: “Happy New Year! I said Happy New Year! Thank you all for coming early… In case you’re wondering, you’re at Newport Folk Festival!” He then introduced Rateliff, who he called his “spiritual brother,” and explained the early set was Rateliff’s idea to get more people to the festival for the start. “I said yes,” explained Sweet, “If you want to see what true music fans are like, come to Newport.”   

• Rateliff, upon taking the Harbor Stage that morning, told the crowd: “It’s always a pleasure to be here… every time there’s a new relationship that changes my life… We have an opportunity to observe ourselves as we listen to music… [and] as musicians it’s our job to see [and interpret] the world.” And with that, the 2025 festival officially commenced.  

• One of the most high energy sets of the weekend was Illiterate Light, who played on the Quad Stage Saturday morning and who have hosted the Bike Stage for the past few festivals. The duo biked 700 miles from their hometown in Virginia to reach the festival and are currently 11^th Hour Racing ambassadors. At one point during the set, Jake Cochran, drummer, leapt down from the stage, hopped on his bike, and did a lap through the audience. Soon after, security let the crowd rush the stage. It was just after 11 a.m. Illiterate Light first played the festival in 2019, and that year traveled by van. When they arrived, they saw all the bikes parked by the entrance and realized that if there was any festival that would understand their bike stage dream, it was Newport (shout-out to Bike Newport for parking all those bikes!).  At one point, they mentioned Pete Seeger and his belief that participation will save the human race. “I love that so so much – that’s the vision we’ve had with our little bike stage,” said Jeff Gorman, guitarist, adding that we can change the environment, the world, our systems. “Here’s to moving forward!” The response was robust.  

• The Newport Festivals Music Lab played two sets on the Foundation Stage, one group on Friday and the other Saturday. Langhorne Slim popped up with the Friday group (although not for the first time; he was in town in late June and had a rehearsal with the youths then), which drew a considerable crowd for the budding musicians. One of the instructors, Chase Ceglie, introduced the group: “It’s the highlight of my week, teaching these kids,” he said. “They’ve written two genuinely inspired original songs that you’re going to hear today.”  

• Tyler-James Kelly of the band The Silks played the main stage Friday morning. “It’s amazing to be standing here right now, absolutely insane,” he told those gathered. “Dream come true. Thank you.” Locals may know him from Pour Judgment, where he’s played a number of gigs over the years.  

• Another local favorite opened the main stage Sunday: Roz Raskin and their band Nova One. “How’s it going Newport?!,” Roz said from stage, where all the members done matching pink wigs. “We’re Nova One, a gay band from Providence Rhode Island!” The response was enthusiastic, and at least one passerby could be heard remarking: “They’re like local freakin’ legends!” At the end, Roz told the crowd: “We are a very queer forward band… we love science, we love immigrants, we love DEI, we love gay people!!”  

• Big Freedia graced the main stage Friday afternoon, bringing bounce music to the fort—along with a twerking contest. (Bounce music, fyi, is a New Orleans genre of hip hop).  

• S.G. Goodman took to the Harbor Stage on Friday—and also captained one of the All-Star teams during the Thursday evening ballgame. She was joined on stage by father-daughter duo Dan and Peggy Reeder, who contributed to a song about love. “Love can be simple, it can be complicated, but I think it can be pretty simple—that’s why I named this next song ‘I’m in Love’,” said Goodman, referring to track on her just-released album.  

• Kevin Morby took to the main stage Friday afternoon. “What an amazing, amazing festival – I’m happy to be back,” he said, noting he gets to share the stage with some incredible people. “All hail Big Freedia, that was incredible!” It was his fourth festival appearance and at one point he was joined on stage by another artist on the lineup, Waxahatchee aka Katie Crutchfield, who is also his partner and “better half.”  

• Geese (not to be confused with Goose) performed Friday on the Quad Stage—until a thunderstorm arrived and a shelter in place announcement halted all performances for roughly an hour. Before that happened, between songs, the lead singer said: “Anyone see Robert Lester Folsom today? Legend.”  

• A thunderstorm could not stop the music for very long. A shelter in place announcement was issued about 3 p.m. on Friday, with thousands of people leaving the stage areas for safer ground, which included the casements within the fort, structures like the Fort Adams gift shop and museum buildings, as well as anyone with a car heading there to stay put for about an hour. By 4:45 a crowd had already re-assembled under the tent at the Quad Stage, eagerly awaiting a return to the music. Around 5:10 MJ Lenderman and his band emerged: “They can’t stop us,” he said to enthusiastic cheers. 

• The Yeah Yeah Yeahs took the Quad Stage for the closing set Friday, with lead singer Karen O clad in a red paint suit with butterfly sequins, elaborate headpiece, rhinestone studded glove on her right hand, gold sneakers, and purple microphone. The band was joined on stage by a string quartet led by a conductor. When they sang “Maps,” off their 2003 album, the entire quad of a few thousand strong could be heard singing the chorus: “They don’t love you like I love you.” It was one of those “pinch-me-only-at-Newport-Folk” moments. 

• Another set that was a dream, and which reminded of the beauty of experiencing music in the company of hundreds—thousands—of others equally in awe: Bonny Light Horseman on Saturday. 

• Blink and you might have missed him: Kareem Rahma, of Subway Takes fame, played the Foundation Stage on Saturday morning with his band Tiny Gun.  

• Tom Odell on the Harbor Stage, seated at a piano, singing during a brief rain shower Sunday, which had the effect of feeling like a soundtrack for the moment.  

• The Swell Season brought out Josh Okeefe, who had the stage to himself for an Irish folk song, along with his guitar and harmonica. The crowd was enraptured. When Glen Hansard returned to stage, along with Markéta Irglová, he said: “Now, if you’re a manager or you work in the music industry, that’s Josh OKeefe – go find him. He needs ya.” Then The Swell Season rocked the stage with their beautiful ballads.  

• Political commentary was present throughout the weekend, in bits and bursts. Immigration was a recurring topic, with several performers issuing a “F*ck ICE” from the stage, Kevin Morby and Margo Price among them. The response? Robust cheers.  

• A man of the weekend was Jesse Welles, the festival’s 2025 John Prine Songwriter Fellow, who played the Fort Stage on Saturday and popped up on many stages throughout the festival, notably with Afro Appalachian folk artist Mon Rovîa on the Harbor Stage where they sang “Jester and the Bull.” During his own set, Welles brought out John Prine’s son, Jonny Prine, to “sing one of his daddy’s tunes.” The song? Angel From Montgomery.  

• Other notable covers, not including the finale: S.G. Goodman’s take on “Pepper” by the Butthole Surfers and a rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm” by Margot Price, Jesse Welles, and John C. Reilly, at the start of which the crowd was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop in the field.  

• Luke Combs closed out the main stage Saturday with a stripped-down set, which he said his band worked on for weeks leading up to the festival. “This is about the prettiest view from stage I’ve ever had,” he told the thousands gathered around the main stage. “Gosh this is fun, playin’ a little semi-acoustic set with the boys. It’s been a minute… Rarely do we get an opportunity any more to play acoustic.” Seated on a stool, he gave backstories to the songs, and was visibly emotional talking about his young sons, ages 3 and 2, who he wrote an entire album for; it’s called “Fathers & Sons.” (“Damn, was not expecting that to hit me,” he said after one tune, “I was in the moment there, couldn’t stop thinking about my boys.”) He saved his cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” for last.  

• Jack Antonoff of the band Bleachers was the closer on Friday night and brought out a range of guests, among them Weyes Blood, Waxahatchee, Dan and Peggy Reeder, Maren Morris, Jeff Tweedy, Rufus Wainright, and Hayley Williams of Paramore, who brought high energy to the final numbers. “Any other festival would get shitty and arrogant,” Antonoff said to the thousands gathered before him, “there are very few places where people buy tickets before they even know who’s there… I’m happy we’re all here, it means the world.”