My Dream Summer Festival Lineup
Let's Play Pretend Together, And Make the Setlist of the Season.
I’m obsessed with the Off Menu podcast. At this point, I’ve listened to so many episodes I’ve lost count. The concept is simple (but brilliant): each guest is invited to the dream restaurant, where they get to build their dream menu (starter, main, side, dessert, drink) while the hosts guide them through it. It’s the kind of interview that makes one think about personal taste in such a playful, intimate way, even for me who’s not that into food.
But you know what I am into? Music.
I breathe music. No, sorry, incorrect, I snort it. I’m your Spotify Wrapped fever dream with unhinged listening hours (we are talking waaaaaaaaaaay above average). So I thought, what if we flipped the concept? Instead of designing a dream menu (I might just do that too at some point in the future), I’d like to design my dream summer festival lineup—an ultimate experience with all the artists I love, perfectly curated to fit me. If you want to play along and make your own, I’ve put together some guidelines (and that’s on type a psychosis) to keep it fun, structured and slightly realistic.
The Rules:
Welcome to the ultimate daydream: a magical, imaginary music festival where you are the founder, curator, and creative director. Your only limit is your imagination.
Start by choosing the location (examples: A forest clearing, the desert, a city rooftop). Then, decide the vibe (examples: romantic, witchy, nostalgic). Pick the number of days (I recommend max 2) and how many stages (1–2 is perfect). Then start building your lineup using the categories below. Choose as many as you want but in order to keep the vision tight, I recommend a maximum of 20 acts for a 2-day lineup.
Headliners
These are the iconic names closing each night, your most beloved artists who you would sell your soul to see live.
→ 6 acts total (3 per day)
Supporting Acts
These are your must-haves, artists you think deserve more attention.
→ 12 acts total (6 per day)
The Wildcard
The unexpected moment. A reunion, a fictional band, a retired artist reappearing just for this night.
→ 2 acts total (1 per day)
OBS! You decide who belongs in each category, not the charts.
Scheduling
You’ll build your festival schedule from 2 PM to 11 PM each day — opening with your first supporting act to the final headliner and lastly the wildcard moment.
Line them up in the order you want them to appear.
Be as imaginative and descriptive as you want, add outfits or other details. Do it with your friends or family, have fun!
My Dream Summer Festival Lineup
Day 1
Supporting
2pm: Olivia Dean (I recently discovered her, and find she would be the ultimate warm-up. Her voice is so buttery soft and lovely, the perfect way to ease into the first day).
3pm: Keane (Nothing hits me with summer nostalgia quite like Silenced By The Night. Keane has made so many wonderful songs I have spent decades serenading me).
4pm: Estherlivia (My sister!! Well not technically but, she is family. She is so devoted to the art and she keeps finding ways to level up. I am in constant awe of this woman. I want everyone to fall in love with her the way I have).
5pm: MUNA (I need a little dancing and crying at this hour so MUNA will surely do it for me. Trust me, they will for you too).
6pm: Gorillaz (Next-level visuals and genre-mixed bops. I’d spend the hour with my siblings, singing along together).
7pm: Rina Sawayama (A glitter bomb of catharsis to end the supporting set. Rina is all fashion, vocals, rage. My three favorite things).
Headliners
8pm: RAYE (It’s finally her era and she deserves this slot! She is a poet with range and one artist I am dying to see live).
9pm: Hans Zimmer (Because I’m dramatic. Because I want him and RAYE to send me out of orbit with Mother Nature before he’d run through his best work. I am still up in arms about not having a ticket to him for next year).
10pm: Coldplay (Coldplay is peak collective emotion and so I’d listen to the last headliner of the night with my family. We’d sway to Everglow and play air guitar to Sky Full of Stars. There would be fireworks and glowing bracelets here as well).
Wildcard
11pm: One Direction (No, they will never reunite as a band ever again. Yes, it’s all I ever wanted. I don’t want to talk about it, I want to Sob-sing it with my best friends).
Day 2
Supporting
2pm: LÈON (A soft voice with big feelings. Very Golden-hour melancholy. I’d watch her set with my dad, who also adores her).
3pm: Luke Hemmings (His solo work is as underrated as it is introspective, and me and my sister would finally get to have our sad boy moments together).
4pm: Cautious Clay (Hello? He has the best singing voice in history!? Keep up).
5pm: AURORA (Like a woodland fairy sent to wake the spirits. She has a voice that’s otherworldly and I’d sell my soul to hear it live).
6pm: The Knocks (Well, after some fairy opera, I might need a dance break. The Knocks bring it funky).
7pm: Avril Lavigne (Because pre-teen me still dreams of seeing the pop-punk princess live).
Headliners
8pm: Hozier (If AURORA is the woodland fairy, Hozier is the man out looking for her in the depths of the forest, telling us of his journey. He makes me want to become one with the soil).
9pm: Miley Cyrus (My childhood hero, and my present muse. Enough said).
10pm: Lady Gaga (There is a slight chance I may get to see her for real this year, if not then at least here in my imagination she’d give me the spectacle I have been craving since the naughties).
Wildcard
11pm: ABBA (Our greatest gift hands down. What a phenomenon to have witnessed. Everyone would sing. Everyone would dance. Everyone would weep. The ultimate finale).
(You can hear the entire setlist in this Spotify playlist!)