Hayley Williams Performs With Jack Antonoff, Lucy Dacus and Jenny Lewis at Newport Folk Festival
At the 2026 Newport Folk Festival, Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams hosted a headlining set billed as “Hayley Williams & Friends” at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island, featuring guest appearances by Jack Antonoff, Lucy Dacus, and Jenny Lewis.
Building the Fort Stage Collaboration Blueprint
The 16-song setlist on Friday, July 24, opening with the title track to her 2025 solo project, “Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party.” For festival organizers and major talent agencies, mounting a collaborative set of this scale requires intricate advance work.
Jack Antonoff joined Williams on stage to perform “I Wanna Get Better,” the 2014 debut single by his band Bleachers. The pair also collaborated on guitar for the Williams track “Good Ol’ Days,” sharing a vocal harmony and an on-stage embrace ahead of the Bleachers performance, as observed by concertgoers.
Deep Cuts and Surprise Collaborations
The set yielded several notable live debuts and deep cuts. Williams performed “Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris” live for the very first time, flanked by Lucy Dacus of the indie supergroup Boygenius. Dacus originally contributed background vocals to the track on Williams’ 2020 solo album, Petals for Armor, and also performed her own solo set on the Fort Stage earlier that Friday.
In another surprise moment captured by front-row attendees, Williams welcomed Jenny Lewis to the stage to duet on Rilo Kiley’s 2007 track “Silver Lining” from the album Under the Blacklight. Williams joined Lewis for the final verses, trading lines on the track before closing the segment. The diverse roster of guest performers on Friday also included Karly Hartzman, This Is Lorelei, Joy Oladokun, Liam Benzvi, Annie DiRusso, Kelsey Lu, Remi Wolf, Phoenix Rousiamanis, and Madi Diaz.
Festival Curation and the Newport Tradition
The collaborative set set the stage for a packed weekend at the historic festival, which also featured a Friday night headlining performance by Ms. Lauryn Hill. The Newport Folk Festival lineup continued through the weekend with performances slated from artists including The Lumineers, Nathaniel Rateliff, Brandi Carlile, Brandon Flowers, and Tom Morello.
Williams closed out her 16-song set with a collective group cover of the Bill Withers classic “Lean on Me,” joined by her assembled roster of guests before the festival transitioned into its weekend schedule.
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