Froligo Desk

By Scene

What's changing, what's rising and what matters across each part of festival culture.

Pop & MainstreamRockEDMCountry & AmericanaBlues & SoulJazzWorld & CulturalChristian & GospelMedieval & Historical
Portola is three weeks out: Robyn, Swedish House Mafia, Four Tet and Tiesto on the San Francisco waterfront

Coming upThree weeks outtoday

Portola is three weeks out: Robyn, Swedish House Mafia, Four Tet and Tiesto on the San Francisco waterfront

Portola returns to Pier 80 in San Francisco on 26 and 27 September. The 2026 bill on the official site includes Robyn, Swedish House Mafia, Four Tet, Tiesto, Dog Blood and Zara Larsson, and the lineup did the rounds of the music press again this week.

Two days, one pier, and a bill that leans as much to pop as to the dance floor. If you were waiting to see who was playing before booking, the wait is over.

Verified Dates and lineup from portolamusicfestival.com, checked 12 August; lineup coverage seen in RouteNote via Google News, 4 September.

Go deeper Portola on Froligo Robyn

Bumbershoot, year 54: Turnstile, Death Cab and a drink you can carry anywhereYouTube

Week in reviewSeattletoday

Bumbershoot, year 54: Turnstile, Death Cab and a drink you can carry anywhere

Seattle's legacy arts and music festival filled Seattle Center on 5 and 6 September for its 54th year. Turnstile headlined Saturday, Death Cab for Cutie came home to close Sunday, and the bill ran through Bikini Kill, Japanese Breakfast, Blood Orange, Orville Peck, De La Soul, Peaches and Sudan Archives, with art shows and speakers around the music.

Three changes worth copying elsewhere: Sip & Stroll let you carry your drink across the whole campus with no beer-garden fence, re-entry passes let you step out and come back, and children 12 and under got in free with a ticket-holding adult.

Verified Dates, lineup and the new policies from Seattle Center's event page and Seattle Refined; the festival's own site for the schedule. Attendance not published.

Go deeper Bumbershoot on Froligo Death Cab for Cutie

Rocklahoma turned 20 with Slayer closing the ranchYouTube

Week in reviewPryor, Oklahomatoday

Rocklahoma turned 20 with Slayer closing the ranch

Twenty years in, Rocklahoma ran 4 to 6 September on the Rockin' Red Dirt Ranch outside Pryor with more than 40 acts: Godsmack on Friday with Stone Temple Pilots and Black Label Society, Papa Roach on Saturday alongside Cypress Hill, Dropkick Murphys and Living Colour, and Slayer closing Sunday with Suicidal Tendencies and Insane Clown Posse on the same day.

Last year's edition drew about 77,000 across the weekend, and the organiser has not yet published this year's count. Papa Roach's set was the band's first at Rocklahoma since 2015. Camping on site is most of the point here; the ranch is the festival.

Verified Lineup and anniversary from Pollstar (24 February) and Consequence; last year's attendance from Rocklahoma's press reporting. 2026 attendance not yet published.

Go deeper Rocklahoma on Froligo Rock festivals

Bumbershoot, year 54: Turnstile, Death Cab and a drink you can carry anywhereYouTube

Week in reviewSeattletoday

Bumbershoot, year 54: Turnstile, Death Cab and a drink you can carry anywhere

Seattle's legacy arts and music festival filled Seattle Center on 5 and 6 September for its 54th year. Turnstile headlined Saturday, Death Cab for Cutie came home to close Sunday, and the bill ran through Bikini Kill, Japanese Breakfast, Blood Orange, Orville Peck, De La Soul, Peaches and Sudan Archives, with art shows and speakers around the music.

Three changes worth copying elsewhere: Sip & Stroll let you carry your drink across the whole campus with no beer-garden fence, re-entry passes let you step out and come back, and children 12 and under got in free with a ticket-holding adult.

Verified Dates, lineup and the new policies from Seattle Center's event page and Seattle Refined; the festival's own site for the schedule. Attendance not published.

Go deeper Bumbershoot on Froligo Death Cab for Cutie

Portola is three weeks out: Robyn, Swedish House Mafia, Four Tet and Tiesto on the San Francisco waterfront

Coming upThree weeks outtoday

Portola is three weeks out: Robyn, Swedish House Mafia, Four Tet and Tiesto on the San Francisco waterfront

Portola returns to Pier 80 in San Francisco on 26 and 27 September. The 2026 bill on the official site includes Robyn, Swedish House Mafia, Four Tet, Tiesto, Dog Blood and Zara Larsson, and the lineup did the rounds of the music press again this week.

Two days, one pier, and a bill that leans as much to pop as to the dance floor. If you were waiting to see who was playing before booking, the wait is over.

Verified Dates and lineup from portolamusicfestival.com, checked 12 August; lineup coverage seen in RouteNote via Google News, 4 September.

Go deeper Portola on Froligo Robyn

TrendingYou askedtoday

You asked: where is Chris Stussy from? And why is he suddenly Chris Stassy?

Every week we gather the questions you asked most and try to answer them. This week, somewhat unexpectedly, you really wanted to know where Chris Stussy is from, and a good number of you typed Stassy. Both are right: he was on the bill at ARC in Chicago over Labor Day weekend, and in August he changed his stage name from Stussy to Stassy. The answer to the question: Leiderdorp, near Leiden in the Netherlands, born Niels Christiaan Steenbergen, now based in London.

His sound is classic deep and tech house, his label Up The Stuss is still called that, his debut album Lost, Found & Forgotten came out in April, and BBC Radio 1 Dance gave him a residency the same month. Press play on the right, then see where he plays next on his Froligo page.

Signal Google Search Console: 'where is chris stussy from' 125 impressions at position 11, plus 22 for the Stassy spelling, week to 2 September

Go deeper Chris Stussy on Froligo ARC Music Festival

Burning Man 2026: the playa did it againYouTube

Week in reviewBlack Rock Citytoday

Burning Man 2026: the playa did it again

Around 70,000 people built Black Rock City in the Nevada desert from 30 August to 7 September under the theme Axis Mundi. A dust storm swept the site the day before gates opened, and the weather kept coming: the gate shut on Thursday evening for wind and dust, then stayed closed all of Friday under wet-playa protocol after overnight rain turned the ancient lake bed to clay. It reopened on Friday evening in time for Saturday's burn. Sadly, a man in his fifties died during the week. The county attributed it to a medical emergency, and our thoughts are with his people.

The art still delivered: the Man and the Temple, a post-apocalyptic treehouse called Above and Below, a sculpture of Zarvan, the Persian deity of time, a shattered Eiffel Tower and a family of metal octopi. If you are going next year, the lesson of this one is old and simple: the playa is a lake bed first, so pack for mud as well as dust.

Verified Attendance, theme and art from USA Today's report at the gate opening, 30 August; the closures from SFist and the Reno Gazette Journal via MSN, 4 September; the death per the county's statement as reported by SFist.

Go deeper Burning Man on Froligo Black Rock City 2026, the official page

ARC went to four days in the city that invented houseYouTube

Week in reviewChicagotoday

ARC went to four days in the city that invented house

ARC Music Festival ran 4 to 7 September in Chicago's Union Park, its first four-day edition, with more than 100 names: Anyma, Underworld, Michael Bibi, Honey Dijon, Sara Landry, Chase & Status, Chicago's own Derrick Carter and a run of back-to-backs including Joy Orbison with Ben UFO and The Blessed Madonna with Lil' Louis. A new stage, The Midway, debuted, and the ARC After Dark series spread across the city's clubs from Thursday to Monday.

Chris Stussy was on the bill, which is why so many of you asked us where he is from this week (answer above). A four-day city festival with after-parties is a different animal from a camping weekend: you sleep in a bed and the party still does not stop.

Verified Lineup and format from Electronic Groove and Mixmag at the announcement, and WGN; the festival's own site for dates and stages. Attendance not published.

Go deeper ARC Music Festival on Froligo Chris Stussy

Mighty Roots names its 2026 bill: St. Paul & The Broken Bones top the main stage in Stovall

News FlashLineuptoday

Mighty Roots names its 2026 bill: St. Paul & The Broken Bones top the main stage in Stovall

Mighty Roots Music Festival, 25 to 26 September at Stovall, Mississippi, has published its full lineup and an official playlist. Saturday's main stage runs Pothole Paradise, Happy Landing and St. Paul & The Broken Bones, with a jam session at the Stovall Store stage.

A Delta festival on a working farm, and the playlist means you can hear the whole bill before you decide to drive.

Verified Lineup and playlist supplied to Froligo by the organiser, 1 September. Dates match mightyrootsmusicfestival.com.

Go deeper Mighty Roots Music Festival The official playlist

Mighty Roots names its 2026 bill: St. Paul & The Broken Bones top the main stage in Stovall

News FlashLineuptoday

Mighty Roots names its 2026 bill: St. Paul & The Broken Bones top the main stage in Stovall

Mighty Roots Music Festival, 25 to 26 September at Stovall, Mississippi, has published its full lineup and an official playlist. Saturday's main stage runs Pothole Paradise, Happy Landing and St. Paul & The Broken Bones, with a jam session at the Stovall Store stage.

A Delta festival on a working farm, and the playlist means you can hear the whole bill before you decide to drive.

Verified Lineup and playlist supplied to Froligo by the organiser, 1 September. Dates match mightyrootsmusicfestival.com.

Go deeper Mighty Roots Music Festival The official playlist

Indy Jazz Fest names its 2026 programme: Sheila E. headlines the 26 September finale

News FlashLineuptoday

Indy Jazz Fest names its 2026 programme: Sheila E. headlines the 26 September finale

Indy Jazz Fest runs 22 to 26 September in Indianapolis, and the full programme is out: The Big Beat at The Vogue on Friday the 25th with Nate Smith, Break Science and The Nth Power, then a two-stage, ten-band finale at the Indy Art Center on Saturday the 26th with Sheila E. & The E-Train, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, MonoNeon and the Charlie Hunter Trio.

Ten bands, two stages, art, food trucks, one Saturday. If Indianapolis is within driving distance, this is the jazz weekend of the month.

Verified Programme supplied to Froligo by the organiser, 1 September. Dates match indyjazzfest.net.

Go deeper Indy Jazz Fest Jazz festivals

Burning Man 2026: the playa did it againYouTube

Week in reviewBlack Rock Citytoday

Burning Man 2026: the playa did it again

Around 70,000 people built Black Rock City in the Nevada desert from 30 August to 7 September under the theme Axis Mundi. A dust storm swept the site the day before gates opened, and the weather kept coming: the gate shut on Thursday evening for wind and dust, then stayed closed all of Friday under wet-playa protocol after overnight rain turned the ancient lake bed to clay. It reopened on Friday evening in time for Saturday's burn. Sadly, a man in his fifties died during the week. The county attributed it to a medical emergency, and our thoughts are with his people.

The art still delivered: the Man and the Temple, a post-apocalyptic treehouse called Above and Below, a sculpture of Zarvan, the Persian deity of time, a shattered Eiffel Tower and a family of metal octopi. If you are going next year, the lesson of this one is old and simple: the playa is a lake bed first, so pack for mud as well as dust.

Verified Attendance, theme and art from USA Today's report at the gate opening, 30 August; the closures from SFist and the Reno Gazette Journal via MSN, 4 September; the death per the county's statement as reported by SFist.

Go deeper Burning Man on Froligo Black Rock City 2026, the official page

Mighty Roots names its 2026 bill: St. Paul & The Broken Bones top the main stage in Stovall

News FlashLineuptoday

Mighty Roots names its 2026 bill: St. Paul & The Broken Bones top the main stage in Stovall

Mighty Roots Music Festival, 25 to 26 September at Stovall, Mississippi, has published its full lineup and an official playlist. Saturday's main stage runs Pothole Paradise, Happy Landing and St. Paul & The Broken Bones, with a jam session at the Stovall Store stage.

A Delta festival on a working farm, and the playlist means you can hear the whole bill before you decide to drive.

Verified Lineup and playlist supplied to Froligo by the organiser, 1 September. Dates match mightyrootsmusicfestival.com.

Go deeper Mighty Roots Music Festival The official playlist

News FlashDatestoday

Louisiana Renaissance Festival runs six weekends from 7 November, straight from the organiser

The 2026 season runs Saturdays and Sundays from 7 November to 13 December, plus the Friday after Thanksgiving: 13 days in all, in Hammond, Louisiana.

Weekend-only runs catch people out. Turn up on a Wednesday and you will find a very quiet field.

Verified Confirmed to Froligo by the organiser, 3 September, and matched against the dates on renfest.net.

Go deeper Louisiana Renaissance Festival Medieval and historical festivals

Eastport Pirate Festival is on, 11 to 13 September, and it is free

News FlashThis weekendtoday

Eastport Pirate Festival is on, 11 to 13 September, and it is free

Eastport, Maine, the easternmost city in the United States, holds its pirate festival next weekend on Water Street. Free entry.

It is next weekend, it costs nothing, and it is always the weekend after Labor Day, so you can plan next year now too.

Verified Confirmed to Froligo by the organiser on 1 September: dates, venue and free entry as listed.

Go deeper Eastport Pirate Festival Festivals in September

News FlashIn the newstoday

Arkansas Renaissance Festival is open for six weekends, and the jousting made the local news

The festival runs every Saturday and Sunday from 29 August to 4 October at Dragonstone Springs in Mount Vernon, Arkansas. Little Rock's KATV and THV11 both covered the opening weekends, jousting included.

Four weekends left, and the site lists a Viking weekend among the themed dates. Check the theme before you pick your Saturday.

Verified Run dates and jousting from arrenfest.com, read 6 September; press coverage from KATV (4 September) and THV11 (1 September) via Google News.

Go deeper Arkansas Renaissance Festival Renaissance faires and historical festivals