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Aug 12, 2024 By Katie Dadarria Photography by Katie Dadarria Web Exclusive

The Newport Folk Festival 2024 continues to prove that “folk” as a term paints an incredibly broad brush, one that brings artists and people together as a community of humans in collaboration and hope. The festival has become known as much for its diverse lineup as for “to be announced” sets, superjams, and surprise guests that may only pop in for one song before jumping on a boat and heading out to sea. 2024 was no different.

Artists new and mainstay got a warm, enthusiastic welcome with a nearly picture-perfect New England summer weekend. Long entry lines and no cloud cover on Friday did not stifle any of the excitement for Guster — with the UMass band, and a swarm of dragonflies, to boot — MUNA, playing a more subdued set than their normal festival lineup, and the electric, dynamic Black Pumas, with singer Eric Burton getting friendly jumping in and putting arms around the lucky front row crowd. Beck survived Rhode Island traffic to perform a surprise set, quelling endless rumors circulating around the quad (and the internet). Allison Russell’s set was nothing less than transcendent, and closer Hozier was as beloved in Newport as much, if not more, than any other festival—with his biggest fan, Mavis Staples, right there with him.

Saturday’s vibes covered all bases. Technical difficulties could not shake the spirit and beauty of Rhiannon Giddens’ Americana. Hermanos Gutiérrez’s soulful sounds, Orville Peck’s blue-eyed country soul, the brotherly love of Craigie & Slim, and the shimmering, expansive sounds of The War On Drugs made it a day that felt like crossing the globe without even leaving Rhode Island.

The bike stage, the eco-friendly marvel powered by the absolute geniuses of Illiterate Light, highlighted newcomers like Britti, the ebullient New Orleans-based singer, Tiny Desk winner Alisa Amador’s genre-defying songs, the legendary ’s poetry, and the debut of the solo tunes of MUNA’s Katie Gavin, all while folk attendees got a little exercise to add to their steps for the day.

Killer Mike and De La Soul brought the funk and the fire to the quad stage on Saturday and Sunday—with the chairs even being taken out for the latter. These two sets were among the most fun, powerful, and mind-blowing of the weekend, with Killer Mike sharing passionate sentiment (and even a few tears) between bars, and De La getting the whole crowd dancing with abandon. The chairless mania continued on Sunday with a raucous set from New England’s own Dropkick Murphys.

The epic Sunday closing set, headlined by Conan O’Brien, featured a menagerie of guests—essentially everyone who had performed thus far, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog riffing on folk standards, another Mavis hang, the immaculate Brittany Howard riding the high of her own solo set, and casual swing-bys from Nick Lowe and Jack White, the latter of whom drove in the latter of whom drove in (literally) a few hours prior to catch some other artists. It feels like an embarrassment of riches, almost, to have experiences like this feel so normal for a festival—but that’s a testament to the beauty of Newport.