The Newport Folk Festival one of the best known and longest running festivals held it’s annual ritual July 25-27th, 2025 and turned out to be a weekend full of great music and a nice mellow, happy good time. The weather gods for the most part did their part. Other than a brief delay in the music on Friday evening just before Kenny Loggins was to play, the rest of the weekend was lovely. Hot, as a music festival in July would be, but much less so with the sea breezes kicking in on the Newport waterfront and stages looking out from the fort to Narragansett Bay. The festival also brought in its annual mass of boats of every size and shape spending a day just off the front of the fort to enjoy the music as well.
The festival known for bringing out well known talent in the Folk Music world and also introducing newer fresher talent some may not have seen live before did it again this year with Kenny Loggins as a headliner and other crowd pleasers like Luke Combs and his southern folk. He is a great addition to the Folk Festival. His set was a very laid back sit down and singing from the heart set of songs he chose for the festival. All the bands were wonderfully received.
There is sometimes a band that somehow slips under the radar until you see them live at an event like The Newport Folk Festival. Hurray for The Riff Raff put on a great performance. With Alynda Segerra as the band’s frontperson, the band gave the audience a memorable performance and are now a band I’m interested in following.
It was all alright though and Kenny Loggins was back onstage after the weather delay on Friday and performed four songs including Danny’s Song during his acoustic set.
The hardest decision patrons had was choosing which band to take in on one of the 4 stages, including one powered by bicycles pedaled by the audience members, or what food to choose from among the many different types of offerings from vendors. The rest was just sit back and enjoy amazingly talented musical acts and make new friends. Some come for a day, some all 3. Many have made this trek for years and decades from all parts of the country.
Mary Chapin Carpenter’s appearance at this year’s festival marks her first appearance in decades at the festival and the crowd loved her. She sang some of her songs from the 90’s and was joined on stage by her newest album producer Josh Kaufman.
There were varied acts on the different stages. If you wanted something a little more funky there was Public Enemy with the ever vibrant front man for them, Flava Flav. They put on an upbeat performance that had the crowd jumping.
Lukas Nelson was another great talent in a list of great folk music that was out there all weekend.
Lucious was joined during their set by the legendary Mavis Staples and they sang “Go Home,” a song they had also performed together at the Newport Folk Festival in 2014 before Jeff Tweedy joined the trio onstage to finish out the set.
The bicycleing to an event is a novel and innovative approach that Newport has taken to in spirit and deed. They had dedicated roads leading into Fort Adams for bicyclists with no cars allowed, as well as rows of racks to lock them up to prior to entry. It reduced traffic and was planet friendly. Even one of the bands made a point of bicycling from Virgina to Newport for the event. It took a couple of weeks but the band member said the experience was well worth it. You could still come by car no problem and there were shuttles in abundance for both able bodied and ADA shuttles for those in wheelchairs or just needing a little more assistance.
Speaking of the ADA (American Disabilities Act) portion of the event. The Newport Folk Festival has made a point in recent years, especially this year, to make it a friendly venue for all including those with various needs. A dedicated gate for ADA patrons streamlines entry. Also, there is an Accessibility tent to visit when you arrive in the gates staffed with volunteers to help with information and supplying a wristband for access various accessible seating areas and a place to cool down or ask for aid with any situations that may arise and help resolving it. They are kind and understanding and make going to a festival of this size a much more seamless experience. All of the information about this was available on the NFF app prior to arrival to help eliminate surprises. Having gone to this festival before I could tell right from the start great strides have been and continue to be made to make it more enjoyable for everyone thanks to the great efforts of the Accessibilty team.
There was sunshine in abundance as well as people. The festival drew 10 000 people a day and it’s always a sold out event. Over the decades it has become one of the oldest and most popular festivals without fail. The bands are timed so there is no overlap which allows the maximum number of bands to be seen during the festival.
As always it was a very peaceful time and I saw people just genuinely just having a good time. Other than the rain delay on day one you could say it went off without a hitch.
So there you have it. Always a surprise or two but annually guaranteed to the a good time and fantastic way to spend a weekend in New England. See you next year and until then. (See Below)
For more information about The Newport Folk Festival visit Newport Folk Festival
Article by Donna Erichsen
Photos by George Bekris
