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If you're overwhelmed by the sheer amount of music festivals happening this summer, I can definitely relate: There's so many lineups and so little time. But as an avid concertgoer, I can say that if there's one Pride music festival you should be going to this June, it's LadyLand on June 28-29.
Every June since 2018, LadyLand has brought the most relevant artists in queer culture to Brooklyn, and this year's lineup is no exception: The two-day event is bringing headliners Tinashe, Arca and Tokischa, and other queer artists like Baby Tate, Bob the Drag Queen and Cakes da Killa. Basically, all your Internet faves.
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It's the kind of lineup that can only be built out by producers who are keenly in touch with the culture: And Ladyfag, who curates the festival, is exactly that.
If you didn't know, Ladyfag is the queer nightlife staple that has survived multiple eras of NYC nightlife and the mastermind behind classic parties like Battle Hymn and Holy Mountain. Before LadyLand, there weren't a lot of boutique festival experiences for the underground queer clubkids, and Ladyfag wanted to create something she describes as a queer-centered Coachella.
After years of sitting on the idea, she finally threw the first LadyLand seven years ago. "If no one's going to do this I'm going to do it because it needs to be done," Ladyfag told Time Out. She planned the first one out of her kitchen and just winged it. "I put together a festival than me and my friends would actually want to go to," she says. Aside from all that partying, there will also be sections to eat, to rest, to drink, to sit by the water and to have all sorts of intimate encounters, potentially.
When curating the lineup, Ladyfag thinks about having artists for a variety of taste and also books artists that might not be that big yet but have shown promise of getting bigger. In the past, they've booked artists before their careers exploded, including Kim Petras, Rina Sawayama, SOPHIE, King Princess, Honey Dijon and many others.
Most of LadyLand's artists are queer, and if they're not, they're artists that queer people are really excited about right now. This year, they'll have three stages under the K Bridge. The third stage will be a DJ truck that will give different kinds of DJs with different skill levels an opportunity to play a big stage during Pride. It's a good place to see who might become bigger in the near future. "We're just a small team that wants to make big things happen for people and for New York," Ladyfag tells Time Out.
That's what, in my opinion, makes LadyLand so great. Despite having big artists, it still feels grassroots—it's uplifting artists that are coming up and queer DJs who might not have the biggest platform yet. It's a festival that feels like it's still in conversation with the people who have supported them from the beginning. When so many events are chasing the biggest names without much substance behind their curatorial choices other than bringing in cash, LadyLand stands out as a queer festival to support. "We just want to have more and more and more gay," Ladyfag says.
You can get your tickets for June 28 or June 29 here.