"I fell in love again / All things go, all things go / Drove to Chicago / All things know, all things know" -- All Things Go (ATG) as a festival really took off around 2018 after it went from a music journal to a live show production to a full festival in Washington, D.C. around 2014. Created from a true sense of care and love for indie music, All Things Go has managed to grow as a brand and event by spotlighting diverse female and queer musicians and fostering an environment that has become a safe haven and a space of belonging for many, especially the LGBTQIA+ community.
In 2018, All Things Go featured their first all-women lineup curated by singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers, which she also headlined alongside Billie Eilish. Since its conception, ATG has been committed to representing and balancing gender diversity in live music, now even partnering with the Book More Women Initiative. Because of this, the festival has created a strong community and attracted an audience largely made up of women and queer individuals, with the festival even taking on the loving nicknames of "Lesbopalooza", "Gaychella", and "All Things Gay."
Headlining this year's All Things Go Festival, the band MUNA has fondly embraced the festival’s culture as one of the first that felt inclusive and welcoming for them over the years. They have played the festival multiple times, the last time being in 2024 where their stage screen read "LESBOPALOOZA" before their performance, highlighting the vast majority of female and queer artists in the lineup and their love for the festival’s queer community/representation. They are now headlining it for the first time on Sunday, September 27, at All Things Go NYC at Forest Hills Stadium, and alongside Hayley Williams on September 26 in Washington, D.C. Other artists in this year’s lineup include Ethel Cain, Brandi Carlile, Zara Larsson, and Hemlocke Springs.
The festival began growing exponentially in 2022, and for its 10-year anniversary, they inaugurated the New York City edition in 2024, and the year after that, one in Toronto. Having gained major popularity in all 3 cities, the festival has recurrently championed huge and smaller artists in a one-stage setting that allows for full audiences and no artist overlap, making the entire event feel like one communal experience. `
This year's All Things Go NYC lineup is made up entirely of female and non-binary artists, reminiscent of the groundbreaking all-female festival Lilith Fair (1997-1999), and, most recently, Olivia Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields (2026). This isn’t always the case in ATG the way it was in the Lilith Fair or Daisy Chain Fields festivals, as male artists such as Noah Kahan and DJO held headlining spots just last year. However, All Things Go has intentionally evolved into a predominantly female and queer-fronted space, making these occurrences more rare but non-exclusive.
Putting women and queer people at the center of these festivals has allowed for a sacred space for the people in those communities to come together and enjoy music and art representative of who they are. It is a space of belonging. Shared spaces, such as these, are crucial for everyone, but even more so for people who have been historically treated as an afterthought in the music scene. The energy surrounding All Things Go feels different to other festivals; people attend ATG to live in that shared space/interests and enjoy music made by artists that make them feel seen. It isn’t about outfits or status, it’s about community. It is in these spaces that people can open up themselves and feel more comfortable in their skin, as well as be surrounded with like-minded individuals, making this festival invaluable to so many people for the space and representation they provide.
