Spring is here, which means that music festival season is officially underway! While you and your crew coordinate schedules and make plans on which ones to hit, Roots Picnic 2026 has entered the chat. The annual event returns to Philadelphia the weekend of Saturday, May 30th and Sunday, May 31st, with a new home at Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park and a loaded lineup.
Headlining Roots Picnic this year are JAŸ-Z, who’ll perform with The Roots on Saturday night, and Erykah Badu, who’ll close out the festival on Sunday night. Before those two icons take the stage, the roster throughout the weekend is stacked with talent.
Attendees can expect to get their R&B tanks filled by a wide range of singers. Hitting all the right notes will be Brandy, Bilal, Corinne Bailey Rae, Kehlani, Mariah The Scientist, DESTIN CONRAD, kwn, Sasha Keable and Beano French. Musical director and band leader Adam Blackstone is bringing his acclaimed Waiting To Exhale tribute to Roots Picnic featuring Yolanda Adams, Ledisi, Tamar Braxton, Andra Day and a few surprise guests.
On the hip-hop side of the coin, a few legends are on board to rock the mic right. There’s T.I., De La Soul, Black Thought and Wale performing with DJ and producer J. Period for his annual J. Period Live Mixtape and Jermaine Dupri, who’s bringing some friends with him. Up-and-coming rappers Amir Ali and Infinite Coles will also be in the mix.
In addition to all these performers, there’ll be several DJs on hand to run the jams and keep the vibes high. Among them are Philly’s own DJ Jazzy Jeff with his Magnificent Block Party, Soulection chief party rocker Joe Kay, Funk Flex, DJ Diamond Kuts, DJ Cash Money, DJ Aktive, DJ Doc B, DJ Miss Milan, DJ Kid Roc and Ray Bae The DJ.
Noochie and his Front Porch platform will be making their Roots Picnic debut in collaboration with gossip blog Baller Alert during a set in celebration of 50 years of go-go music, co-hosted by Kenny Burns. Rounding out the weekend will be numerous celebrity appearances, brand activations, exclusive experiences, curated food selections and a vendor village where you can buy merch and let the dollar circulate.
With this lit lineup and list of things to do, it’s clear that Roots Picnic 2026 is going to be one for the history books. If you and your crew want to get in on all this action, visit the Roots Picnic website to purchase weekend passes now.
