Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds has tapped Kesha, Tegan and Sara, Laura Jane Grace and more to perform at his 3rd annual LoveLoud Festival, taking place June 29th at the USANA Amphitheater in West Valley City, Utah.
Reynolds will also perform at the event, along with Martin Garrix, Daya, Grouplove, K. Flay and PVRIS. Additional performers and speakers will be announced in the coming weeks. The entire festival will be streamed live on AT&T’s social media channels.
Reynolds founded the LoveLoud Foundation and festival in 2017 as a way to raise money and awareness for organizations that benefit the LGBTQ+ community, particularly those focused on mental health and suicide prevention. The festival is again aiming to raise $1 million this year – it reached this mark in 2018 – with proceeds benefiting the Trevor Project, GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign, Tegan and Sara Foundation, Encircle and more.
“I’m truly honored and humbled to be headlining LoveLoud this year,” Kesha said in a statement. “I stand with my talented friend Dan Reynolds and Imagine Dragons in this fight for equality. We need to make sure that all LGBTQ+ people feel accepted and supported and that families have the support that they need. It’s important to try to keep families together and having positive open minded conversations and, for me, to be a part of something that can continue building the bridge to create a safe space for everyone sounds like a beautiful opportunity. A place that supports all people and all love.”
In a 2018 essay for Rolling Stone, Reynolds wrote about growing up in a devout Mormon household in Utah and grappling with the way his community often ostracized LGBTQ+ kids. Noting the steady rise of suicide rates in Utah, Reynolds wrote, “We are generally good people that want others to feel loved and accepted, but we are broken and following a teaching that is literally killing our youth. We cannot continue down this path. Every month that goes by, we are losing LGBTQ youth to suicide… We need to foster a community that is safer for them until they are old enough to make decisions for themselves and if needed, move to find a safer space with a circle of people that love and accept them for who they are.”