Robert Plant Joins the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Lineup for October 2 to 4

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass said on Tuesday, September 15 that Robert Plant will play this year’s festival, which runs Friday October 2 to Sunday October 4 in Golden Gate Park. The festival has not said which day or which stage, SFist reported, citing the San Francisco Chronicle. Plant is billed with Saving Grace and singer Suzi Dian.

He Is Playing Twice That Weekend

The Chronicle reported separately that Plant, Saving Grace and Dian have a ticketed show at the Orpheum Theatre on October 2, the same day the festival gates open. So there are two Plant performances in the city that weekend: one indoors and paid, one in the park and free. The festival set is the one that costs nothing.

This is Plant’s fourth appearance at Hardly Strictly, per the Chronicle. He played in 2008 with Alison Krauss and T Bone Burnett, returned in 2011 with the Band of Joy, and played again in 2019 with the Sensational Space Shifters.

Alison Krauss Has Come Off the Bill

Alison Krauss and Union Station, announced in the festival’s second lineup drop alongside Jerry Douglas, have canceled. Krauss was told to rest her vocal cords and the band called off the rest of its tour, SFist reported. That removes one of the bigger names from the 2026 bill in the same week Plant was added to it.

Who Else Is On

The lineup has been released in four batches since July. Among the acts announced so far: My Morning Jacket, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Old Crow Medicine Show, Hiss Golden Messenger, Kathleen Edwards, Sierra Hull, Jesse Welles, Mama’s Broke, a tribute to Joe Ely with the Flatlanders, Mavis Staples, Los Lobos, Lukas Nelson, Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives, Tift Merritt, Moonalice, Miko Marks, Alison Brown, The Record Company, Steve Poltz and The Third Mind. We covered the August lineup announcement when Los Lobos and Mavis Staples were added.

Planning Around It

When: Friday October 2 to Sunday October 4, 2026. Where: Hellman Hollow, Lindley Meadow and Marx Meadow in Golden Gate Park. Cost: Free, no ticket required.

The day-by-day schedule is what tells you when Plant is on, and the Chronicle reported it is due September 22. If you only have one day in the park, wait for that before you pick it.

Note the calendar collision at the other end of the weekend: San Francisco Fleet Week starts Sunday October 4, so the festival’s closing day overlaps the opening of Fleet Week on the northern waterfront. The two events sit on opposite sides of the city and both draw large crowds onto Muni.

Photo: Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.