Japanese Breakfast and Leenalchi at the Stern Grove Festival

Sunday, June 21, 2026 | Stern Grove Festival
by Dave Golden

Maybe the tens of thousands of visitors in San Francisco for Pride weekend brought the sunshine with them, or perhaps it was simply the anticipation surrounding another outstanding lineup, but for the first time this season Stern Grove was greeted by clear blue skies and summer warmth. KEXP DJ Evie Stokes welcomed the crowds, as people filled every corner of the grove, up to the top of the hills between the redwoods.

After musical journeys to India and Colombia during the festival’s opening weekends, the 2026 Stern Grove Festival continued its global tour with a visit to South Korea. Making their U.S. debut, South Korean seven-piece Leenalchi delivered one of the weekend’s most unique performances. Built around an irresistible rhythmic foundation of two basses, drums and keyboards, the band reimagined traditional Korean pansori through an inventive fusion of rock, jazz and hypnotic grooves. Four vocalists traded centuries-old vocal styles over the modern instrumentation. Drawing from their acclaimed debut Sugungga along with the recently released Here Comes That Crow EP, Leenalchi’s theatrical performance quickly won over the grove audience. With the group now signed to David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label, I am looking forward to seeing more of this band in the future.

Headliner Japanese Breakfast took the stage, opening with “Paprika” and Michelle Zauner dashing across the stage to strike the gong. Zauner, proudly showing her baby bump, at one point reflected on the uncertainty of balancing motherhood with the fear of losing the creativity that defines an artist. Today’s performance put any such concerns to rest. The 22-song set moved gracefully between the tender beauty of “Kokomo, IN,” the emotional weight of “The Body Is a Blade,” and newer material including “Orlando in Love,” “Honey Water,” and “Mega Circuit.” closing the set wth “Be Sweet” before the band returned for an encore featuring “Diving Woman” and the exuberant finale, “Everybody Wants to Love You.”