The Must-Experience Guide To Essence Fest 2025

Getty Image/Merle Cooper

This weekend, Essence Magazine’s annual music festival is set to take over New Orleans once again. Under the theme We are Made Like This, this year’s festival features GloRilla, Muni Long, and local favorite Master P, celebrating the magazine’s 55th anniversary over the Fourth of July weekend with three days filled with pure Black joy. The event will be held at the Caesars Superdome and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, showcasing a blend of legendary artists like Boyz II Men and Maxwell alongside fresh talents such as Summer Walker, ensuring there’s something for every music enthusiast to enjoy. Comedian Anthony Anderson and radio host Kenny Burns will be the event’s hosts, and the festivities won’t just kick off at night. During the daytime, the festival will offer new experiences for attendees, including a food and wine festival, a market, a wellness house, a film festival, a creators’ house, and much more. With a history spanning several decades, this event is recognized as the largest celebration of Black culture in the United States.

The festival features over 20 unique curated experiences designed to honor the vibrant and brilliant heart of Black culture, encompassing music, art, style, and film. Even when you’re not immersed in the festival’s activities, you’ll find yourself surrounded by a rich cultural tapestry of food, music, and history as far as the eye can see (and as far as your appetite can handle). Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the choices? Need assistance in planning your anti-FOMO itinerary? You’re in luck! If you’re visiting the Crescent City this Fourth of July weekend, we’ve got your back. Here are our top five must-see, can’t-miss highlights at this year’s Essence Festival of Culture.

The Stacked Evening Concert Series

Each night of the festival, the Superdome will be transformed with ESSENCE concerts, offering festival-goers a blend of emerging artists and iconic performers across genres like R&B, hip-hop, Gospel, Jazz, and Soul. Where else can you experience The Isley Brothers, Erykah Badu, and Nas alongside Buju Banton and Keri Hilson?

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