Hayley Williams Stages Solo Showcase at Newport Folk Festival, Joined by Karly Hartzman, Jenny Lewis, and Jack Antonoff

Friday night at Newport Folk Festival often trades on surprise, but Hayley Williams turned it into something more deliberate. Billed as “Hayley Williams & Friends,” her headlining set was less a showcase of novelty than a practical extension of a solo career that never got its own stage. The touring cycle for 2020’s Petals for Armor and 2021’s Flowers for Vases / descansos was erased by the pandemic; material written for live performance was forced into a vacuum. At Newport, Williams began to fill that gap.

The evening opened with the title track from her just-released Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, then moved briskly through guests who functioned as co-conspirators rather than set pieces. Karly Hartzman (Wednesday) appeared on “Mirtazapine,” Jack Antonoff on “Good Ol’ Days,” and Lucy Dacus reinforced “Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris,” bringing the 2020 recording’s backing vocal to the stage. These weren’t casual drop-ins; each arrived with clear ties to the recorded material.

A generous portion of the set was given to covering friends: Jenny Lewis sang Rilo Kiley’s “Silver Lining,” Antonoff led a raucous “I Wanna Get Better,” and Joy Oladokun offered her own “I’d Miss the Birds.” Remi Wolf and Liam Benzvi debuted new songs with Williams as sideman. The night closed with a mass sing-along to Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me,” a choice that avoided sentimentality by letting the crowd carry the weight. It was a show built to reclaim what got lost, and it didn’t pretend otherwise.