Rolling Loud’s only U.S. festival of 2026 changed its closing act the day before it opened, and the replacement made the most of it. Ken Carson closed Rolling Loud Orlando on Sunday (May 10) with a chaotic headlining set that brought out Lil Tecca, Destroy Lonely, Young Thug and Playboi Carti, Complex reported, and used the stage to kick off the rollout for The Xperiment.
How he got the slot
On Thursday (May 7), NBA YoungBoy told fans he was out. “To my Rolling Loud family, I won’t be making it this time,” he wrote in an Instagram Story. “I just need some time away from traveling and performing right now.” Rolling Loud shared the message and announced Carson, who wasn’t on the bill, as the new Sunday headliner, according to Pollstar. Billboard said Rod Wave and YEAT had been floated, but organizers settled on Carson, partly because fellow Opium acts Destroy Lonely and Carti were already playing Saturday.
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It was the festival’s first time in Orlando, and it sold out Camping World Stadium. Per Pollstar, Amazon Music held exclusive streaming rights, with the stream on Twitch, Prime Video and the Amazon Music app. The bill also included EsDeeKid, Chief Keef, Sexyy Red, Nettspend, fakemink and OsamaSon.
Night one: Don Toliver, rain and YEAT
Don Toliver opened the weekend on Friday (May 8) under a downpour that drenched the stadium about an hour before he took the stage around 9:45 p.m. ET, Billboard reported. He emerged from smoke and foliage that replaced EsDeeKid’s castle set. Sixty thousand fans met “E85,” the Octane opener still in the Hot 100’s top 40, with a frenzy, and the surprise was YEAT joining him for “Rendezvous.” He closed by previewing the “E85” video on the jumbotrons, in which he gets arrested after a high-speed chase.
Sunday: Carson’s set
Carson hit the smoky stage around 9 p.m. ET and, per Billboard, made his closing-night headline debut a statement: about 13 songs from his catalog, an unreleased track and a run of guests. Lil Tecca joined for “Tic Tac Toe” and “500lbs.” Destroy Lonely came out for “The Acronym” and “Singapore”; Carti quipped from backstage, “That’s my song, too.” Young Thug performed “Yuck” and then took the stage solo for “Digits.” Carti closed the guest run with two new collaborations, “ARP” and “Cover My Ears.”
Carson also previewed snippets of unreleased songs, including “Grow Apart,” “Boil” and “Stars,” and a new track produced by 2hollis that touched on his critics. “No matter what I make, they gon’ call it rage,” he raps in it. Billboard overheard a fan who said, “That was the greatest set of my life.”
What’s next
Carson’s More Chaos topped the Billboard 200 last year, and The Xperiment is the follow-up he has now started to tease. Toliver’s Octane Tour continues in Tulsa on May 12, with a Houston homecoming on May 14.
- Festival
- Rolling Loud Orlando, May 8–10, 2026, Camping World Stadium
- Headliners
- Don Toliver (Fri.), Playboi Carti (Sat.), Ken Carson (Sun., replacing NBA YoungBoy)
- Guests on Sunday
- Lil Tecca, Destroy Lonely, Young Thug, Playboi Carti
Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.
