Overview The Cincinnati Music Festival is a late-July weekend of rhythm and blues, soul and hip-hop inside Paycor Stadium, home of the Bengals, and it began in 1962 as the Ohio Valley Jazz Festival, a festival Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder have all played. Friday and Saturday are the big stadium concerts. The festival moved through the Carthage fairgrounds, Crosley Field and Riverfront Stadium before settling at Paycor. On site On Friday and Saturday doors open at 6 p.m. and the music runs from 7 until 12:30 a.m. For 2026 the organizers put a new stage at midfield with video walls big enough to reach the whole bowl, and the stadium's club lounges had been rebuilt. Thursday in 2026 was a hip-hop tribute in the CareSource Club for more than 1,000 people, with Talib Kweli, Hi-Tek, DJ Spinderella and DJ Vader. Food and merchandise vendors line Freedom Way outside, premium clubs, suites and bars run through the stadium, and on Saturday at noon the Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame holds a free induction ceremony - Heatwave and WCIN radio went in during the 2026 festival. The NFL clear-bag policy applies, and there is no re-entry. Audience It is a travel weekend. In 2025, 80% of the fans came from outside the Cincinnati metro, and the top home markets after Chicago and Detroit ran through Columbus, Cleveland-Akron, Indianapolis, Dayton, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Buffalo. An economic study by Visit Cincinnati and the University of Cincinnati Economics Center counted $2.1 million in hotel tax from the festival. Talent and Influencers The 2026 Friday bill was Charlie Wilson, Nelly, Tyrese, Ledisi and 803 Fresh. Saturday closed on Mary J. Blige, with Trey Songz, SWV, Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick and Heatwave. Earlier years brought Luther Vandross, New Edition, Earth, Wind and Fire and Kanye West. Track record By 2000 the festival was drawing more than 60,000 people a year, and in 2025 it hosted 81,500 over three days. The Visit Cincinnati and UC Economics Center study put its total economic output at $107.4 million, with $530,000 in Hamilton County sales tax and $363,000 in local income tax on top of the hotel tax. Brand presence Procter and Gamble presented the 2026 festival. Stadium signage covers the DJ booths in the club and on the main stage, onstage screens, sound towers, the backstage VIP bar, LED ribbons that run between sets, and more than 500 IPTV screens across the concourse, concessions, clubs and suites. Activation space sits at Gates B, C, D and E, the backstage bar, the club, the patio deck and the sideline level, with room for sampling and giveaways, and the 2026 edition ran three brand activation sites inside the stadium. Hospitality runs through suites remodeled in 2026 and named rooms including the Fifth Third Touchdown Room and the Western and Southern Lounge.