After 1995's success with larger bands on the bill, the H.O.R.D.E. Festival swept the country in 1996, doing the festival-tour equivalent of kicking ass and taking names. H.O.R.D.E. had always operated in the shadow of other festivals such as Lollapalooza, but in 1996, the tour took on its most ambitious itinerary yet, playing over forty dates in twenty-six states.

The tour featured headliners Blues Traveler, Lenny Kravitz and Rusted Root for the entirety of the tour, and the the mixture of the three bands proved to be a perfectly complementary mix. Rusted Root would open the main stage with their percussive earth-jams and get the blood pumping quickly. Lenny Kravitz, though not one for varying his sets, put on a most impressive act, often jumping into the crowd and running up and down the aisles. His band members, especially saxophonist Harold Todd, often partook in the community vibe, sitting in with other bands dozens of times. The second stage rotated between prog-rockers King Crimson, Dave Matthews Band [their third straight year on the tour] and Natalie Merchant. King Crimson served as the long-running elder statesmen of the tour, supplanting the Allman Brothers Band. Other artists who weren't exactly spring chickens included veteran bluesman Taj Mahal - who would invite many a younger artist on stage to learn one of his classics - and Neil Young, who contributed his services to one date in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Young would later go on to headline the tour in 1997 along with newcomers Leftover Salmon. Other new artists later to be invited back included a young Agents of Good Roots, Cycomotogoat [who would later form John Popper's backing band on his solo project], and Col. Bruce Hampton's new project, Fiji Mariners. The Col. actually pulled double duty on some dates, playing his trademark chazoid with the Fijis and with Aquarium Rescue Unit on several dates.