Last weekend, Grant Park in downtown Chicago welcomed over 100,000 guests each day as Lollapalooza came and went. The four-day festival, from July 28th–July 31st, featured over 150 artists across seven stages, 30 local vendors serving famed Chicago cuisines, and a variety of merch shops and “bodegas” to fulfill all your shopping needs.
Chicago welcomed Lolla attendees with open arms on Day One with beautiful temps in the low 80s. Once making it through security, attendees could grab a drink at one of the plentiful bars or visit one of the shaded cocktail gardens for a themed drink. For those who arrived hungry, Chow Town had a bevy of local food vendors to choose from, including Chicago staples like Chicago’s Doghouse, Harolds Chicken, and Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria.
Day One performance highlights included pop artist Tove Lo at the Bud LIght Seltzer stage, bluegrass talent Billy Strings at the T-Mobile Stage, and famed EDM artist ZHU at the Solana X Perry’s stage. Metallica closed out the main stage (T-Mobile) with a bang as well.
Despite roaring hangovers and throbbing feet, festival-goers happily lined up at the gates for Day Two of Lollapalooza. Earlier in the day, bass producer Wreckno took over the Solana X Perry’s stage for a high-energy, all around fun set. Shortly after, up and coming rapper Cordae impressed the crowd at the T-Mobile stage, followed by indie band Glass Animals, who played crowd favorites like ‘Heat Waves’ and ‘Gooey.’ The Solano X Perry’s stage was on fire today with acts like CloZee, Liquid Stranger, and Rezz.
Dua Lipa closed out the main stage, while rapper turned pop-punker Machine Gun Kelly wrapped up the night at Bud Light Seltzer, bringing out several guest artists like Iann Diorr, Glaive, and Avril Lavigne.
Crowds thickened during Day Three as the weekend attendees starting making their way to the festival. Today’s artists included Dashboard Confessional at the Coinbase stage, French house producer Duke Dumont and Party Favor and Nitti Gritti’s project SIDEPIECE at the Solana X Perry’s stage. Rapper Big Sean performed on the T-Mobile stage and brought out a very special guest performer: his pregnant girlfriend and fellow musician, Jhené Aiko.
Tik Tok influencer/DJ Charly Jordan played her first-ever festival set at the Tito’s Handmade Vodka stage, while Kaskade, Kygo, J. Cole, and Willow all had closing sets across the festival grounds.
The bittersweet final day of Lollapalooza finally arrived. EDM acts Hannah Wants, Habstrakt, James Hype, ATLiens, Gordo, and John Summit took over the Solana X Perry’s stage as Italian glam rock band Måneskin performed at T-Mobile, Charli XCX at Bud Light Seltzer, Dominic Fike at Discord, and DJO (Joe Keery, aka Steve from Stranger Things) at Bud Light Seltzer.
Green Day closed out the festival at the T-Mobile stage while j-hope made history at the Bud Light Seltzer stage as the first Korean artist to headline a major U.S. music festival.
While many are currently experiencing those post-festival blues, we can all celebrate the recent news that Lollapalooza has officially been renewed for another 10 years, and next years dates have already been confirmed for August 3-6, 2022. See you next year Lollapallooza!
