While so many festivals struggle these days, Lollapalooza not only perseveres, but has boomed. One of the biggest music festivals in North America, this year it enjoyed a three-part documentary about its entire history, from touring alt-nineties roots to its twenty-first century version in the center of Chicago at Grant Park. Yes, it’s not what it was, but that’s because instead of wallowing in the past, it has embraced today & tomorrow, with more music than you could possibly catch, Thursday-Sunday, August 1st-4th:
It was another hot one at Lollapalooza on Day Three, as everything got bigger on the actual weekend. There was naturally more energetic, female-led alt-pop in Dora Jar at the Bud Light Stage, but Natalie Jane went darker, more emo at the darker (well, shadier) BMI Stage. Younger alt-rock came in the form of Friko at Toyota Music Den, while for those looking for ‘the next big thing,’ there was Will Linley at the BMI Stage with his own exuberance, shades of an early Conan Gray (playing the next day).
While Lollapalooza isn’t the exclusive alt-fest that it once was, it still has what-we-would-have-called-alternative-in-the-nineties, notably the alt-artists who are getting more attention in the mainstream, wider attention in general. On Saturday, there was BoyWithUke drawing a crowd at Tito’s Bandshell all on his own, if a bit awkward, but TV Girl’s Bud Light Stage show lacked some energy. More impressive was Ethel Cain at the IHG Stage, who put in her passion & emotion (which can be tough under the afternoon sun – relief could be found at the Hendrick’s Gin garden party), while Eyedress’s Bacardí Stage crowd at least got some shade. And if Hippo Campus sounded like they were covering Band of Horses on the IHG Stage, that’s a great Band, Hippo likewise the right balance of alt-country & mainstream for Lollapalooza.
And then there was Deftones at the T-Mobile Stage, as the sun was going down. Yes, Lollapalooza doesn’t have the hard rock sounds that once dominated it, but those sounds also don’t dominate the airwaves like they once did (back when there were airwaves). But Deftones were the perfect band to still bring that scream to Lollapalooza ’24 – beloved by their fans (it was notable how many Deftones t-shirts were seen on attendees this day), but also respected & enjoyed by everyone from alt-hipsters to mainstream pop-rock listeners. And you know that the band would it give it their all, even without down-with-illness guitarist Stephen Carpenter.
On the flip side, modern Lollapalooza is famous – or perhaps infamous – for Perry’s Stage. While named after festival founder/Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell, who was into electronic music long before the rest of America, the stage itself is home to the EDM DJs that a good chunk of Lollapalooza loves, and a good chunk of the fest just walks on by. For Saturday, it was renamed ‘Sonny’s Stage’, after Sonny John Moore, a.k.a. Skrillex, who not only closed it out, but also played a special bonus, late-announced opening set at noon. And if you’re gonna have an EDM stage with the likes of names such as Kenny Beats, it was good to also have an alt-DJ like Four Tet to give it some extra dimensions. And in his closing set, Skrillex acknowledged the stage’s ties to Farrell, that it still needs to be named after Perry – and shouting out the fans who were up front at the rail for his noon set & were still there in the evening, “You guys haven’t fucking moved…”
With two massive headline stages, Lollapalooza is able to bring in two big headliners each night, but you have to choose. There’s usually a difference in genre and age, making the choice fairly easy, but also creating certain expectations. Unfortunately, Future & Metro Boomin’s Bud Light Stage did not live up to the crowd’s hopes, starting with it starting 30 minutes late, not to mention security/safety issues that thankfully didn’t go Astroworld, but also marred it. None of that happened with The Killers at the T-Mobile Stage, who are certainly professionals, if perhaps a bit too slick, a bit too delivering exactly what they did/will do headlining other festivals this summer, from inviting a fan up on stage to play drums – not for the first time – to of course closing out with their twenty-year-old breakthrough “Mr. Brightside”, which they always will close with.
-words: Ted Chase
-photos: Amelia Baird (save Natalie Jane, courtesy of Erika Goldring)
