Lollapalooza- Chicago

Chicago Hosts The Mega Fest

I have always wanted to attend Lollapalooza and finally this year it has happened. Created as a farewell tour for Jane’s Addiction in 1991, it became an annual touring collection of alternative rock bands that helped launch the careers of Nine Inch Nails and Pearl Jam. I was always too poor or geographically challenged to attend the touring show. As alternative rock became more and more popular the tour struggled to stay out of the mainstream. Eventually the tours ended, and Lollapalooza was revived as a weekend music festival based in Chicago. More recently it has expanded to numerous concerts around the world including Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Germany.

Day One

Yesterday was a great first day. We arrived at the festival around 2pm filled our teenager’s Camelbacks with water and sent them off in into the crowd. My wife and I decided to explore and get the lay of the land. I didn’t realize how massive this festival was! With a total of 8 stages, dessert island as well as a kids area and numerous interactive sponsor tents, there is something for everyone including free shit! A few notables were Waterloo customized trucker hats to custom cozies from Bud Light and even our own custom socks from Toyota.

The big story from yesterday was Chappell Roan. Chappell was originally supposed to be at one of the smaller stages but just like at Bonnaroo earlier this year she had to me moved to the main stage to accommodate her fans. The pink was out in full force and overtook most of the park when she came on stage in her pink and blue wrestling gear and luchador mask. Through all of the screaming when she appeared on stage, I could hear multiple women say they had never been to Lollapalooza and she was the only reason they came. She electrified the crowd for an hour with songs like “Feminomenon” and “Hot to Go”, the crowd grew so large that it overflowed into a nearby stage and didn’t allow for any Kesha fans to enter and see her perform right after.
I ducked out of Chappell to get to the other side of Grant Park to see one of the best bands on the whole bill, Jungle. This band formed in 2013 in the UK and recently won 2023 Best British Group at the Brit Awards for their 2023 album Volcano. They are a hard genre to describe, some say funk, some say dance, and some say electronic. I like to think of them as if Earth Wind & Fire and EDM had a British baby. Jungle brought the energy to their set and got the crowd moving. If you have not had the chance to see them, you must check them out.
My validation for acknowledging a great band was seeing none other than Mr. Lollapalooza himself, Perry Farrell!!! Got Perry’s attention and even got a wave and a smile. Trip is already a success.

The artists that closed out the night was going to be Tyler the Creator and Hozier however Tyler had to cancel at the last minute and was replaced by Megan Thee Stallion. I know people love Megan but definitely a different vibe than Tyler so we stayed down the other end of the park to see Hozier for the first time. I knew Hozier from the song “Take Me to Church” but had no idea he had a rock star side to him. Each song brought the crowd in starting with Eat Your Young and then his new song debuted for the first time Nobody’s Soldier which was kicks off with some great riffs and is quickly becoming one of my favorite songs of the night.

As the rain started to fall it was time to meet back up with the teenagers at Perry’s stage where Fisher was closing out the night with a wild DJ set that kept the muddy crowd jumping. Then it was time to fight the crowds back into the subway and get some sleep before day two.