lollapalooza 2021
Journey to the Past: How Lollapalooza’s Unlikely Headliner Influenced Gen Z
When Neal Schon revealed in April that Journey was playing Lollapalooza, the collective world met it with an eyebrow raise, a shoulder shrug and everything in between (especially when you factor in that little pandemic thing that may or may not be shutting down the country again). It seemed like an odd match for one of the ’80s’ biggest jukebox heroes (and the Adult Contemporary radio pioneers) to be playing the granddaddy of what was the alternative scene. Yet, there we were on a sticky Chicago July afternoon, the ones out of town-ers hear about but never like to acknowledge ’til they’re in it, and the latest edition of the classic rockers’ lineup was set to close out the Bud Light Seltzer stage. Talk about strange bedfellows: Journey was competing against Post Malone on the other side of...
DaBaby Booted From Lollapalooza Lineup Following Homophobic Comments
After a week where DaBaby was widely admonished for making blatantly false statements and insulting gay men and HIV along with other misogynistic comments at the Rolling Loud festival in Miami, the rapper (Jonathan Lyndale Kirk) was kicked off Sunday’s Lollapalooza’s lineup. “Lollapalooza was founded on diversity, inclusivity, respect, and love. With that in mind, DaBaby will no longer be performing at Grant Park tonight,” a statement on the festival’s Twitter account read on Sunday morning. Young Thug will replace him as the headliner on the Bud Light Seltzer stage. Lollapalooza was founded on diversity, inclusivity, respect, and love. With that in mind, DaBaby will no longer be performing at Grant Park tonight. Young Thug will now perform at 9:00pm on the Bud Light Seltzer Stag...
Tyler, The Creator Brings Out Igor During Lollapalooza Headlining Set: 5 Best Moments
For a set so steeped in the concept of escapism, it oddly and unintentionally suited a moment in which 100,000 fans were seeking just that by attending the first major festival to return since the start of the pandemic — and as the COVID-19 Delta variant is on the rise. While Tyler never made any remarks on the return of live music as night one headliner Miley Cyrus did, to do so would have also pulled attendees out of the scene he aimed to set. Here are the five best parts of Tyler, The Creator’s Lolla headlining gig. The Theatrics From the moment Tyler came on stage to the final second of his set, he acted as if every spare moment was part of a music video, moving intentionally with each step and smile. In fact, under his bellhop outfit was the very same look he wore in the “...
Perry Farrell’s 5 Favorite Lollapalooza Moments
Lollapalooza has defied the old F. Scott Fitzgerald adage from The Last Tycoon that “there are no second acts in American life.” Since 2005, Perry Farrell and partners have hunkered down in Chicago’s Grant Park (for the American version) to bring the once-alternative playground that spit in the face of the mainstream more into the mainstream. Though this year’s fest’s impact is yet to be known, there’s no doubt in the festival’s 30 years (on and off at various points), Farrell has seen it and been through it. So, what better way than to get the best stories from Lollapalooza’s history than from Farrell himself? However, just as we got rolling, the Jane’s Addiction/Porno for Pyros didn’t pull any punches and came out of the gates firing. In fact, he blamed SPIN for him n...
Lollapalooza 2021 Opens in Full Force as COVID Looms Large
In the history of Chicago concerts, there has likely never been as much riding on a live music event as on Lollapalooza 2021. It’s been less than two months since the city fully “reopened” for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic sent it spinning into lockdown, and like elsewhere in the country, the rise of the Delta variant has been cause for alarm due to its implications for public health and local economies. Chicagoans are rightly concerned about what a massive outbreak related to a festival with roughly 100,000 attendees per day could mean for the safety, health, and livelihoods of the people who live and work in the city (Chicago Tribune columnist Rex Huppke called Lollapalooza a “mistake waiting to happen”). And in the live music community in Chicago and beyond, which is just g...
