Lolla Highlights: The First Two Days Of Lollapalooza 2023 Chicago

Aug 08, 2023 admin_bitlc Features, Music News, Reviews 0

By Alex Valentovich

Thursday :

The 5pm slot on the first day of the fest can be a hard spot to fill as fans are still getting in before the headliner and its a weekday. However all female k-pop group shattered records with the largest attendance on the main stage at this time slot with their debut Lolla performance. They are also go down as the first female K-pop group to play the festival. With fans as far as the eye could see waving objects dedicated to the band the crowd here was all for this set. Blasting through an hour set of k-pop hits and choreographed dance numbers, similar to how TXT was last year, I doubt this is the last time Lolla will be see New Jeans. Next time however might be headlining a stage.

All genres were on display though as the night progressed. Australian DJ Timmy Trumpet hit the Perrys stage to a huge crowd. The DJ known for playing a trumpet and using jazz samples in his mixes brought a high energy set that saw fire and smoke being blown on the regular. Feeling her resurgence and drawing a massive crowd was Canadian pop icon Carly Rae Jepsen. Non fans may remember her for the 2012 hit “Call Me Maybe” but with back to back record hits the pop star has shown she is way more than a one hit wonder and continues to be on a path towards arena level. Lolla may not be known for drawing many country names but Lainey Wilson proved she could stand out on her own with a big crowd. Bringing an upbeat crowd the country star has proven that her recent blow up in the scene isn’t a fluke and that shes on a path to be one of Countrys top stars.

Closing out the Bud Light stage and marking herself as the festival first female latin headliner was megastar Karol G. Drawing a large crowd, many who came just for her, proved that even at a festival like Lolla, which isn’t known for hosting many Spanish speaking artists, that she can transcend that. With her summer stadium headline tour, Mañana Será Bonito, kicking off next week fans were able to see just a glimpse of what that tour will consist of. Her stage show featuring the bright flowery scene that the album cover did and featuring a full live backing band Karol G showed off why she is known as one of Spanish musics top stars right now.

Friday :

Emo Nite blasted onto the Perrys stage playing through hit after hit of 2000s pop punk, rock, and emo anthems with a special guest appearance by 3OH!3 and the Chicago Bulls own Benny The Bull. Ex Disney star Sabrina Carpenter drew a massive crowd on her surge through pop music. The star, continuing her massive and often sold out “emails I can’t send” tour, played a setlist featuring mostly from said album. Closing out with “Nonsense” which, aside from being a radio hit, has been Tiktok on viral due to her changing the final lines of the song for each song was a massive moment for fans in the crowd. Speaking of massive, Diesel (aka Shaquille O’Neal), hit the Perrys stage. The ex NBA / sports show host has been a dominate force in EDM music taking it quite serious and drawing massive crowds. Getting into the crowd often and drawing a large rowdy crowd its clear his heart is in the music and fans can see that.

One of the more talked about moments though will come from 30 Seconds To Mars set. Frontman and Academy Award winning actor Jared Leto kicked off the set by jumping off the top of the stage and landing in the pit. With the rest of the set including full choirs backing the band, the actor inviting people on stage, and him getting into the crowd multiple times it was full of big moments. Knocked Loose frontman Bryan Garris even joined Leto on stage to perform their hit “The Kill”, even if their vocal team up may have not been the greatest.

Speaking of Knocked Loose, they are having a great 2023. From their viral Coachella set which saw Billie Eilish watching their set to now headlining a side stage on Lollapalooza as the only hardcore, or even metal, act of the weekend. Drawing a massive crowd of both older fans and the newer fans that are coming into them from their viral Tiktok songs, created an hour of big pits, jumping, and crowd surfing.