That’s A Wrap! Lollapalooza 2024 Ends With Thrilling Undercards And Most Anticipated Headlining Sets

Aug 06, 2024 admin_bitlc Features, Music News, Reviews 0

By Christopher David

The final day of Lollapalooza brought some thrilling undercards and one of the most anticipated headlining sets of the weekend.

Chicago’s own Slow Pulp (by way of Madison, Wisconsin) delivered a smooth mid-day set, highlighting tunes from their 2023 album Yards, and vocalist Emily Massey fits right in with the current ‘90s revival of female-fronted indie pop outfits.

The Last Dinner Party was right at home on the Lolla stage, and the band’s dramatic stage presence and lush sound made good on all the hype surrounding them.

Two Door Cinema Club took the stage to a backdrop of stunning visuals that were conspicuously absent from their Metro set the night before, and San Diego post-punkers Pierce the Veil helped set the stage for what was to come.

But it was the kings of smartass, hook-drenched pop punk, Blink-182, who owned Sunday in the end. Smack in the middle of their monster stadium tour supporting 2023 album One More Time—their first in 12 years with founding member and guitarist Tom Delonge back in the fold—Blink made good on their legacy of mom jokes and undeniable anthems to teen angst.

Joking around about everything from Chicago’s ‘pizza cakes’ to banging every crowd member’s mother, Blink left it all on the stage, from drummer Travis Barker’s legendary bombast (and levitating drum kit, taking a page from the books of many stadium greats before them) to the rapport between bassist Mark Hoppus and Delonge and a cast of thousands when it came to the setlist, which saw new tunes “More Than You Know” and “Dance With Me” melding seamlessly with crowd singalongs “All the Small Things” and fan favorite/rarity “Not Now.” They even dug into their non-Blink repertoire, touching on +44’s “When Your Heart Stops Beating” and Boxcar Racer’s “There Is.”

As the band closed with “One More Time” – their surprisingly emotional take on Hoppus’s recent illness and collective brushes with mortality – it would have been hard for anyone in attendance to not feel good for a trio that has defied the odds of their era, continuing forward with a body of work that most bands would kill for—and, most importantly, having a blast doing it. There couldn’t have been a more apt closer for a weekend-long party like Lollapalooza – until 2025, keep edging….