Lollapalooza 2025 Tour • Page 7

Went two days this weekend with my wife and 9 year old. First time going since 2017. Had a great experience. Had no lines for food or drinks. The crowd was well behaved where we were standing for Olivia and Sabrina and we were pretty dang close too. People were more than helpful/understanding than I can ever remember in the past. The congestion leaving was brutal but that was expected. More vegan food options and the desserts area rocked. Also living in a world where people aren’t blowing cigarette smoke non stop rules. I couldn’t believe it. So reading all the negative comments on Reddit today has been blowing my mind cause I guess we just got super lucky.

 

It's also very funny listening to people talk about the air quality. What does it say that the air in Chicago being impacted by wildfires in Canada still feels tremendously fresher and better than the air quality in Dallas normally? I'm not looking forward to taking my first breath back home hahaha

Had a blast though! Will probably say more when I'm actually home

 

It definitely was bad on Thursday. I didn't go to Lolla at all this year but I did step out of the house on the nortwest side and could smell/taste the smoke. It eased up quite a bit by the end of the weekend.

 

Maybe it was the breeze off the lake, but I agree that the air quality seemed better than I expected on Friday. Thursday was definitely terrible out in the suburbs too.

The AQI has still been higher than I'd like to feel comfortable having my really young kids outside for too long in, which is a real bummer when the temperature finally dropped a bit.

 

I will say that I went to Del Water Gap at Schubas and expect some amount of overselling for after shows and at Schubas in general but this was the worst I’ve experienced. Even the door guy was surprised by how far into the bar the spillover went. It was impossible to get out of the room.

 

When it comes to the crowd at T-Mobile one whole side from the stage to the sound booth is vip and platinum tickets. That all used to be normal ga before they increased capacity

 

Lollapalooza 2025 Reveals Cracks in a Music Paradigm About to Break

 

I get what the author is going for in terms of their "concerns" but the review itself is really shitty, this guy is not a good writer and I don't think he did a very good job

 

Once again I had a great time (and also once again I find myself wondering how I'm so lucky that I never had any real issues with teenagers ruining my time or whatever everyone else seems to deal with). Honestly, I really didn't have any issues with anyone in the crowd at all this weekend. The closest I came was during the Marias some young bros started pushing into the crowd for ASAP Rocky. But it was no more than maybe 10, and luckily they didn't stop near me.

Saw at least one or two sets every day that truly wowed me. Highlights:

Thursday
Sierra Ferrell - Just wow, what an incredible voice she has, and a fantastic, captivating performer. Was excited going in, but far exceeded my already high expectations
Tyler, the Creator - I've kind of been an on again off again fan for a while now, but he really sold me again. Was impressed how hooked I was considering it was a relatively simple stage set up and everything. Really just him and a mic, and I thoroughly enjoyed it the whole time.
Shout outs: Ratboys rocked as always, Cage the Elephant was fun to see again even if I was pretty far back and have definitely cooled on them over the years

Friday
Bleachers - I mean nothing surprising here from one of my all time favorite live acts, but they seem to just get better and better every time I see them.
Olivia Rodrigo - wasn't my favorite set of the weekend but no denying she is a superstar. I'm sure I would've been more into it if I could see but we landed in a truly terrible spot (in a little divot in the field basically). Should've just moved to the back. Ah well. And bringing out Weezer was awesome
Shout outs - t-pain was a blast; Otoboke Beaver was a fun change of pace; hey, nothing was also a lot of fun (and very funny!) Definitely an act that I will be keeping an eye on, scratches a really particular itch that no one else is really scratching these days.

Saturday
Doechii - I'm not too familiar with her outside a couple of the biggest hit but holy god damn did she burn down the stage. I wasn't bored for one single second
Marina - played pretty much every song I wanted her to play (at least that could be reasonably expected) and had a blast! Personal favorite pop act of the weekend.
Shout outs - Rufus Du Sol is as reliable as ever, never have a bad time seeing them

Sunday
The Marias - Wow wow wow. They are so fucking cool, the set was gorgeous and mesmerizing
Still Woozy - only got to see a couple songs after they changed the schedule and made them overlap with the Marias even more, but what I saw was great and I can't wait to see again
Shout outs - Sabrina delivered just about exactly what I expected, which was a super fun closing set for Lolla. Great to just dance and sing with my friends one last time before the weekend ended (managed to get the whole squad together at the very last minute)

 

Someone was not happy with their stage placement lol

 

He was easily my least favorite set of the weekend, so I’m no fan, but he is right, that stage sucks

 

I was reading through the proposal to update Grant Park and one of the items is to remove the bandshell.

Park District Reveals New Grant Park Framework Plan - Chicago YIMBY

 

That would be interesting, I kinda dig the whole plan.

 

See what Grant Park looks like days after Lollapalooza