Last weekend, thousands gathered to Grant Park in Chicago for Lollapalooza. The four day music festival featured over 150 acts playing on 8 stages. Although Lollapalooza is generally alternative-heavy, with many of the acts being rock and alternative artists, it was the urban acts that provided some of the festival’s most memorable highlights this year. Here’s our recap of what went down at Lollapalooza.
Day 1
R&B/Soul newcomer Michael Blume made his Lollapalooza debut over on the BMI stage. The New York native sung records off his EP When I Get It Right that was released last year before closing out with his new single “I Am Not a Trend (No Rules)”.
Migos, though half an hour late due to a flight delay, drew massive crowds over on the Bud Light stage. Once the trio hit the stage fans ran from half way across the park to hear them perform their biggest hits.
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Wiz Khalifa followed and brought along surprise guest Ty Dolla Sign. Ty treated the Lolla audience to some music new and old and wrapped his set by joining Wiz for their latest record “Baby Come Give Me Something”. Khalifa ended his Lolla set on a positive note, telling the audience “Keep those beautiful smiles on your faces. That’s what people respect. That’s what people really want to see…Always be yourself and if people don’t accept you for who you are, then f**k them.”
Lil Uzi Vert took to the stage later in the evening but unfortunately had to cut his set short due to the hazardous weather that organizers had warned us of all day. After performing 3 songs, including “Money Longer” and “Do What I Want”, the music stopped, Uzi Vert walked off stage but fans that came to see him were STILL partying. One observation is that Lollapalooza organizers definitely dropped the ball and underestimated Lil Uzi Vert’s draw. He was placed on one of the smaller stages and he, like MIGOS, drew a pretty massive crowd.
Day 2
The mood of day 2 of Lollapalooza was pretty light compared to day 1. Clouds loomed and the temperature in Chicago had dropped to fall-like degrees but fans still arrived to Lolla bright and early ready for a full day of performances. Wondaland’s Jidenna took to the Budlight stage, well dressed in a perfectly fitting orange suit, with his amazing band and performed songs from his debut album The Chief. Jidenna is an awesome performer. He brought tons of high-energy and dance moves that kept the Lollapalooza audience moving and warm despite the chilly weather.
Run the Jewels brought the real Hip Hop to Lollapalooza. Atlanta native Killer Mike and El-P performed to a packed crowd on Lolla’s Grant Park stage favorites such as “Stay Gold” and “Lie, Cheat, Steal”. A highlight of their performance was when El-P spotted a fan’s sign in the crowd that said “Let Me Rap Legend Has It” and allowed the fan (whose name is Jacob) to come on stage with the duo and do just that.
As Run the Jewels closed out their set, the group took a moment to speak on the importance of supporting your loved ones through dark times and dedicated a song to Chester Bennington, the lead singer of Linkin Park who passed away last month.
The surprise of the day came from Chicago’s own Vic Mensa. The rapper took to the Perry stage (with absolutely no kind of spotlight by the way) to perform a 15 minute mini set which included “U Mad” and a track off his debut album The Autobiography. Vic closed his set by honoring those lives lost at the hands of police brutality saying, “I dedicate this to all lives lost in Chicago”. The lack of spotlight made Vic’s set overall kind of strange and clearly shows that festival organizers were unprepared for his appearance.
Day 3
There was noticeably many fans with Saturday only wristbands and it was no question as to the reason why, Chicago’s reigning hero, Chance the Rapper was scheduled to perform that evening. The weather wasn’t an issue for once so fans of the “No Problems” rapper had been lined up and waiting to see him since the festival doors opened at 11 AM. Chance opened up his set with a powerful video montage that featured clips from his Grammy winning night and words from supporters such as Kanye West and First Lady Michelle Obama. He opened his set with tracks from his popular mixtape Acid Rap before performing hits such as “No Problem” from his award-winning project Coloring Book. Vic Mensa made his second Lolla appearance, joining Chance for a performance of “Cocoa Butter Kisses” before performing “Say I Didn’t” from his album The Autobiography. Also joining Chance during his set was Francis and the Lights, who joined him to perform “May I Have This Dance”. It’s clear that Chicago loves Chance the Rapper, he by far drew the largest crowd at the festival that filled up the entire park. With all those bodies in one place, Chance treated his fans to a cool down before ending his set by having Chicago Firefighters on stage and sprayed the audience with a fire hose. Always the outspoken one, Chance took the opportunity during his Lollapalooza set to call out the city’s Mayor, Rahm Emanuel. “Put pressure on politicians to put you first … come at me, Rahm,” he said to the crowd. It was indeed a memorable performance.
Chance the Rapper last night performing to a park filling crowd in Chicago at Lollapalooza #Lollapalooza pic.twitter.com/4uOUiHe8Ht
— Colin Hinkle (@hinklecolin) August 6, 2017
Prior to Chance’s homecoming performance, Atlanta native 21 Savage brought some serious heat to the Perry stage. An animated short opened up Savage’s hour-long set that had the crowd jumping and bopping their heads to songs like “No Advance” and his verse on “Gucci On My”. Savage’s girlfriend, Amber Rose, was spotted in the DJ booth and showed a little love to her man on social media during his set.
Day 4
The final day of Lollapalooza closes out on a high note with some of the hottest acts in urban music taking the stage. Emerging artist like Chicago’s Noname, Los Angeles’ Duckwrth, and Atlanta’s 6lack all put on great sets while Machine Gun Kelly came through with a performance that was very high in energy and definitely proved why he is one of the best rap/rock artist in the game right now. Sampha and Joey Bada$$ both played the Pepsi stage and neither of them disappointed.
The highlight of the day however was Lil Yachty, who festival organizers once again, underestimated the draw that Lil’ Boat would be able to bring to the festival. He drew a massive crowd with fans climbing trees, poles, and anything they could just to get a glimpse of the rapper. As the crowd continued to get progressively unruly, Yachty warned “We got to stay safe in this motherf**ker. Everybody who came to this mother**ker needs to leave this mother**ker.” Yachty performed his hit records from his debut Teenage Emotions in addition to his guest verses on songs such as “iSpy” and “Broccoli” and fans ate up every bit of it. Whether you like his music or not, Lil Yachty proved that he is indeed a superstar at Lollapalooza, who definitely should have played the mainstage.
Detroit native and G.O.O.D music affiliate Big Sean did play one of the main stages at Lollapalooza and he took the opportunity to treat fans to a new track featuring Travis Scott.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 new track from big sean & travis just debuted at lollapalooza https://t.co/acbHPdoTQj
— Where To Cop (@WhereToCop) August 7, 2017
He performed some of his hits while giving the audience plenty of food for thought. He closed out his set with a performance of “I Don’t F**k With You”.
Rae Sremmurd was the final act of the evening and of the festival. They had the Pepsi stage fully packed though it was clear that festival goers were fatigued after a long day. The crowd saw bouts of energy when the duo performed their hits such as “No Flex Zone”, “No Type” and “Black Beatles”.
Lollapalooza had it’s share of memorable performances. Let’s hope that festival organizers continue to include more urban acts on the bill and put them on the larger stages that they deserve to be on.
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