“Holy shit Lolla.” Gracie Abrams, on stage at Lollapalooza, sounded genuinely shocked. The young singer-songwriter, who blew up in the pop world with her album The Secret of Us and as an opener on Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, looked out at the crowd of tens of thousands of people, mouth open. “Chicago, this is actually wild.”
Lollapalooza is a big deal for artists. The festival, colloquially referred to as Lolla, sees over 400,000 attendees over its four days. Its infectious energy is palpable for everyone involved, set against the iconic skyline of downtown Chicago. For artists, it offers the opportunity to perform for thousands of people, to find new fans, and to solidify yourself as a performer to watch. For festivalgoers, it’s a chance to hop from one stage to the next (though some hardcore fans camp out at one stage), to celebrate summer in Chicago, and to see favorite artists (and new ones) give it their all.
As I looked up at two hundred-foot versions of Abrams peering from the main stage’s screens, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on in her head. Was she nervous? Giddy? Whatever it was, her emotion was apparent. When she sat down at a piano and closed her eyes to perform “Death Wish,” she could have been singing just to herself. When she sang “I Told You Things” to the camera, her voice was raw and sharp—like she was singing straight to you. Abrams was intimate and human, a far cry from the highly polished performances of artists like Sabrina Carpenter, who appeared on the same stage two days later. Abrams took out a digital camera and took a selfie. “I’ll never forget this day, thank you so much”, she told the crowd.
No doubt it was Abrams’s effortless yet affecting hit songs about love and heartbreak that animated the audience, whose sing-screaming echoed every lyric all around me. I imagine, too, that her relatability and realness fostered comfort and excitement among the crowd. Heartbreak songs are so addictive because we relate to them. It seems Abrams knew this, and she molded her performance so that we could see and experience every bit of emotion alongside her. It is exactly the kind of deep knowledge about their niche and fans that gets an artist to Lolla’s biggest stage in the first place.
Over the four day festival, artists cast spells over their audiences, masterclass after masterclass in performance. Yet, no two sets were the same, no two sounds were the same, and no two fan bases were the same. Every artist had developed their own way of captivating audiences amidst boundless options to choose from.
So what makes a great festival performance, and how does it differ between artists? After watching Abrams, I was determined to find out. I attended the four headliners at T-Mobile Stage to see how the biggest artists of Lolla performed and what made them so popular.
The heavy hitter of Lollapalooza was certainly the T-Mobile stage. With the largest capacity among Lolla’s eleven stages, it featured the four most mainstream headliners of the festival: Tyler, The Creator, Olivia Rodrigo, Rüfüs Du Sol, and Sabrina Carpenter.
Tyler, The Creator
Tyler, The Creator, a multi-talented artist is known for being an energetic, unabashed performer. What was uncertain to me was how DON’T TAP THE GLASS, his latest project which rolled out mid-tour, would be perceived. This was the one of the first opportunities for the album to be battle-tested—Tyler has only performed it live alongside Chromakopia once before. What did the tens of thousands of Tyler fans at Lollapalooza think of it?
I saw dozens of fans sporting merch from the latest album and heard much speculation about which songs would be played. Speaking with fans, many ranked the release as among their favorites in his discography, with more than a few commenting on how great it was to dance to. Suddenly, shortly before Tyler was to go on, a green shipping crate with “CHROMAKOPIA” projected on it, an icon from the album and tour, turned red and read,“DON’T TAP THE GLASS.” Tyler knew how to play up his crowd. They cheered in anticipation.
Only two songs were played from the latest album—“Big Poe” and “Sugar on My Tongue.” The crowd didn’t seem too upset—the rest of Tyler’s performance was a hit all around. Visually, a mix of color and graphics were used to differentiate between Tyler’s “eras.” It was a clever choice, given that Tyler didn’t have multiple stages, like in the Chromakopia tour, to differentiate between aesthetics. Aurally, Tyler did something I’ve never seen him do before: he used a mix of samples, freestyles, and alternate intros and outros to keep the audience in suspense as to what his next song would be. That’s the kind of unique work that only a producer and performer as talented as Tyler could do.
At the end of his set, Tyler asked the audience “What y’all like better, Chi City or Chi Town?” The answer, of course, was unanimous: Chi Town. Tyler thanked them, and then chanted it to hype up the final verse of “See You Again.” It’s this combination—his unabashed energy, his creative production, and his universally known songs—that made his act a great festival performance. Many artists need a hype man to bring up the crowd’s energy. Tyler didn’t: he’s his own hype man.
Oliva Rodrigo
When Olivia Rodrigo stepped onto the T-Mobile stage, the atmosphere was electric. Out of any other performer of the festival, she had the most energy behind her. The whole day was a sea of purple and stars. She even had a themed CTA car. Rodrigo’s jumping up and down might not have matched Tyler’s dancing, but she made up for dancing in her surprisingly rock sound. Speaking with attendees after the show, those who had not seen her live before (which was most people—Rodrigo only achieved new heights with her release of Guts in 2023) were just as surprised at how much more it felt like a rock concert than a pop concert. Shots of Rodrigo from through a glass floor, grungy visuals, an all-out band, and long rock solos gave the set an unexpected edge. And no one could have predicted her bringing out Weezer to perform “Buddy Holly” and “Say It Ain’t So.”
Beyond that, what made Rodrigo’s set unique was how she mixed in softer ballads on piano and acoustic guitar like “traitor” and “pretty isn’t pretty.” Though you could tell that this was an artist who’s still new to performing—the biggest giveaway being the long stretches of silence between songs—Rodrigo held her own at center stage as both a pop star and a rock star. For Rodrigo, what makes a great festival performance is a well-curated mix of songs to energize the audience, then bringing them slowly, emotionally, back down to earth—while they sing their hearts out all the way. “This is what religious people must feel like when they leave church,” I heard someone say after the show.
Rüfüs Du Sol
By the time Rüfüs Du Sol took the stage on Saturday night, the energy was markedly lower than the previous two nights. Perhaps this was due to the older audience, or because they had the smallest turnout of the four headliners at T-Mobile. I suspect that Rüfüs, an Australian electronic/dance trio with a wide, cinematic sound who reminded me of a house-ier Tame Impala, had the least name recognition of the festival leads. Still, the trio had no problem filling the space. With lights and lasers, relaxed smiles, and intensely focused demeanors, Rüfüs Du Sol sunnily coerced the crowd into a woozy, dancey flow state. For them, a great festival performance was one where the artists act their sound: calm, cool, and good-mannered. The audience took note.
Sabrina Carpenter
Ending Lollapalooza on the T-Mobile stage was Sabrina Carpenter: the cute, energetic, ear-wormy pop star who, like Rodrigo, has recently rocketed to new levels of fame. As I rushed over from Still Woozy, whose set was pushed up to accommodate a highly expected turnout for Carpenter, it became clear that Carpenter had the biggest crowd of the headliners. The anticipation for Carpenter had been building over the four days, and in some ways (though you couldn’t tell by looking since Carpenter lacks the discernible aesthetic of Tyler and Rodrigo), this was her festival.
Carpenter performed like it, too. It makes sense—her brand is built on a patent ownership of sexuality that transforms into a playful arrogance in her music; a kind of of-course-you-know-me-and-you-want-to-see-me-perform energy. It worked because of Carpenter’s full commitment to her brand. Pasted on the set, flashed across screens, and hanging very, very largely from the truss, was the logo “SC.” The rest of the set included a large riser and bulb lights, modeled like a 1960s game show. Like Carpenter, it was silly, over the top, and fun.
Carpenter used vintage infomercials to hint at upcoming songs (and subvert the misogyny vintage ads are known for). Dial 1-800-BED-CHEM for a mattress. Use Manchild Spray to remove “messes made by men and messy men from your life.” These bits worked because Carpenter’s songs are huge and she knows it, and because the production, choreography, and aesthetics of her performance merited such grand openings. They were backed all the while by Carpenter’s cute, confident, and nailed-down demeanor. Her idea of a great festival performance is this: complete commitment to and ownership of ingenuity.
Carpenter’s dynamic performance style was embodied in her shocking decision to bring out Earth, Wind & Fire to perform “Let’s Groove” and “September” alongside her. Not only is the band legendary, but the reveal itself was surprising. Who would think of Sabrina Carpenter next to Earth, Wind & Fire? It’s bold, arrogant, and clever—just like Carpenter herself. Of course, the crowd (and the internet) went wild. My father had seen it on Twitter. “People are saying she bridged the generation divide,” he told me.
Takeaways
Were there any commonalities for what makes a great festival performance? Across the four artists, a common theme was a finely-tuned knowledge of one’s music and one’s fan base. Tyler had raw energy and a welcome sampling of songs and personas across his discography. Rodrigo understood the emotional language and throughput of her music. Rüfüs embodied sound through persona and technics. And Carpenter deftly balanced cheekiness with a high octane performance.
One thing was clear on Lollapalooza’s biggest stage: it’s not the stage that makes the artist, but the artist that must make the stage. This year’s headliners showed us how.
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