Lollapalooza’s 2018 lineup has Bruno, Weeknd, but no women headliners
Lollapalooza lovers, put your pinky rings up to the moon, because Bruno Mars is this year’s big headliner.
After sweeping the Grammys’ three main categories in January, Mars will join the Weeknd, Jack White, Arctic Monkeys and Travis Scott at the downtown Chicago festival.
But Lollapalooza didn’t book any women to headline its two biggest stages. (The other three headliners include the National, Vampire Weekend and Odesza.)
In the wake of the #MeToo and #Time’sUp movements, the gigantic gender gap in the music industry has come under increased scrutiny, from criticism of male-heavy-festival lineups, to outrage that more than 90% of Grammy nominees between 2013 and 2018 were men, according to a recent University of Southern California study.
So to have no women headlining is a bad look for Lollapalooza, and it comes when the festival might be in its most vulnerable state in years.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Lollapalooza four-day passes sold out within an hour in 2016 after going on sale, and in about 21⁄2 hours last year — and that was before the lineups were revealed.
But four-day passes ($386.23 including taxes and fees) went on sale Tuesday morning at lollapalooza.com
— and are still available. One-day passes have yet to go on sale, and the daily lineups and schedule have yet to be released.
Female artists don’t even appear until the fourth line of the lineup poster. Women nevertheless will be some of the most-anticipated acts at this year’s festival, taking place Aug. 2 to 5 in Grant Park — including St. Vincent, Dua Lipa, Camila Cabello, Lizzo and teen punk band the Regrettes.
And fingers crossed that Cardi B, who’s not officially playing Lollapalooza, shows up during Mars’ set to perform “Finesse (Remix)” (and here’s hoping, some of her own songs).
But compared to their male counterparts, female artists are scarce on the 182-act bill.
Other big names include Post Malone, Logic, Khalid, Portugal. The Man, and Lil Uzi Vert (whose set was canceled due to storms last year). LL Cool J also will put on a rare performance.
And two Milwaukee natives are playing the festival: soulful R&B singer Grace Weber, and electronic artist Melvv.